Adam Kirshenblatt: Kings run out of gas against the Canucks

not that this was the cause of it all, but I am noticing in the losses that teams are jumping all over our D-men on the forecheck and some of our players can't seem to make the right play in those situations, as well as forwards not recognizing the trouble they are having down low and hoping for the best possible outcome.

In the offensive zone, which has largely improved from last season, there are still some poor decisions being made due to situational awareness and indecisiveness. With that being said, they are making some great, creative efforts to score that just aren't paying off.

bottom line is, if they are going to keep this line up intact, the top 6 needs more support. Major game tape breakdown would be in order to show how these situations are killing their chances of holding onto a lead

not that this was the cause of it all, but I am noticing in the losses that teams are jumping all over our D-men on the forecheck and some of our players can't seem to make the right play in those situations, as well as forwards not recognizing the trouble they are having down low and hoping for the best possible outcome.

In the offensive zone, which has largely improved from last season, there are still some poor decisions being made due to situational awareness and indecisiveness. With that being said, they are making some great, creative efforts to score that just aren't paying off.

bottom line is, if they are going to keep this line up intact, the top 6 needs more support. Major game tape breakdown would be in order to show how these situations are killing their chances of holding onto a lead
- MikeOxbyg

It seemed to me that the Kings were playing a tight game just looking for those 4 or 5 plays a night where the puck bounces off a stick and then try to counter. But that simply did not happen. Kings lost all urgency and didn't really have any extended times where they controlled play.

not that this was the cause of it all, but I am noticing in the losses that teams are jumping all over our D-men on the forecheck and some of our players can't seem to make the right play in those situations, as well as forwards not recognizing the trouble they are having down low and hoping for the best possible outcome.
- MikeOxbyg

THIS. The book must be out, every team is going to forecheck us heavy until we prove we can get out of the zone. So many turnovers, so many speculative passes to forwards who are on the opposite blue line, so many shifts getting hemmed in own zone, so frustrating. The breakout attempts were so frustrating. O-zone entries evaporated after the first too. Sloppy, sloppy performance for 55 minutes.

It seemed to me that the Kings were playing a tight game just looking for those 4 or 5 plays a night where the puck bounces off a stick and then try to counter. But that simply did not happen. Kings lost all urgency and didn't really have any extended times where they controlled play.
- Beatle_john

they were playing tight, but I am assuming the observations were made by the Vancouver coaching staff that if you apply pressure to Muzzin, Forbort and Martinez while the 3rd and 4th line centers are on the ice, there will be a turnover, or an inability to get out of the zone.

Mind you, this still happened with the top lines on the ice every other shift so take it for what it's worth I guess

It seemed to me that the Kings were playing a tight game just looking for those 4 or 5 plays a night where the puck bounces off a stick and then try to counter. But that simply did not happen. Kings lost all urgency and didn't really have any extended times where they controlled play.
- Beatle_john

Yup, Sutter Hockey; from Insider:

"Los Angeles’ high-danger shooting percentage in five-on-five play over those six games, according to Natural Stat Trick, is 5.41%, which ranks 30th in the league".

I recognized a brand of Sutter Hockey being played at ~ 10 min mark of the 1st as Muzz decided to rifle a puck from the left point with no LA players at the front of the net. It wasn't exactly Sutter Hockey, but it was a hybrid. I don't think this is coming from the coaching staff but rather more of a conditioned Pavlovian response from the players who have had to endure this torment of playing not to lose instead of to win for several years now. Then you had Laich with about the saddest excuse of a cycle I've ever seen.

I still have the utmost confidence in this team. There was that atrocious call on AI that led to Boeser's goal where Muzz was getting dominated in front of the crease again. Kempe was invisible for most of the game. I've never been a Kempe guy, but I hope he proves me wrong. Marty is trying to do too much I think and is playing a little (okay, a lot), carelessly and sloppily with the puck. Overall, they need to change their mindset and will be fine.

I, too, have noticed that the last two games have looked a lot like Sutter hockey. I was concerned about this during the hot start, that, once things stopped going so well, they might slip back into the hockey that was drilled into their brains for years. It's been only two games and nothing to be too worried about yet, but it's something for Stevens to pay attention to and address.

From Insider:

[Iafallo-Kopitar-Brown
Pearson-Kempe-Toffoli
Andreoff-Shore-Lewis
Jokinen-Crescenzi-Brodzinski

Forbort-Doughty
Muzzin-Folin
MacDermid-Martinez]

Dowd sits again? Yeah, he hasn't played well this year but he's not this bad of a player. He should be playing over Crescenzi. Another thing I don't get is Andreoff on the 3rd line? Why? What the (frank) does he bring other than fists and the occasional hit? Jack poop is what. Not sure how many minutes he played against the Nucks; didn't seem like much but he might just have been that invisible as always. He played 13:35 vs the Sharts while TT and TP were ~ 15:00. WTF is Stevens thinking? WTF is the plan when playing energy forwards with no speed or skill as much as your skill forwards? (frank) if I know.

Andreoff Shore and Muffin were trash again last night, Crescenzi is 4th line at best.

all in all it was a garbage effort and the best part of the game was the last 5 minutes of the 2nd period.