Probably the Only Offseason Post You'll See from Me.

Well, I've finally been able to acknowledge the fact that the Kings are no longer the defending Stanley Cup Champions and that the Blackhawks stole that sacred goblet from our hands. This means I can actually write about hockey with...without...hold on...

IT WAS A SHORTENED SEASON, OKAY?!?!

Back to the Kings. There have been a few changes to the roster in case you haven't heard. Our third best goalie, Rob Scuderi, was picked up by the same team he actually made that save for; Jonathan Bernier went to be a backup goalie for a team that was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs; Dustin Penner was let go, so what the team now lacks in personality, they made up for in efficiency during the regular season; Matt Frattin and Ben Scrivens were added to the roster in the trade for Bernier and the Kings signed defenseman Jeff Schultz and winger (because the Kings apparently don't care which side you prefer to play on) Daniel Carcillo.

But we still have some unanswered questions:

Are these new guys good? Frattin is decent, 13 pts in 25 games played. That's incredible improvement from the previous season. Put him on a line with pretty much any of our top 3 centers and he'll be just fine. Scrivens? Eh, he's a backup for a reason.

Who is going to play defense? Dude, IDK. Everyone from last year, except Scuderi. The Kings have way too many defensemen anyway, we'll be ok.

Does Willie Mitchell still exist? According to Dean Lombardi and Mitchell's twitter/instagram, yes.



But seriously, who's going to play defense in place of Scuderi?!?

The loss of Scuderi is arguably the biggest hole to fill on the roster. Dude was intense. I mean, who on our current roster is going to slam their face into the boards just so that we can win the Stanley Cup again? We CAN'T let Jeff Carter do that. Scuderi's facial hair is rivaled by few and with Penner gone too, it's going to be a tough spot to fill, especially with all the talk of these prospects coming in. What is it with young hockey players and not being able to grow facial hair? I've been shaving since the freaking 7th grade. Do zamboni fumes delay puberty?

What about the actual playing of hockey? You know, blue line, penalty kill, etc.?
"We made it to the playoffs last year without a key defenseman, and if Mitchell comes back we'll be fine." But that's the thing. Mitchell is unreliable. He's like a drunk friend. He says he'll be there. He says he'll pick you up from the airport. But he doesn't. He says he'll slam his face into the boards to win a Cup, but he does it at a completely inappropriate time and on accident. Could you potentially put Doughty into the lineup as a stay at home defenseman? Yeah, he did a decent job at it last year. But everyone is happier when he scores a lot.

And even when he gets assists

If Mitchell comes back and stays healthy (there's been video of him skating and shooting...alone, but skating and shooting nonetheless) there isn't TOO much to worry about. He'll probably be off his game early on in the season, just as Matt Greene and Jonathan Quick were after they came back from injury. The good news is that the NHL extended the regular season this year to 82 games instead of 48. Crazy, I know.

You'd think a team with 9 defensive players on their NHL roster alone, not including prospects in Manchester, and the best goalie in the world would be able to win games and give up no more than 2 goals.

Offensively, there's no excuse. They have all of the right guys up front, but just can't seem to score when it matters (read: against the Blackhawks in the WCF). If Slovenia expects to get out of group play in the Olympics, Kopitar better...ah, who am I kidding, they won't get out of group play regardless. But score more goals for the Kings, dammit.

All in all, I am fully expecting the Kings to lead me on like we are going to have another Cup run, go through an early/mid/late season slump which potentially compromises a playoff spot, and then play the Penguins in the final. Let's see how we can face off against an old friend.

Side note: Stoked to see Jonathan Quick stay healthy all year and win the US a gold medal in Sochi and then a Stanley Cup in the spring.

It's a 3-2 League...I Mean Series

I’ll tell you something right now, it is way more fun to write about hockey when the Kings win. 

In case you missed it, which I hope you didn’t, the Kings beat the Sharks 3-0 Thursday night to take a 3-2 series lead which puts them one win away from their second consecutive trip to the Western Conference Final. 

What was different in this game compared to the last two, or even arguably three, games? This leads me to a new segment I'm going to start where I talk about things I thought the Kings executed well which aided their victory, or stood out in a loss, and I'm going to call it....

Good Things:

Well, the Kings were forechecking, hard. They were also Four-Checking really well (penalty kill, guys. Get it? Because...four players...ok). The Sharks had only 4 shots total on their 3 power plays. They were clogging the neutral zone. Quick stood on his head, and drew a penalty on the guy who accused him of diving. HA! 

Lots of offensive zone time, thus leading to a lot of shots (29). Not all of them were on net, but the Kings were able to get a lot of shots off, despite the fact that many went wide of the net or were blocked by Sharks players (19) other than Antti Niemi. 

