SB Nation - Anze Kopitar

Kings-Sharks Recap: Booyah!

RudyKelly — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:26:05 -0000

More photos » by George Nikitin - AP

I take it all back: I love Evgeni Nabokov on the Sharks. (AP Photo/George Nikitin)

First thought: woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Drew Doughty is awesome. His assist to get Kopitar off the schneid was a beautiful play. He patiently held onto the puck until the Sharks overcommitted then slid the puck between two defenders to a wide open Kopitar. His goal was just straight heat. I always thought it was kind of bullshit when he talked about how he felt more comfortable because he changed his stick blade, but maybe that actually worked.

-Ted Purcell, Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown all broke 10+ game droughts. Good thing the Sharks had a shitty goalie in, otherwise they still might be waiting for their goal.

-You know who's good? Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

-You know who's not? Erik Ersberg.

-Michal Handzus had a pretty bad game, picking up 3 particularly brutal penalties. The Kings managed to win the special teams battle, however, and staved off the powerful San Jose power play. The Kings penalty kill still kind of sucks by the percentages, but it should be better and hopefully this game is a sign that it's going to start improving.

-The Kings have another tough game tomorrow night against the Coyotes, although Ed Jovanovski is suspended for tomorrow's game because the NHL head office still doesn't understand Pronger physics. Quick will be in for that game, so it should be a good one.

-The Kings are 3 points out of 1st in the Pacific. Just saying.

Final thought: wooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Behind the Net goes to an actual NHL game

Hawerchuk — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:17:11 -0000

More photos » by Danny Moloshok - AP

23 days ago: Los Angeles Kings' Jack Johnson, right, scores the second shootout goal past Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Cristobal Huet, of France, during their NHL hockey game in Los Angeles on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009. The Kings won 2-1 in a shootout. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

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I don't actually live very close to an NHL arena - the Sharks play 55 miles from my house, which is a huge time investment to see a game. Their games are almost always completely sold out these days, which has driven prices up - a friend of mine bought season tickets last year, but I think he sold 90% of the games rather than take his freeloader friends.

That means I only get to see live games when I'm out-of-town, so I headed over to the Staples Center to see the Kings and Blackhawks tonight. It was an exciting game - tied til the 2nd; then the Kings led 1-0 until the mid-3rd. We had overtime where teams actually tried to win (including a penalty call!), two timeouts and an anti-climactic four-shot shootout.

It was very interesting to see some of the things that get discussed here and on other stats-focused sites: Chicago was down for over 20 minutes; they significantly outshot the Kings. Anze Kopitar had a breakaway and didn't score - but of course shooting percentage is only 33% on a breakaway; rebounds are vastly more dangerous. I suppose I could have counted shots directed at the net and compare them to the official count...But that really wouldn't have been much fun...

Anyways, the next live game on my schedule is whichever Olympic quarter-final Canada is playing in. More then...

Back-To-Back Is Back! Canucks-Kings Preview

Sean Zandberg — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:15:09 -0000

We know who the real kings are.

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Kings (13-9-2, 6th in West) vs Canucks (12-11-0, 11th in West)

GAME TIME: 7:00 PST

TV: Canucks PPV

The Enemy: Battle of California

UPDATE (2:13 PM): Rick Rypien has a sore hand because Ben Eager's ugly face hit it last game. If he isn't good to go, Darcy Hordichuk will take his spot tonight.

UPDATE (12:00 AM): Sami Salo's ice-time has been reduced lately, but he's not giving up. You may be surprised at what else he has to say.

***********************

"They played a real slow-the-game," Murray said, "five guys back at their own blue line kind of a game, and took a lot of the emotion and speed out of the game. That was a good strategy by them. It was a good plan."

That is what Kings coach Terry Murray said of the Canucks' play the last time these 2 teams faced eachother in late October, where the Canucks won 2-1 in a shootout. Vancouver shut down the Kings' top line and limited L.A.'s prime scoring opportunities. Andrew Raycroft stopped 30 of 31 shots and was the first star of the game. Mikael Samuelsson scored the tying goal and the winning goal in the shootout.

Once again, the Canucks get to play a team that is playing in a back-to-back scenario, and Vancouver is coming off an extended layoff. This really has to play a role in the outcome of this game. There is no reason for the Canucks not to maintain a strong consistent effort against the Kings. The Kings beat

the Oilers 3-1 last night after a 4-day layoff. Their top line (Kopitar-Williams-Brown) was kept off the scoresheet, but guys like Frolov and Simmonds responded. Anze Kopitar played over 23:00 in that game, second only to Jack Jerkson, I mean Johnson.

I read somewhere that after the Kings lost to Flames on Saturday, the Kings had played 24 games in 50 days, and that was the second-most grueling schedule in the NHL this season behind San Jose. Cry me a river. The Canucks have played 23 games in 52 days. STFU. That being said...

