June 7th, 2013

Where the hell was Anze Kopitar?  Where the hell was captain Dustin Brown?  This would be an excellent time for you guys to show up and start contributing offensively!  For all intents and purposes, the Kings season is over.  The Kings lost to Chicago 3-2 in game 4 of the Western Conference Finals at Staples Center, and are now down 3-1 in the best of 7 series.

Most Kings fans seem to be blaming Tia Toscano for not singing the national anthem.  Tia gets some of the blame, but I think most starts with Kopitar and Brown.  When this is all over, we better find out that these guys were hurt because they’ve played like garbage.  Jonathan Quick has to be flawless to make up for the crap these guys are pulling.  Quick made some stellar saves in game 4, but allowed one soft goal to Bryan Bickell early in the game, which got the Blackhawks going.

Did anyone listen to what I had to say after game 3? I said a critical factor in the rest of the series was which duo could pull their game out of the crapper first: Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, or Kopitar and Brown.  Obviously it was Kane and Toews who pulled it together in game 4, which is why the Kings are almost ready to start booking tee times.  Kopitar has been exiled to the third line, and you wouldn’t even be able to tell he’s even in the lineup.  Dustin Brown has remained on the 1st line, but you also wouldn’t know he’s there.  The Kings are already without an injured Mike Richards, and they might as well be playing without Brown and Kopitar at this point.

Despite Kopitar and Brown’s invisibility, the Kings had plenty of chances to win game 4.  They had a one goal lead twice, but Just Williams failed to put the game away on his breakaway, and the Kings couldn’t score on the powerplay in the 3rd when their season depended on it.  Who the hell has been calling the Kings line changes the last two games anyway?  Vinny Del Negro?  The Kings made a terrible line change early in the 3rd and the Hawks scored the game winner as a result.  They made the same mistake in game 3, and could have been burned again if it hadn’t been for an offside call.

What the hell was Daryl Evans wearing on the Kings post game show last night?  It was some kind of a velvet suit with a strange floral pattern on it.  Evans must be shopping with Dwayne Wade these days.

Also, screw you Tim Leiweke! In an interview with a local Toronto TV station, he was asked about how he felt about Leafs fans.  He said:

“We didn’t have that in L.A. and we won the Stanley Cup. We finally saw it at the end. It took us getting to the finals in order to awaken that town. It’s not a hockey town.”

“You had more built up passion for this hockey team (Toronto) and that organization on an AWAY playoff game than we EVER did, INCLUDING winning the Stanley Cup, Game 6, Home Ice at Staples Center.”

June 5th, 2013

Another close call, but the Kings came up with another win at home.  The Kings jumped out to a 2-0 lead agains the Blackhawks in game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, and held on for dear life in the final minutes before adding an empty net goal, securing the 3-1 victory.  Justin Williams came up big again, scoring the first goal of the game, which was his 4th goal in the last 4 games.  Williams said “I don’t think we were too uptight at all.  We knew what we had to do, plain and simple.  We’ve been here before, and we used that to help us tonight.”  Really?  because I was practically peeing in my pants, just knowing you had to win this game!

Jonathan Quick should be arrested for robbing Bryan Bickell of a goal late in the 3rd period.  Quick somehow came up with a save from point blank range with the inside of his blocker.  As I predicted, Quick rebounded from his subpar performance in game 2, by playing a spectacular game 3.  Meanwhile, Slava Voynov’s agent could hear the cash registers ringing after scoring the game winning goal in the 2nd period.  Voynov now has 5 goals in the playoffs, which is a record for Kings defenseman in the playoffs.  He’s a restricted free agent this off-season, and the Kings will have to find a way to lock him up long term.

I expect Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith to be suspended for the next two games after high-sticking Jeff Carter.  If he isn’t, Kings fan should be lining up with pitch forks and tiki torches outside of Brendan Shanahan’s office.  Keith is a repeat offender, and we’ve already seen incidents like this where Shanahan suspended first time offenders for two games.  Keith appeared to be sorry for the incident, but he should still be punished regardless of the intent.

Speaking of being sorry, Anze Kopitar needs to send Daryl Sutter an apology of some kind to get out of his coaches dog house.  Kopitar was demoted to the third line after continuing his scoring struggles.   His play last night wasn’t bad, but he needs to score goals if the Kings hope to win this series.

The Kings did a great job of imposing their style of play on the Blackhawks.  LA made sure Chicago couldn’t build up speed through the neutral zone as they did in the first two games, and their defense was tighter than a Beyonce jumpsuit.  They also knocked the Hawks around, outhitting them 36-26.  The Kings aren’t back in the series yet, but if they bring the same effort to the table Thursday, I like their chances of tying this series up.