They won more faceoffs than the Sharks! (37-35) Trevor Lewis's faceoff win against Joe Thornton was especially significant, as it lead to Slava Voynov's goal. More on Slava and Thornton later. 

Anze Kopitar finally scored. Jeff Carter scored (an empty netter) but he fooled just about 18,000 people, including the Staples Center lighting crew, into thinking he had scored in the second period.

Kings outhit the Sharks 51-24. That's absurd. Like I said, forecheck. 

And this ends the first ever segment of Good Things.

Kings fans: if you think the series is over, please don’t get ahead of yourself. Game 5 was the best game the Kings have played this series (if not thus far in the playoffs). The Sharks are a good team that is, as we already saw, capable of winning two games in a row. The series could easily be 3-2 the other way.

But hey, it’s not 3-2 the other way so that’s pretty cool. It’s pretty obvious that if the Kings can replicate their level of play in Game 5 in Game 6 on Sunday, they’ll win the series. Doesn’t take an expert analyst to figure that out. It’s pretty much deductive reasoning. 

Other things the Kings can do?

Special Teams: While the referees seem to be letting the boys play, and calls are far and few between, it seems to me (I am in no way claiming to be unbiased) the calls are going the Sharks way. Now that I’ve got that out of the way; the Kings are doing a good job on the penalty kill, but if they really want to crush the Sharks’ and more importantly their fans’ hella hopes, score more power play goals. Fun Fact: the Kings had a WHOPPING 2 shots on the PP. Shorthanded? Kings had 2 shots. 

Voynov’s goal was technically even strength last night, but came immediately after a power play had ended. The power play goals shouldn’t be coming at the very end of the 2 minutes of offensive freedom. Score early and often. Both teams were 0/3 on the PP last night. 

The Opposite of Special Teams: By this I mean, stay out of the penalty box. The Kings are a pretty disciplined team, and don’t take many dumb penalties ie. those that come after the whistle just to get back at an opposing player for chirping.  

Joe Thornton didn’t have such an amazing game last night, definitely compared to Game 4. Whether this is due to his own inconsistency, or the Kings being able to shut him down, it doesn’t really matter to me, as long as he doesn’t do this again...

*wipes single tear from face*

God, that was horrible. The best revenge? Besides the obvious...

...Win a dad-gum road game in San Jose. I really don’t think my body is capable of handling a Game 7 until the Finals. What happened to the team that lost 1 road game in the playoffs last year? Sometimes I just don’t get it. But since we’re sort of, kind of, technically the #2 seed now, road success isn’t nearly as important as home success. 

Along the lines of home ice advantage:

The Red Wings are ahead 3-1 in their series against the Blackhawks. Yes, the team that didn’t lose a regulation game until over halfway through the regular season is on the verge of elimination. 

Red Wings fans: I wouldn’t get your hopes up. There’s no way a seed as low as 7th place can make it to the Cup, let alone win it...

That being said, SHOULD the Kings make it to the next round with the Red Wings, home ice goes to the Kings. Seeing how the Kings have yet to lose at home in the playoffs, or for the last 12 games, that looks to be pretty beneficial. But keep in mind, if there's one team that has a lot of fans in LA, it's the Red Wings. I can't even remember the last time I saw the Kings and Red Wings play in each other in the playoffs...or...can I? 

*To save time go ahead and skip to 5:10*

#PlayoffMartinez Update:

This was the FIRST Kings win this playoffs without Alec Martinez in the lineup. After last night, it’s hard to justify putting Martinez in. Jake Muzzin was firing rockets from the point. Only 2 counted as shots, and he had a giveaway, but I was overall impressed with is play. Matt Greene looked almost back to his original form, throwing the body around (4 hits), standing guys up on the blueline. To top it off, he was +1 (but that's sort of a hollow victory, I guess when no one on the team was a - last night). And Slava Voynov had a goal. Can’t really complain about the results from the game last night. 

Daryl Sutter isn’t going to sit Doughty, Voynov, Scuderi, or Regehr. With Muzzin offering offensive firepower and Greene finally stepping up his game, looks like the days of Martinez are coming to a close unless Muzzin starts making tons of rookie mistakes. Even then, Muzzin has 2 inches and 10 pounds on Martinez so he offers more of a physical presence in the defensive zone. 

As of Sunday I’ll be back in Austin. I fully expect to be kicked out of multiple sports bars due to boisterous, inappropriate, or even downright offensive behavior throughout the rest of the playoffs. And my sleep cycle will be messed up during home games (yes, I am blaming the hockey games).

Although, the Kings are now 5-0 when I attend the games. So I think it is in the team’s best interest that we crowd source the funding to fly me to and from Austin and L.A. because the boys need me. Especially during the finals. Really airfare is all that will need to be paid for. Tickets and board in L.A. are already paid for. Thinking about starting an indiegogo page. 