Now that the long layoffs are over the Canucks will play 6 games in the next 10 nights and 14 games in the next 27 nights. They will play back-to-back games 3 times between now and January 2nd. The longest layoff will be a 4-day rest at Xmas time. Perfect! We'll be too busy shoving turkey and salad down our throats and putting up with family to care! Yeah, there is going to be a lot of Canucks hockey from now until the Olympic Break. Ole!

No Ryan Smyth in the Kings' lineup tonight and that is a good thing, as he not only is a smaller, feistier version of Dustin Byfuglyen, he also had 24 points in 23 games in the Kings' top line.The Kings are now 1-2 without him.

A bit more about the Kings:

-they are Alyssa Milano's favorite hockey team. Yeah, she told me that on Twitter, yes I'm bragging. Damn she has bad taste.

-the Kings rank just a bit higher than the Canucks in goals per game.

-they allow more goals per game than we do. (rank 25th...are you listening Wellwood?)

-the Canucks are better than the Kings at even strength.

-Vancouver ranks better than the Kings on the powerplay.

-the Kings and Canucks both suck at killing penalties, with Vancouver holding a slight advantage.

-L.A. averages less shots per game than we do.

-The Kings and Canucks both allow a lot of shots per game on average, both in the bottom 10 in the category with the Kings being worse.

-The Kings lick in the faceoff category, where the Canucks don't.

Keep an eye out for updates at the top of this post as game time draws near. Let's see if Bolduc replaces Wellwood or not. You never know. That noose is getting tight around Woody's neck right now.

Are the Kings going to rest Jon Quick and play Erik Ersberg in a back-to-back scenario? Let's hope so!

See? There is no reason why we can't hand these guys their asses tonight. No excuses at all.

Don't forget to add your score prediction in the comments thread. 1 point for guessing the right score, 1 point for guessing the right team, and 1 point for guessing who scores the game winner. Not as easy as it sounds. After 2 games nobody has a single point yet! Somewhere Nostradamus is rolling in his grave.

A Statistical Look at the Flyers, through 16 Games

Geoff Detweiler — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:45:09 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

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Once again, I was able to get Tom Awad of Puck Prospectus to give me his most recently compiled data on GVT.

(Here's the link to my earlier story breaking down the VUKOTA projection based on GVT).

The data's most recent update was from Sunday, November 15th, so last week's games against the Devils, Kings, Sharks, and Coyotes are not included. Obviously, last night's game against the Avalanche is also not included.

Needless to say, there are some positives and some negatives through 20% of the schedule. Most interesting is just how good James van Riemsdyk has been, how well Ray Emery has played, and another look at The Pronger effect.

Follow after the jump for the findings.

Here is the table of Tom's results for the Flyers:

	Name	Team(s)	P	GP	G/GAA	A/GA	Pts/SA	+-/Sv	OGIT	DIT	RPM	Val OG	Val D	Val S	Total

1	Ray Emery	Philadelphia Flyers	G	15.2	2.24	34	431	0.921	8.8	1.3	0	6	0.1	0.6	6.7
2	Chris Pronger	Philadelphia Flyers	D	16	4	13	17	13	8.6	7.9	11.2	3.8	2.5	0	6.3
3	Matt Carle	Philadelphia Flyers	D	16	2	10	12	17	8.2	6.8	14.7	2.1	2.6	0	4.7
4	James van Riemsdyk*	Philadelphia Flyers	F	13	4	11	15	7	4.7	3.9	5.1	3.1	0.7	0	3.8
5	Jeff Carter	Philadelphia Flyers	F	16	7	12	19	2	7.5	6	-1.1	3.5	0.3	-0.2	3.6
6	Mike Richards	Philadelphia Flyers	F	16	8	8	16	2	6.9	7.5	0	3.1	1	-0.7	3.4
7	Claude Giroux	Philadelphia Flyers	F	16	1	7	8	5	4.4	3.8	4.4	0.7	0.8	1.1	2.5
8	Kimmo Timonen	Philadelphia Flyers	D	16	1	11	12	-2	8.5	9.1	-5.4	1.8	0.5	0	2.3
9	Scott Hartnell	Philadelphia Flyers	F	16	5	7	12	0	5.6	4.3	-1.7	2	0.1	0	2.1
10	Braydon Coburn	Philadelphia Flyers	D	16	3	4	7	-3	7	8.9	-6.5	1	0.4	0	1.3
11	Danny Briere*	Philadelphia Flyers	F	12	7	3	10	-2	5.6	4.4	-4	1.6	-0.1	-0.5	1.1
12	David Laliberte*	Philadelphia Flyers	F	4	2	1	3	4	1.1	1	3.5	0.7	0.4	0	1.1
13	Blair Betts	Philadelphia Flyers	F	9	1	1	2	3	1.8	2.9	2.4	0	0.7	0	0.7
14	Simon Gagne	Philadelphia Flyers	F	9	1	4	5	2	2.9	2.8	1.4	0.4	0.4	-0.2	0.6
15	Daniel Carcillo	Philadelphia Flyers	F	16	2	1	3	4	2.7	2.5	2.9	0	0.5	0	0.5
16	Arron Asham	Philadelphia Flyers	F	13	3	1	4	-1	2.9	2.8	-2.7	0.4	0	0	0.4
17	Darroll Powe	Philadelphia Flyers	F	16	5	0	5	-2	4.4	4.6	-4.8	0.4	0.1	0	0.4
18	Ryan Parent	Philadelphia Flyers	D	8	0	2	2	-1	1.6	2.4	-1.8	0.3	0.1	0	0.4
19	Ian Laperriere	Philadelphia Flyers	F	16	1	3	4	-1	4	5.2	-3.3	-0.3	0.4	0	0.1
20	O. Tollefsen	Philadelphia Flyers	D	9	0	2	2	-1	2.2	2.5	-2.4	0.1	-0.1	0	0.1
21	Mika Pyorala*	Philadelphia Flyers	F	16	0	1	1	3	3.4	4.1	1.4	-1.1	0.7	0.5	0.1
22	Riley Cote	Philadelphia Flyers	F	4	0	0	0	0	0.3	0.3	0	-0.1	0	0	-0.1
23	Oskars Bartulis*	Philadelphia Flyers	D	2	0	0	0	0	0.5	0.6	-0.3	-0.1	0	0	-0.1
24	Danny Syvret	Philadelphia Flyers	D	13	0	2	2	-3	2.9	3.6	-4.7	0	-0.2	0	-0.2
25	Brian Boucher	Philadelphia Flyers	G	1	4	4	28	0.857	0.6	0.1	0	-1	0	0	-0.9

