Los Angeles at Dallas 10/19/09

[LAKINGSNUT]

LOS ANGELES KINGS


at


DALLAS STARS

Up next for Kings: Monday at Dallas

Update: Despite the Kings' three-game losing streak, Coach Terry Murray canceled Sunday's scheduled practice, providing recovery time for the 10 to 12 players who have reported flu symptoms. He said most players were feeling better and that the worst of the illness appeared to be behind them. He also said mental mistakes have been undermining the team's efforts but also that not everyone is contributing offensively. "The Kopitar line has been doing the big majority of the scoring. There needs to be more from other places and we're going to have to demand more," he said. The Stars have won two of their last three games under Coach Marc Crawford, who preceded Murray as the Kings' coach.

-- Helene Elliott


TV Broadcast: Away Team: FS-W (HD)
Home Team: FS-SW (HD)
Radio Broadcast: KTLK AM 1150
XM Radio Channel: XM 205
Online Radio broadcast stream: NHL Game Radio: Kings at Stars
Online Game Stream: Kings at Stars

KINGS (4-4-0) at STARS (3-1-3)

Season Series: This is the first of six meetings between the Pacific Division rivals, and the start of a home-and-home series that concludes on Thursday in Los Angeles. The Kings went 4-1-1 against the Stars last season, with four of the meetings requiring more than regulation.

Big Story: Marc Crawford is back behind an NHL bench and is off to a quality start with the Dallas Stars. Crawford, who coached Los Angeles from 2006-08, has watched his new team earn points in six of its first seven games.

Team Scope:

Kings: The biggest reason for L.A.'s recent struggles is the fact that roughly one-third of the team is battling the flu. In their three consecutive losses, the Kings -- who have plenty of firepower up front -- have scored only five goals.

"We've probably got seven, eight guys out there that are really, really low on energy right now," Los Angeles coach Terry Murray said after Saturday's 4-1 loss at Columbus. "It showed, as we had to play catch-up. The tank just empties out too quickly. You call on a few guys, and even though they're healthy, they're playing in too many situations that are very hard to get through."

Stars: Brad Richards is showing the form that helped him win the Conn Smythe Trophy with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004. The 29-year-old center is off to a tremendous start with the Stars, as he's tallied 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists) in the team's first seven games. He and his teammates suffered a minor setback on Friday night in a 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins at American Airlines Center, but bounced back nicely on Saturday in a 4-3 win at Chicago.

"I thought that we were guilty of going to the easy areas a little bit too much," Crawford said after Friday's loss. "A team like Boston will do that -- they'll spread you out, push you to the outside. They will give you the corner areas in the offensive zone, but let's face it … the goals are scored in the high-traffic areas in front of the net."

Who's Hot: Anze Kopitar (4-8-12) and newcomer Ryan Smyth (5-5-10) are both averaging more than a point per game for the Kings. Three of Smyth's five goals have come via the power play. For Dallas, captain Brenden Morrow is just a point off the team lead in points and has five goals in seven games. Marty Turco has only one victory in five appearances, but he's posted a 2.29 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.

Injury Report: Kings defenseman Alec Martinez (lower body) is out indefinitely, while left wing Brad Richardson is day-to-day with the flu. He did not play Saturday. Right wing Rich Clune is currently rehabbing his groin injury with AHL Manchester.

Stars centers Mike Modano (ribs) and Steve Ott (oblique) will not play Monday. Right wing Jere Lehtinen, who has been battling various injuries, could play against Los Angeles.

Stat Pack: If Los Angeles is going to get back on track, the power play has to improve quickly. The Kings have converted only once in their last 17 opportunities with the man advantage. They went 0-for-5 in Columbus on Saturday, one of the many reasons why a brief players-only meeting was held after the loss.

"We had a talk in here," Kings defenseman Matt Greene said. "It was a good talk. There were a lot of points brought up and everybody knows what they've got to do in order to stop the bleeding."

Crawford has relied heavily on Stephane Robidas in the early going. The Stars' defenseman logged 26:56 of ice time on Saturday and scored the game-winning goal at Chicago -- on a shot from center ice.

"I just had the puck in the neutral zone and there was no sense for me to try to do something stupid so I just tried to rim it," Robidas said. "I didn't do anything special."

Puck Drop: Health is obviously the main concern for the Kings right now as several players battle flu-like symptoms, but it's important for a young team to not allow the losses to pile up. Los Angeles will have to better with the power play and in the faceoff circle in order to avoid a fourth straight loss.