Starting an internship/job next week, so posts may not be as frequent in the coming months (because they have just be SO FREQUENT so far right?!?) But you can always follow me on twitter, @SuttersLonghorn for a good time. I tweet about seeing celebrities at Kings games and then get called out for being a jerk about it. It's great. 

Shutting Out the Sharks: How to Confirm You have the Best Goalie in the World

Tuesday the Los Angeles Kings shutout the San Jose Sharks 2-0 in Game 1 of the Western Conference  Semi-Final. Both Mike Richards, center, and Slava Voynov, defense, were credited with a goal and an assist. Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped 35 shots in order to get his second shutout of the 2013 playoffs.

Well that was a boring intro...moving on.

#PlayoffMartinez Update: 1 shot on goal last night.....

I was at the game last night so it was a lot easier to follow the game there than on my computer screen. Here are some things I noticed, both good and bad:

The Bad:

1. The Kings gave up 35 shots. Luckily Jonathan Quick of Nazareth was there to stop all of them. But really, getting outshot by 15 isn't the most effective way to win hockey games. 

2. 50/50 battles for the puck; from what I could tell, the Kings weren't winning them for the most part. 

3. The Kings second goal was a deflection. Just as easily, the Sharks could have had one of those lucky bounces and the game would have been completely different. 

4. Jeff Carter didn't score AND got an assist. It was horrible. 

5. Raffi Torres sucks and Jarret Stoll has a "day-to-day" "undisclosed" injury. For those who aren't familiar with hockey, that means he has a concussion because Mr. Torres blindsided him (and a few other guys).

Word on the street is that he has been offered an in-person hearing with the NHL on his hit last night. 

The Good:

1. The Kings won! Yeah! That makes 5 in a row. 

2. Defensively: the Kings were doing a good job of keeping a majority of the Sharks shots to the perimeter. The Sharks weren't getting too many chances up close or off of rebounds. If there was a loose puck in front of the net, and Quick wasn't there, a defenseman was and he was able to clear it to the boards. In addition, the Sharks had only 4 shots on their three powerplays. 

3. The Kings 3rd period forecheck stood out to me, when they got the chance to forecheck that is. I mean pretty much all of the third period was played in the Kings' zone. But otherwise, the rest of the game the Kings did a good job of clogging the neutral zone and the Sharks were dumping/chasing more times than not. 

The Kings will definitely have to up their play in Game 2. It's got to be frustrating for the Sharks to put 35 shots on net, and none of them go in. Jonathan Quick is making them look like...

Despite the Kings 2 goals coming from the more "outside" regions of the offensive zone, I felt that they had more quality scoring chances than the Sharks (until the third period). But what does a scoring chance even mean? Isn't every shot a "scoring chance?" What does it imply? 

Game 2 will be interesting. Why? Well the Sharks are probably not going to come up goalless on 35 shots again. Jarret Stoll will most likely be out for the Kings, a key faceoff guy for the team. So who's going to replace him?

Jeff Carter and Mike Richards can both take faceoffs well, but does Daryl Sutter really want to split those two up? I mean, these guys are the dynamic duo, they can't be separated. What's Henrik Sedin without Daniel? What's Batman without Robin? What Bonnie without Clyde? What's an Adam Sandler movie without Rob Schneider? 

*Sweet Ed Hardy shirts Mike and Jeff!*

Trevor Lewis and Colin Fraser can both take faceoffs too, so expect some line juggling to happen for Game 2. I'd try and figure out what Daryl Sutter's going to do, but I don't even think he knows yet. 

Possibilities based on last games scratches:

- Kyle Clifford (most likely not. practiced yesterday in red "no-contact" jersey)

- Brad Richardson (could potentially add an offensive spark, based on history of coming off healthy scratch)

- Any of the several AHL guys that were called up but won't see any playing time. Names to keep in the back of your mind; Brandon Kozun, Anthony Stewart. Both right wings, and I've heard their names before, so if that doesn't mean anything I don't know what does. 

Also, Torres may or may not be suspended for a few games, but aside from causing injury to the other team he's basically a non-factor. 

I'll leave you with a pic I took from last night...in the men's bathroom...between the first and second periods...

If you can't read it clearly, that's a tiny bottle of Taaka vodka. If you've never heard of it, consider yourself blessed. If you have, I feel your pain. Like, literal pain. I've felt it too...

So shout out to the Kings fan that smuggled this in. I'm sure it probably wasn't worth the feeling of Satan's saliva running down your throat to feel that less than $9.25/beer buzz.

Taaka 'bout giving up 35 shots...



If you have anything to say about this post; agree, disagree, were hazed with Taaka vodka and want to share, etc. feel free to comment.

And be sure to follow me on twitter @SuttersLonghorn