First, you can figure out most of the stat categories, but OGIT is offensive/goalie ice time, while DIT is defensive ice time. RPM is Puck Prospectus' adjusted plus/minus, an explanation of which can be found here. Val OG is offensive/goalie GVT score, while Val D and Val S are GVT defensive score and shootout score, respectively.

Second, who gets the credit for three of the Flyers four best players being off-season acquisitions? Having Ray Emery, Chris Pronger, and James van Riemsdyk at the top of this table might be a surprise, but not to anyone who has been watching the Flyers this season.

As the table shows (and you could see for yourself), James van Riemsdyk has been one of the team's best players so far. Using GVT, he's the fourth best Flyer so far this season, and the best forward. At a total GVT of 3.8, van Riemsdyk finds himself tied for 56th place in the entire NHL. For a guy who wasn't even a lock to make the team, that's quite an accomplishment. As far as rookies go, he is listed as the third best behind Washington goaltender Semyon Varlamov and Colorado forward Ryan O'Reilly.

Another pleasant surprise this season has been the play of Ray Emery. Many are still not convinced (and that's understandable) but his performance through the Flyers first 16 games was not easily topped. He was ranked the 10th best player in the NHL - tied with Marian Gaborik - with a 6.7 total GVT. Among goalies, he came in 7th. He also came in 7th for save percentage and was tied for third in goals against average. It may be a small sample size, but these rankings are relative to every other goalie, and he tied for the 10th most ice time in the league. You may have noticed that he gained points for his performance in the shootout - stopping 7 of 9 shots against - in which he is tied for 26th among all NHL players, and tied for 10th among goalies. Now, the skeptical amongst you can point to Antero Niittymaki's stats (8.8 total GVT) which are as good, if not better than Sugar Ray's. They would be right. However, Martin Biron is only at 1.7 total GVT, so... call it even?

Another hard to miss development in the table is Chris Pronger and Matt Carle sitting second and third. Obviously, this is where The Pronger effect shows the extent of its reach. Before the season, most people predicted that Chris Pronger would elevate the play of his partner. But to hear "Matt Carle" and "Olympic team" (let alone "Norris Trophy") in the same sentence is still unusual. Personally, I've always been a fan of Carle's, but not many people would argue that he is in fact, this good. For this one, I'm just going to use bullet points.

Overall, Pronger is ranked as the 16th best overall player in the NHL with Carle tied for 33rd. This equals 1st and 6th, respectively, among defensemen.
Pronger's offensive contributions rank him tied for 20th in the NHL with Joe Thornton, and just above Jeff Carter. No, that's not a typo. Pronger is contributing offensively at the same rate as Joe Thornton.
On the defensive side, Pronger is 5th in the NHL while Carle is tied for 2nd.
GVT ranks Pronger as the second best two-way player in the NHL, while Carle is tied for 12th. Perspective: Anze Kopitar is in 1st, Pavel Datsyuk is tied with Carle, and Sidney Crosby is tied for 18th.
They were first and second in all of the NHL in plus/minus, with Pronger falling from second to third in Relative Plus Minus. Carle maintained his lead in that category.
Carle was tied for 11th in scoring among defensemen.

I think it's safe to say Chris Pronger has a lot to do with how well Matt Carle is playing. Aware that this is probably getting a little long, I'll finish it up with a few assorted thoughts. (More bullet points!)