-- Brian Compton, NHL.com


PROBABLE LINES (Subject to Change)
Los Angeles Kings:
Smyth - Kopitar - Williams
Purcell - Stoll - Brown
Richardson - Handzus - Simmonds
Ivanans - Moller - Harrold

Drewiski - Doughty
Johnson - Scuderi
O'Donnell - Greene

Probable Starter: Jonathan Quick


Dallas Stars:
Neal - Richards - Eriksson
Benn - Ribeiro - Morrow
Brunnstrom - Sutherby - Wandell
Fistric - Petersen - Barch

Grossman - Robidas
Skrastins - Daley
Woywitka - Niskanen

Probable Starter: Marty Turco


Credits: Kings fan site, LA Times, Kings.NHL.com

[ScottRasner]

Come on Kings, lets pull something together tonight. All the vbookie I have is going for a win.

I need these teams to beat each other in succsession, therefore they wont rack up points, while playing each other, giving the yotes a clean break
Sor Lakingsfan, just looking out for everyone here.

[NickDoh]

i hate the move of making frolov a healthy scratch no matter if its for the bad pass to rick nash, or to send a message to the team or both.

frolov is never appreciated by the kings and i honestly hope he's abl;e to make a move out of town FOR HIM. the kings are clueless when it comes to frolov. maybe its deep seeded resentment because of his friendship with avery or something... who knows. but this guy improves every year and is a rarity in the league when it comes to puck possession in the offensive zone.

i hope he gets a new team and becomes a superstar.

that being said. go kings!

[lakingsfan19]

Originally Posted by NickDoh

i hate the move of making frolov a healthy scratch no matter if its for the bad pass to rick nash, or to send a message to the team or both.

frolov is never appreciated by the kings and i honestly hope he's abl;e to make a move out of town FOR HIM. the kings are clueless when it comes to frolov. maybe its deep seeded resentment because of his friendship with avery or something... who knows. but this guy improves every year and is a rarity in the league when it comes to puck possession in the offensive zone.

i hope he gets a new team and becomes a superstar.

that being said. go kings!

I know Fro was one of the sickest, it might just be to get him well.

But I agree, for some reason Fro always gets the short end of the stick around here. The staff always thinks he doesn't do enough. The guy plays against the top teams lines every night in a defensive role and they expect him to score 9 goals a game. You might be on to something about him being good friends with Avery, that might piss Dean off a bit.

Anyway you look at it, having Harrold as a winger on your fourth line is bad. Considering how poorly he has played lately. But I think his days are numbered. It has been said that Clune is only down in Manchester for Rehab and should join the team soon.


Lets see if the Kings can get back to their winning ways and beat the stars back to back!

Just hope the flu still doesn't have a say on their win tonight!

[LAKINGSNUT]

hmmm. he is scratched, but i'm not sure its a healthy scratch. he's one of the guys with the flu, so i'm not sure if its a punishment scratch. it could be though!

[NickDoh]

http://lakingsinsider.com/

Murray comments on Frolov
Posted by Rich Hammond on 19 October 2009, 11:45 am

Here’s what Terry Murray said, after today’s morning skate, about Alexander Frolov being scratched. Frolov stayed on the ice (with Trevor Lewis) long after the rest of the players left the ice — typical for scratched players — and stayed after the bus left. I have put in a request to talk with Frolov before tonight’s game. Here are Murray’s quotes…

MURRAY: “Frolov is out. That’s really a hard one. You don’t want to take your best players out of the lineup. That’s how you win games. Your best players have to be the best every night in this game. It’s such a competitive division, a competitive conference, a competitive league, that you just havfe to have your top guys on their ‘A’ game every night in order to give yourself an opportunity to win. It’s a hard thing, but those are the demands that the players have to meet.

“I haven’t been happy with Fro’s game for several games. The game the other night is the straw that broke the camel’s back, in my opinion. The turnovers, the careless play… It has to be better, and you have to come out with that high level of intensity, with smart work, hard work, and you’ve got to love the game. You’ve got to love the game in order to be a player. The talent is there, but it always is the work that brings out talent. And I need more.”

Question: Did you talk with him about it?

MURRAY: “Yes, I sure did.’’

Question: Was he receptive to the things you had to say?

MURRAY: (long pause) “There’s nothing coming back. That’s the 10th meeting along those lines, and nothing ever comes back. So, I don’t know.’’

Question: You don’t get any reaction from him?

MURRAY: “There’s no response.’’

Question: Isn’t that kind of troublesome as a coach?

MURRAY: “That’s been going on for seven years.’’

Question: So you’re not the first coach…

MURRAY: “No, I’m not. Not the first coach, not the first GM and not the first in line in any one of those categories. Teammate… It’s got to get better. You’ve got to buy into the team. That’s the only way. If we’re going to change our culture… That was a big issue last year, with me coming in here, in my meetings with players at the start of the year. We’re changing the culture, we’re changing style, philosophy, system, and we need total buy-in. That’s the only way you can become a good hockey club.

