Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr
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You know things are bad when you look at that link and find yourself hoping PLD is among them.
Update. Kings…
• played Dallas well for two periods, then utterly fell apart in the 3rd
• came home last Thursday and lost to Nashville in a game I know nothing about, as it was on ESPn-minus and my download site isn't covering the NHL right now. (I know it's NFL playoff time, but you have all week to catch up!)
• welcomed Jonathan Quick home with a lovely video tribute on Saturday (
nobody does ceremonies like the Kings, not that this is the formal number-retirement/statue-unveiling Quickie will eventually get) and then gutted out a lovely 2-1 win, with lots of fine work from Rittich
• flopped badly enough to somehow lose to
San Jose on Monday, where we battled back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to (of course) lose in the shootout. 2-0-9 in extra-time now, still worst in the League.
(Easiest shoot-out loss ever. Kings miss, Sharks score, Kings miss, Sharks score and win. Could have stayed on the bench.)
• had a wonderful ceremony last night for all of Kopitar's achievements this season (now leads all Kings ever in games played and assists, now 2nd in points, reached 400 career goals) with a cute "multiplex" theme and "movie posters" to cover how this could have been four separate ceremonies.
Then we raced out to an early 3-1 lead against Buffalo, who were starting their towel boy in the nets. During the first intermission, Jim Fox warned the Kings to not be too confident, as Towel Boy had let in a couple of softies.
Did the Kings listen? Of course not! Assuming the scoresheet was there for the taking, the Kings traveled back to the 1980s and eschewed defense, giving away so many pucks in their own end that the Sabre-cast was calling them out on it, and Talbot let in four in a row as the Kings lost 5-3, now 2-7-5 in their past 14.
We are now barely hanging on to a wild-card spot, and will likely miss the playoffs unless the new coach (Vigneault? Gallant? The Daryl Sutter Reunion Tour?) can turn things around.
Yes, McLellan isn't technically fired yet, but when the questions at the presser are basically "you're getting fired, right?" and Todd isn't blowing his stack at them, you know it's coming. Presumably we will limp through the upcoming road trip (at Avs, Blues, and Preds) before the axe falls during the All-Star break.
Drew Doughty was saying that "guys", plural, were only thinking of themselves, so not just PLD. (Fiala, too, Drew?) Still love to have that trade back, if only so that still having Sean Durzi or Sean Walker (both sacrificed for cap space) would give us a chance to sit Physical Presence Andreas Englund and not have to throw Brandt Clarke into this dumpster fire so quickly. Our King-dom for a Sean!
More details about McLellan's inability to impose a new scheme (for the NYR game, they put Byfield as the 3rd-line center [thinking he's grown enough to take charge of a line] and PLD up with Kopi and Kempe [thinking they can elevate his game] and when Todd undid that to try and catch the Sharks next game, Jim Fox cheerfully noted "and Todd McLellan's new line scheme lasts exactly five periods") to come, but this post is long enough.
Holy ****ing crap. Makes me long for the 2022 Mets.
(6th-worst choke in MLB history, if you've forgotten.)