Claude Giroux is known as a good defensive player, and it shows in his defensive GVT - second best among Flyer forwards at 0.8. And while you may have guessed Blair Betts (0.7) was third, he is tied with two others: James van Riemsdyk and Mika Pyorala. I can hear your surprise.
Darroll Powe's offensive value through 16 games was equal to Simon Gagne's through 9. That speaks more to Gagne's injury than Powe's ability, but it's still interesting.
David Laliberte's offensive value through 4 games was equal to Claude Giroux's through 16. That will happen when you score twice as many goals in a quarter as many games.
We can mostly agree that Danny Syvret played his way out of the Flyers lineup. But Steve Eminger, Luke Schenn, Hal Gill, and Nick Schultz were tied with him in total GVT and Brett Lebda, Ruslan Salei, Andrej Sekera, Jeff Woywitka, Luca Sbisa, Brendan Mikkelson, Andrew Ference, Aaron Ward, and Jack Johnson were all worse.
For those wondering, Randy Jones through three games has a GVT of 0.5, but only a 0.1 defensive rating; the same defensive value as both Darroll Powe and Ryan Parent.
Lastly, remember that clamoring for Mike Komisarek in the off-season? He's tied for the third worst skater in the league with a total GVT of -1.3. Also, Jay Bouwmeester is tied for 190th with a 1.8.

Much thanks to Tom Awad for giving me this data again. Hopefully, this will become available more frequently and with less hassle. Any questions, just ask. I have his entire spreadsheet if there's anything you want to look at.

Colorado Avalanche: What the Hell Happened?

David Driscoll-Carignan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:15 -0000

Halloween, 2009. Although the Avalanche had lost the night before to San Jose, we woke up that Saturday feeling pretty good about our team. The Avalanche had finished October at phenomenal 10-2-2 and, as we dressed our kiddos in their Halloween costumes and ran out to the stores to stock our trick-or-treat bowls, we had a little spring in our step. Our sad-sack Avalanche of last year had turned things around and were currently perched on top of the Western Conference (indeed, they were tied with Pittsburgh at 1st in the league).

And, yet, we knew.

Oh, sure, we got indignant when James Mirtle (and others) predicted we'd start to fall back into the pack or whenever someone failed to give the Avalanche props in power rankings and the like. We're proud of our team and, after 6 months of nothing but negativity (on the ice and off), it was great to have something to feel good about again. Deep down, though, we knew. The team was better (not that we could have gotten much worse than the steaming pile of dung that was the 2008 season); the Avalanche were working harder, working smarter and, for the first time in years, had a bona fide #1 between the pipes. But - and this may be the largest "but" I've ever written - this was not a first-place team. Deep down, we knew it.

Since then, it hasn't been very pretty. The Avalanche have gone 3-5-1 in November. That won't get it done. If the Avalanche were to continue at that pace, they'd finish the season at 33-40-9. 75 points. Last year, 75 points would have been good enough for...you guessed it: 3rd-worst record in the NHL. Are you guys ready for the next "tank it 4 ___" watch?

What the hell happened? Lots. Adrian Dater covered it very well on Friday night after the latest debacle. I agree with every single point in that excellent post. I'd also like to flesh out a few thoughts I've had bouncing around in that little plinko machine in my head.

Unquestionably, any discussion about the Avs and their now-wheelless bus has to start with the powerplay. After 6 games, the Avalanche had 10 PP goals and were humming along at 38.5% efficiency. For a team that scored just 50 PP goals last year, that was an amazing start. Sadly, it wouldn't last. In the 17 games since that game 6 in Toronto, the Avalanche have just 7 PP goals in 62 chances. That's a pitiful 11.3% efficiency, even worse than 15.7% the Avalanche mustered last year and the 14.6% laugher under Joel Quenneville that created our power play kitten meme. Why has it been so bad? Losing John-Michael Liles has had an impact. It's probably not a coincidence that the PP collapse coincided with Liles' leaving the lineup; he was injured in the Toronto game. In a perfectly symmetrical stat, the Avalanche have had 44 PP opportunities this year with Liles in the lineup and 44 PP opportunities with him out of the lineup. With him in, they've scored 13 times (29.5%). Without? 4 (9.1%).That's ugly.

Compelling stats, but there's more to it. In the first 6 games, the Avalanche were getting something on the powerplay they have lacked for years: scoring from the point. Kyle Quincey was absolutely revitalizing in the early going and he, Liles and Brett Clark combined for 3 goals and 11 assists on the PP in the first 6 games. Since then, bone dry and I mean Mojave Desert dry. No goals for any of them. Liles has 2 assists (both in Friday's game). Quincey and Clark have just one PP assist each. What happened to them? In the last 4 games, Quincey hasn't even registered a shot on net (PP or otherwise). They have been so ineffective that Joe Sacco has resorted to using a forward on the point. It's working about as well as it did under both Joel Quenneville and Tony Granato. In other words, it isn't.