“As I mentioned already, the best players have to lead the way. Someone has to be the general leading the charge. Sometimes it takes a group of those guys to lead the charge. In our case, that’s what we need. Fro, when he’s on his game, he’s a 30-goal scorer and he’s a big part of our hockey club, but it has to come with that love for the game, and being an emotional leader and a leader in the execution part of the business. It’s too hard out there. It’s so competitive. It’s very demanding every shift for minutes, and again, our better players are the guys that set the tone for games and for practice. That’s where you prepare to win games, is in the practice, and that’s an area that I have to have him better in.’’

[NickDoh]

theres been talk all day yesterday about him being a healthy scratch to send a message by rich hammond. (whom incidentally im beginning to really not enjoy, but thats a whole other thing.) and sure enough it panned out this morning.

its ridiculous.

but in other news, heres the lines for tonight hammond is reporting:

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams

Purcell-Stoll-Brown

Ivanans-Handzus-Simmonds

Moller-Richarsdon-Harrold

[lakingsfan19]

Wow, I can see them dealing Fro soon. I just don't understand what he is talking about, didn't Fro lead the team in goals last year? What more do they want? He is on the 3rd line for fu(ks sake.

What about Stoll?
Harrold?
Purcell?

Did they get a talk too?

I think this is BS.

[lakingsfan19]

Originally Posted by NickDoh

theres been talk all day yesterday about him being a healthy scratch to send a message by rich hammond. (whom incidentally im beginning to really not enjoy, but thats a whole other thing.) and sure enough it panned out this morning.

its ridiculous.

but in other news, heres the lines for tonight hammond is reporting:

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams

Purcell-Stoll-Brown

Ivanans-Handzus-Simmonds

Moller-Richarsdon-Harrold

What a weak fourth line, hope Clune gets back soon. Won't mind seeing Marc-Andre Cliche get the call up.

On the flip side of that Ivanans getting more Ice time on the 3rd line should be good. It's going to be fun to watch Ivanans throwing the body at the stars first line.

Now on a winning the game stand point, doesn't make since that we need to score goals, so they scratch the guy who lead the team last year. Oh well, I am not a coach or a gm.

[NickDoh]

Originally Posted by lakingsfan19

Wow, I can see them dealing Fro soon. I just don't understand what he is talking about, didn't Fro lead the team in goals last year? What more do they want? He is on the 3rd line for fu(ks sake.

What about Stoll?
Harrold?
Purcell?

Did they get a talk too?

I think this is BS.

exactly, they always throw it on frolov. he's always the scapegoat. i wish him more success in the ever impending trade than who/what we get in return.

[LAKINGSNUT]

this Fro thing does not sound like it will end good. at least not to fans of Fro which i am. i'm not sure how much more of what they percieve to be an issue they will be willing to take. i'd be pissed if he were traded, but if the GM and coach feel they're not reaching him there's not much they can do. he's basically forcing they're hand.

[lakingsfan19]

The other problem with all this, is how they are handling it. How stupid can you be, saying all this chit about the guy. What do they expect teams to give back in return, when your saying... "he doesn't try, doesn't care, doesn't want to play, doesn't listen, ect". I think this has been a big fu(k up on the organizations part. They better pull a Carcillo and a #1 pick for him or something...

It seems like this is what this team does, if they get a small bad feeling about you, your gone. Doesn't matter if you help or not, they don't like you, pack your bags and don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out. This smells a lot like the Sully situation, doesn't it?

[lakingsfan19]

Originally Posted by ScottRasner

Come on Kings, lets pull something together tonight. All the vbookie I have is going for a win.

I need these teams to beat each other in succsession, therefore they wont rack up points, while playing each other, giving the yotes a clean break
Sor Lakingsfan, just looking out for everyone here.

Bad time to bet all you cash on the Kings. Flu, Fro scratched, and team playing like cHIT.

dOESN'T LOOK GOOD.

Hope I am wrong.

[NickDoh]

Originally Posted by lakingsfan19

It seems like this is what this team does, if they get a small bad feeling about you, your gone. Doesn't matter if you help or not, they don't like you, pack your bags and don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out. This smells a lot like the Sully situation, doesn't it?

and not that i was a fan of him, but after hearing jim fox's comments during the rangers game, sounds like boyle got the same treatment. ill miss fro if hes moved, but the team will miss him more.

[Churla27]

Hopefully the Stars can carry the momentum from Saturday, as they snapped the Hawks 5 game win streak with a 4-3 win, the game winning goal coming from a weird bounce of the board by Robidas and in the net.