"We had trouble keeping up with a fast team. There is two ways of neutralizing speed: be fast yourself, or slow them down. Even on the Carter line, we couldn’t handle it.”
That was the quote from Darryl Sutter last night after the Kings 3-4 defeat at the hands of the New York Rangers. Did it ever ring true watching that game.
While the New York Rangers weren't necessarily fast coming through the neutral zone or up ice, the were fast where it mattered. When you watched the Rangers cycle the puck in the Kings zone they were quick in their rotations, their passes, and their movement off the puck. Speed isn't just skating fast, it's moving and thinking fast. The Rangers were clearly a step ahead of some of the Kings defensive zone work last night and that was the ultimate factor on the goals except for the two powerplay tallies.
While the Kings had a fair share of their up ice chances of the rush, the speed element of the game which dogged them was definitely in their own zone. Sutter is spot on in his analysis as well, either slow them down by playing physical or be fast yourself. The Kings by nature are NOT a fast team. Outside of two or three players the Kings are probably one of the slowest teams in the league. However, there is that need for speed or that commitment to physicality against up-tempo teams like New York or Nashville.
These are not new struggles for L.A.
Think of all the up-tempo teams that have given the Kings problems in recent memory. Edmonton, Nashville, Anaheim under Bruce Boudreau, Colorado etc.
These are teams that on the right night, with the Kings just a step behind on their checking game, can wreck them.
Is there a need for speed in the current Kings lineup? It might be something to consider as we approach the deadline. However, that would change the Kings scheme just a little bit. For all the good that speed guys like Toffoli and Pearson bring, you can see that physical games can be a bit grinding on the two youngsters. That is the game the Kings want to play. It is a fine balance that Sutter tries to put in place. The Rangers exposed that balance, as did Nashville. You just have to hope as a Kings fan that the book on the Kings isn't out because of struggles like these. However, with the way the Kings play they tend to work games on their own terms with physicality. In a seven game series that can be too much to handle. The uptempo game has been fairly prevalent in the Eastern Conference and less so amongst the top teams in the West. Is that changing a little? Do the Kings need to adapt or stick to their guns? At this point it's obviously the latter, but with losses that looked the way the Predators and Rangers games did it is fair to say that there is a need for speed to some degree. Maybe it is foot speed, thinking speed, or off the puck speed, but the Kings could definitely use a little more of it in the lineup at times.
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