And how about that Kyle Quincey? When the Avalanche traded for him this summer, I was less than pleased. It wasn't so much a knock on Quincey (or Tom Preissing...don't ask me to go there right now) as I felt it was a mistake to trade Ryan Smyth. My argument was that the Avalanche had a fair number of manageable defensemen, while they were thin offensively and at left wing. And that was before the sudden maturation of Kyle Cumiskey or the surprising play of Ryan Wilson. For a while, it looked like Quincey would sway me. In an interview for Second City Hockey's fan program back in October, I said the following:

Quincey has been a GREAT fit for us defensively. He is already paying dividends. The Avs have been looking for a PP quarterback for eons and his crisp passes have already started a boatload of breakaways at even strength.

What happened to those dividends? Did the board of directors vote to suspend them? Where did that PP quarterbacking go? Where did those breakout passes go? What about the big hits he was throwing around in the first couple of weeks? What's with all the stupid penalties all of a sudden (6 minor penalties in the last 4 games)? Is he still an upgrade for our defense? Yes. Has he been playing so far above the guys in the pressbox to warrant the trade of Smyth? No. I mean, Ruslan Salei can take bad penalties and do nothing on the PP just as well as Quincey has done lately. Speaking of Salei, he's set to return from his back injury soon. With all that defensive depth I talked about, is he even going to play? Or are we just going to pay Salei and Preissing $5.775 million to watch from the press box?

While I'm aware that moving Smyth was a salary move, you'd like to see a big trade like that make your team better. Smyth, in case you missed it, has 23 points in 22 games this year. Our #1 left wing, Wojtek Wolski, has a solid 20 points. No complaints there. After Wolski, though, our left wingers are providing butkus. Cody McLeod has 8 points. Darcy Tucker has 7. David Koci has 1. The Avalanche are so hard up at left wing that Marek Svatos (8 points) played there on Friday; he has 3 even strength points this year. I like Kyle Quincey, but wouldn't this team look much better right now with Ryan Smyth skating with Matt Duchene and Milan Hejduk rather than Svatos or Tucker?

Smyth's linemate this year is Anze Kopitar, who is tearing up the league (33 points). Smyth's linemate last year was Paul Stastny. While Stastny hasn't been terrible, he's been quieter than he should be. You may recall that when Kopitar signed his big extension with the Kings last year, I opined that that deal would be the ballpark for Stastny's upcoming extension. Sure enough, when Stastny signed his extension about a month later, it was just $200,000 less per season than Kopitar's. How's that worked out for the respective teams? For the Kings, really well. Here are Kopitar's numbers before signing his extension and his numbers since:

Before: 155 GP 52G 86A 138P -29 .89 PPG (points per game)
Since: 105GP 41G 58A 99P -10 .94 PPG

Since becoming rich, Kopitar hasn't rested on his laurels. In fact, he's increased his scoring production. You know what's coming next.

Before: 164GP 55G 109A 164P +16 1.00 PPG
After: 52GP 12G 29A 41P -3 .79 PPG

Stastny's production has slipped since signing his extension. Now, .79 PPG is not terrible, but it is a decline. That's a 65-point season, something 50 players managed last year. In fact, only 5 teams didn't have a player get to 65 points (want to guess one of them?). It's good, but it's not great. It's not quite $6.6 million worth, not quite highest-paid-on-the-team great, not quite 21st-highest-paid forward-like. It's hard to pick on a guy who leads the team in scoring, but Paul Stastny needs to be doing more and he needs to do it on a more consistent basis. Stastny is held off the scoresheet on too many nights and, in fact, is in the longest goal-scoring drought of his career (12 games). When he was a 2nd line center and the Avalanche had other weapons, this would have been okay. They don't have other weapons.

I'm already running long, so I'll have to speed through the rest of this. Craig Anderson has a 3.39 GAA and .885 Save Percentage in November and lately he's been making us think fondly of Jose Theodore's awful stickhandling. Perhaps we should hold off on giving him the keys to the city for a while longer. Our PK was terrific in October (12.9%) but it's been dreadful since (26.3%). The Avalanche were supposed to be harder to play against under Joe Sacco, but the Avs are giving up more shots per game than they did under Tony Granato and they are hitting substantially less (from about 10 per game to 6). How is that better?

At the end of October, Joe Sacco looked like a coach of the year candidate for the way he had turned this team around. In just 3 weeks, that's gone away. Although they are still high in the standings, they are looking more and more like last year's team - no scoring, defensive lapses, inconsistent goaltending. With another bad week, the Avs could be out of the top 8 altogether (they are just 5 points ahead of the 11th place Canucks).

Personally, I think the next few weeks are going to be very interesting. As we approached the start of the season, it seems like most of us fans felt that this season wouldn't be so much about winning as losing as it would be about effort and player development. That's going to be put to the test shortly, I'm afraid. Will we be frustrated with repeated losses? Or will we really be content to watch guys like Wojtek Wolski, David Jones and Kyle Cumiskey who are having career years (Cumiskey has already set a career high, and Jones needs just 2 more points to do the same) as well as seeing kids like Matt Duchene, Ryan O'Reilly and Ryan Wilson blossom? It will be an adjustment for sure, but not all that new for us. After all, we were 3 games over .500 and in 8th place as late as January 10th last year. I think we all know how that ended for us.

Quick, Kings drop Panthers 4-3 in SO

Whale4ever — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:33:05 -0000

More photos » by J Pat Carter - AP

about 1 month ago: Hockey fans urge Florida Panthers' Kenndal McArdle (71) and Los Angeles Kings' Wayne Simmonds (17) during NHL second period hockey action in Sunrise, Fla. Monday, Nov. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

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A spirited night (announced attendance: 12,500) at the BankAtlantic Center saw the Florida Panthers - under the eyes of new managing partners Stuart Siegel and Cliff Viner - fall to 4-2 in shootouts as opportunistic Los Angeles made good use of their growing wealth of talent.

The Cats, who led 2-0 at the midway point on markers by Nathan Horton and Cory Stillman, couldn't hold the advantage, allowing the Kings to bang home three goals (2 on the PP) to turn the tables. Florida rookie Victor Oreskovich - playing in his seventh NHL contest - scored his first career goal in the Bigs to pull the Cats into a three-all tie, setting the stage for yet another overtime.

One shot was all either club could muster in the extra frame, so on to the now-familiar shootout, where the Panthers have been surprisingly successful in recent weeks. SOG heading into the skills-competition: 34-29, L.A.

Bottom line on the final result: Jack Johnson, who scored an earlier PP goal to get the Kings rolling in the second period, was the only shooter to find the net, scoring on Tomas Vokoun after a strangely quiet Anze Kopitar (1 assist while leading the NHL in goals) was unable to convert.

Rostislav Olesz (4 shots), Steven Reinprecht (1 assist), and Stillman (1 goal, 1 assist) were all turned away by Jonathan Quick.

Hey...though disappointing, it's one more point.

Next up: Cats travel to Buffalo for a Wednesday meeting with the Sabres. Open Thread goes live at 6pm.

Bolts seek to further boost home record versus Kings (preview)

John Fontana — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:03:07 -0000

More photos » by John Dunn - AP

Former Hart Trophy winner Martin St. Louis takes his 11 game goal-scoring drought into tonight's matchup with the LA Kings (AP Photo/John Dunn -- April 4, 2009)

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WHERE: St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida
WHEN: 7:30 PM EST
MEDIA: Sun Sports (Cable), 620 WDAE (radio)

After Thursday night's dramatic, come-from-behind, did-they-deserve-that(?) victory over the Minnesota Wild, the Bolts seek to extend their winning ways at home (5-0-3 at Times Palace this season) against the Los Angeles Kings.

That, and Martin St. Louis looks to end his 11 game goal-scoring drought. After notching two goals on opening night in Atlanta and a tally versus the Panthers nine days later, St. Louis has zero goals and nine assists over the next 11 games.

The Kings are playing the second of a back-to-back set and will be out to redeem themselves after being outright slaughtered 7-0 in Atlanta last night. The Kings (like the Lightning, Thrashers, New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche) have rebounded spectacularly in general after a poor 2008-09 campaign that netted them a top draft pick. Of course it's early in the NHl season still but 24 points in 20 games is not too shabby.

The Kings have a 21.9 power play percentage (12th) and a 74.0 penalty kill percentage (29th)... Of course the Bolts are struggling in both categories, converting on only 18.1% of power play opportunities (19th) and killing off 76.8% of penalties (26th). The Lightnign are also allowing 32 shots on goal nightly while taking 27.7 shots on average. The Kings, on the other hand, are taking 28 shots on goal and allowing a meager 26.

The King salso boast the league points leader in cnter Anze Kopitar. Kopitar has 30 points in 20 games (14 goals -- tied for the league lead, 16 assists) and Ryan Smyth is second on the team with 22 points (9 goals, 13 assists). those stats alone should give pause to anyone thinking the Bolts have it easy trying to stop the Kings for the second night in a row.

After tonight, Tampa Bay opens a four game road trip before heading back to Tampa for Thanksgiving.

Other Previews:

Official Tampa Bay Lightning game preview

TSN.ca

Find more Kings coverage at Battle of California

[Note by John Fontana, 11/14/09 2:32 PM EST ] The Lightning report, via their official Twitter feed, that Matt Walker will be a game-time decision and if he cannot play, Kurtis Foster will start in his place.

Recap: Thrashers Beat Blueshirts 5-3

aaron b — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:05:59 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

about 1 month ago: Atlanta Thrashers' Ilya Kovalchuk (17), of Russia, celebrates with teammates after scoring during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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Thoughts from last night's game:

Ilya Kovalchuk came back! He had 3 points!

Ryan Callahan & Zach Bogosian should be okay as long as they play on the same team for the Olympics.

The power play looks to be returning to form. Rich Peverley's PP marker in the first period broke a 0-13 slump that stretched back to November 5^th (vs. Columbus).

Did I mention Ilya Kovalchuk came back? He seemed to be kinda useful on the 1^st power play unit. Maybe he should do more of that.

Pretty goals by both Evander Kane and Colby Armstrong. Still MIA? Slava Kozlov (1 shot, 1 PPA), Todd White (1 shot, 1 PPA) and Bryan Little (Nothing. No. Thing. Oh wait, 1 hit).

As far as Mr. Evander Kane goes: I was officially wrong. Seems time in NHL has done him some good. Here's to many more pretty goals.

I will not be mentioning the oppositions' secondary forwards anymore, as both Brian Boyle and Artem Anisimov scored for the Rangers last night.

There seemed to be a massive jump in the Thrashers compete level - having your captain back may help. I greatly enjoyed watching Kovalchuk get fired up during the Eric Boulton/Donald Brashear tilt.

Was it just me, or did Darren Eliot actually utter the phrase "Pevs Dispenser?"

Finally, big game against the Kings of Los Angeles this evening. Mortimer Peacock disputes the validity of their claim to the throne, even as Anze Kopitar continues his zombie-like march toward the scoring crown.

King Anze and Los Angeles take down Pittsburgh 5-2

Hooks Orpik — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:47:01 -0000

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

about 1 month ago: Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar (11), of Slovenia, and Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) keep Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Bill Guerin (13) from scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)

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Penguins vs Kings coverage - Penguins vs Kings boxscore

Coming into the game, the Los Angeles Kings were a buzzsaw. 5-0-2 in their last seven; and after tonight they've scored 5+ goals in five of the last seven games. They showed why, with superior zone time, cycling, shots on goal. Usually all the aspects the Penguins outmatch others, that's what LA did to them tonight, and they pulled away late in the third period to get a deserving result, a 5-2 victory.

Right off the bat in the first period, the Kings collected a puck in their zone and rushed it up the ice, Justin Williams crissed, Anze Kopitar crossed and Kris Letang was somewhere in the middle. That's not a good equation. Kopitar showed the skill that's why he's currently the league's leading scorer when he stepped up, smoothly went to the backhand and beat Marc-Andre Fleury cleanly for a goal.

The next shift the Penguins put Jordan Staal out with Chris Conner and Matt Cooke. On a breakout Jay McKee (of all people) ended up driving towards the net. Conner dropped the puck to Staal who slapped it to the net. It found paydirt 1-1.

The very fact a defensive defenseman like McKee finds himself in the position to be a little ahead of the play and ends up driving to the net just shows how much the entire team has bought into the system that Dan Bylsma wants them to play. When Jay McKee is your lead force center driving the net and a guy like Jordan Staal knows to pull up, everyone's clicking, everyone's on the same page. In a nutshell that's why Pittsburgh's had so much success since Bylsma took over.

In the second period Brooks Orpik took a shot that Chris Kunitz and Sidney Crosby waived their sticks at. Kunitz got a piece and it was enough to beat Jonathan Quick. IT was 2-1 Pens after two, despite being out-shot and generally out-played they took a lead into the second intermission. It wouldn't last though.

In the third Kopitar would tie it. He beat Crosby on a faceoff and found Williams for a shot. The shot found Kopitar behind the net (as the puck always seems to find the good ones) and he popped out for the easy stuff in to tie the game at 2.

Following a real sloppy power-play by the Pens (what else is new recently), Dustin Brown made a great pass to Jarret Stoll and he buried it. 3-2 Kings. The very next shift the Kings kept the pressure up, Craig Adams was no match for Alexander Frolov and he fired a pass out that bounced around and Michal Handzus got the goal, with Wayne Simmonds right there to get it too. 4-2 Kings just like that.

And in the "piling it on" folder, the Kings got zone time, they cycled well and drew a penalty. With the extra man they got some great passes, caught the Pens running around and Stoll made a great pass to Dustin Brown for an easy slam dunker. 5-2 Kings.

The goalies really settled down after two goalies in the first 1:10 of gameplay, for a while at least. Fleury stopped the next 24 shots, and the only way the Pens beat Quick was a deflection out front. MAF got victimized in a flurry in the 3rd, but let's absolve him because the Kings applied a lot of pressure and outworked a lot of Pittsburgh players to get their goals.
It's not even that Kopitar scored his two goals: the way he did it was almost effortless and very skillful. If he played in the eastern time zone he'd be one of the most hyped players in the game. He's definitely one of those guys like a Rick Nash or Ilya Kovalchuk that is worth watching any chance you get. A supremely talented player and Kopitar put on one of the best performances tonight that I've seen all season.
It should be noted that Kris Letang played 24:49, and though Kopitar made him look foolish twice, he escaped with an even plus/minus rating. Fellow youngster Alex Goligoski logged 21:32 of ice-time and was a +1.
Not to say the usually solid four more defensive defenseman (Jay McKee, Brooks Orpik, Martin Skoula and Mark Eaton) deserve all the blame; but that foursome combined to have a plus/minus rating of -7 (all were negatives except McKee). Pittsburgh's not going to win many games under those circumstances, especially with the power-play not clicking.
Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin combined for 10 of the Pens total of 23 shots on goal. Guerin got a couple wonderful feeds but couldn't convert (including one that hit Quick's pad and then the post). Can't knock those two for a lack of effort, but the results generally just haven't paid dividends.
Matt Cooke, Pascal Dupuis and Ruslan Fedotenko -- three veteran wingers all relied on for contributions didn't fare as well. That trio combined for almost 47 minutes of ice-time but only got one shot on goal (Fedotenko's) and weren't dangerous. They were flat out overmatched by their counter-parts in guys like Stoll, Brown and Frolov.
Tough night for Craig Adams too. While he registered a game high 8 hits (including one on Matt Greene that dislodged the glass), Adams was a -3 and lost 9 of 12 faceoffs.
As far as diminutive forwards with the first name of Chris go: Conner > Bourque. Maybe it's because Conner's two years older, maybe it's because he's got 54 more NHL games, but whatever the reason, Conner seems more poised, a better skater and makes better decisions with the puck.

Overall, no excuses, the Kings worked very hard, played a superior game, got some solid goaltending and deserved the win. They displayed all the usual tenets of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, but did so with better skill and execution from top to bottom. One can't help but wonder what the outcome would have been if Pittsburgh was fortunate enough to have their four key injured players (Malkin, Gonchar, Kennedy, Talbot) but let that take nothing away from the display LA put on. Sure would be nice to see a seven game series between these two teams, but that is a long ways away.

Pittsburgh's franchise best of seven straight road wins to open a season is now history, but they still have a big chance to have a winning west coast road trip if they get the result in San Jose on Saturday. The Sharks are no easy task, so time to put this one behind us and move north in California to see what can happen.

Sharks Gameday: It's Been Awhile

Mr. Plank — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:30:29 -0000

	@ 7:30 PST
8-4-0, 16 points		7-4-1, 15 points
2nd in Western Conference		5th in Western Conference

Television	CSN-CA, NHLN-US
Radio	98.5 KFOX, Sjsharks.com
Antagonists	Battle of CaliforniaThe Royal Half

Pound for pound, this is probably the biggest game the Sharks and Kings have played against one another since, well, forever. At least what seems like forever.

Embellishment? Maybe. Then again, maybe not.

Los Angeles rolls into HP Pavilion tonight atop of the Pacific Division, thanks in part to a current four game winning streak that culminated in a 6-2 drubbing of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night. Goaltending has been an issue for the club in the past, but this season it hasn't mattered- despite a sub .900 SV% from both Jonathan Quick and Erik Ersberg, the Kings have managed to put the puck in the net at a 3.67 per game rate, good for third in the NHL.

Enter Anze Kopitar.

Fresh off a seven year $47.6 M dollar extension signed in October of last year, Kopitar has clicked with offseason acquisition Ryan Smyth. The formula is simple-- Smyth bangs in front of the net and uses his body to hold the puck down low, while Kopitar is able to rove between the circles and use his excellent vision to find holes where a wicked wrist shot can be unleashed. The formula is also working-- both find themselves amongst the top ten in the early Art Ross race, with Kopitar's 21 points leading the league.

"It's nice, real nice," the Kings center told Fear The Fin in an interview that obviously never occurred. "I've enjoyed my day in the sun thus far. Even if my complexion doesn't show it."

Any concerns that production may slide as the season progresses? "Sure, of course you think about it. You don't end up looking like a raccoon when you're sleeping well. I like to think I aesthetically represent the average Kings fan. [Forty years of] futility has a way of weighing on you, and insomnia probably isn't all too uncommon amongst the faithful."

Despite some first periods that can be described as anything but faithful, San Jose is coming off a successful East Coast road trip in which they posted a 4-2-0 record, picking up wins against notables such as the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. A regulation win at HP Pavilion tonight would put them back in the Pacific division lead. While not a must-have by any means at this stage of the season, the two organizations will be approaching the game with similar mind-sets. For the Kings, it's a litmus test. For the Sharks, it's an emphasis on traditional divisional roles.

For both, it's an opportunity to make a direct statement. And that's something we haven't been able to say for a long time.

Prediction: Sharks win 5-3. Goals by Marleau (x2), Ferriero, Boyle, and Demers. Frolov goes pointless and subsequently gets traded; Ryan Smyth cries about it because that's just what he does.

Go Sharks.

SB Nation - Anze Kopitar

Kings-Sharks Recap: Booyah!

Behind the Net goes to an actual NHL game

Back-To-Back Is Back! Canucks-Kings Preview

A Statistical Look at the Flyers, through 16 Games

Colorado Avalanche: What the Hell Happened?

Quick, Kings drop Panthers 4-3 in SO

Bolts seek to further boost home record versus Kings (preview)

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

Forward Lines:

Defense:

Recap: Thrashers Beat Blueshirts 5-3

King Anze and Los Angeles take down Pittsburgh 5-2

Sharks Gameday: It's Been Awhile

@

Television

CSN-CA, NHLN-US

Radio

98.5 KFOX, Sjsharks.com

Antagonists

Battle of CaliforniaThe Royal Half