***Washington Capitals vs. LA Kings GDT 11/29/23 7:30pm on BSW***

[Pevsfreedom]

Crap caps know how to kill our momentum, they took a penalty

Seriously. I'm 97% if they didn't ruin us with a power play we would have scored.

 

[symbology]

According to Moneypuck, the Kings should’ve had 4 goals last night. Charlie Lindgreen was just playing out of his mind.

MoneyPuck.com

Real Time Hockey Win Probabilities In Game

www.moneypuck.com

Yep, great goaltending and some puck luck for the Caps was the difference in the game. I mean the Kings had numerous chances in the the slot with bouncing pucks and could not put the puck in the net. A Cap player is left all alone, Talbot makes a great save and the puck flies up in the air and gets batted in. The bouncing puck did not like the Kings tonight.

 

[Clif]

I really enjoyed the game. Despite the Capitals’ choking defense and collapsing around the net Kings still managed almost 40 shots. Some opposing fans call this team boring but I really question how they know hockey.

 

[jcwla]

Washington played great selfless team defense, they really got sticks and bodies in the way every single time.

 

[jammer06]

Yep, looks like Roy and Lewis both stood watching expecting the other guy to cover. Happens. Yes, Kaliyev scored a goal, but was absolutely crap for the better part of the game. If you recorded the game please watch it again. Especially around the 4 minute mark in the 2nd period when Kaliyev had a garbage shift. The momentum totally shifted to the Caps for a good bit after that. All because of one player and he does stuff like that often. If you only care about goals, all is well I guess.

I am not putting the loss on Kaliyev, that is not the point. The point was that I was happy that Fox finally called him out for his crap play all over the ice. When I bring up his poor play people just want to brush it off etc.... It was just nice to have him called out by Fox. He is the worst forward on this team, but he has one of the better shots.

I think my point with Kaliyev as the whipping boy is that he's clearly a developmental focus for the coaching staff. The promise and premise is there just like it is with Q. Now if you want to do a find and replace of Kaliyev in your post for PLD, its probably the most concerning thing about this team through the first quarter of the season. PLD is not a 22 yo forward learning the pro game on a cup contending team and an ELC. Kaliyev has a reason to be in this lineup with warts and deserves the patience of at least getting through his ELC for the talent and upside that he's bringing and brought. For all of that it may be that eventually Kaliyev simply would flourish better in a different environment, but realize everyone else you are comparing him to is 3-4 years older at minimum.

 

[05/29/93]

congratulations to the following posters who correctly guessed the winning team would score 2 goals or that there would be 0 ppg's scored:

2 goals Winning Team (1 Point):
TooCool

0PPG's (1 Point):
KHenry14
Rogie-Vachon

Well they got goalied, absolutely played well enough to win but it didn't happen. That was almost 2011-2012 frustrating, but at least it wasn't inducing the flashbacks where you knew if Quick gave up a second goal they needed a shootout to get that second point. Officially at the quarter point with 29 points is 119 point pace. There's not a lot to complain about, but its a long season and that November respite is officially over with Pacific division play about to commence in a hurry (7 in a row to close the month) in addition to a visit from the Av's and Rags. Gird the loins folks, past returns are no guarantee of future results.

As long as this season ends like that one, then all is well! It's easy to forget how frustrating 3/4 of that regular season was, really until the Carter trade. Kings would regularly outplay opponents and still lose for lack of scoring. Quick lost about 10 games (and probably the Vezina too) in which he allowed ONE goal.

But then the playoffs started......

 

[symbology]

I think my point with Kaliyev as the whipping boy is that he's clearly a developmental focus for the coaching staff. The promise and premise is there just like it is with Q. Now if you want to do a find and replace of Kaliyev in your post for PLD, its probably the most concerning thing about this team through the first quarter of the season. PLD is not a 22 yo forward learning the pro game on a cup contending team and an ELC. Kaliyev has a reason to be in this lineup with warts and deserves the patience of at least getting through his ELC for the talent and upside that he's bringing and brought. For all of that it may be that eventually Kaliyev simply would flourish better in a different environment, but realize everyone else you are comparing him to is 3-4 years older at minimum.

While I agree with some of what you said, especially about PLD.... I really started to bring this stuff up when the discussion was around Laf or Kali. That is when I started to point out Kaliyev's issues. Laf for having played just a handful of "Pro" games under his belt was already playing a more mistake free game and making a positive impact more so than not. Kaliyev with almost 200 Pro games played can still be a disiaster on the ice and often would have a negative impact on the shift / game. Kaliyev seems afraid out there a lot of the times. Afraid to get hit, and afraid to make mistakes. This just leads to a lot of mistakes.

Kaliyev got to play with Danault and Moore and when he did he looked good because his linemates were awesome. He still made mistakes and killed numorous plays because of Kaliyev, ,but overall his game looked much better. He was riding on the coat tails of his linemates. Laf on the other hand played with PLD and Fiala who were both pretty meh, but Laf stood out. How do you think Laf would look playing with Danault and Moore? I think I would like to see that line combo.

Comparing Kali to Q is a bit of a stretch. I get it, they are both young and make mistakes. However, Q was never afraid to eat the puck along the boards if he needed to, never afraid to take the body. Did he win the puck battles early on, probably not so much. Did he make mistakes, sure. At least he was doing things the right way but he was fumbling the puck, rushing plays and also making mistakes. While some of Kaliyevs issues can be compared to Q's early on issues, Kaliyev often is not doing things the right way, making dumb playis, while rushing plays and making mistakes. That is my issue.

Grundstrom when he was less experienced made a lot if mistakes. 2 years ago playing the Oilers in the playoffs most people were happy with his game becuase he potted a few goals and played pretty well on the forecheck was very physical and played pretty well for 85% of the time. He often impacted the game in a positive way. However, I was not so positive because I could only remember him skating the puck through the neurtral zone trying to make a move at the blueline when he is skating 1 on 2 only to lose the puck and the Oilers came charging back with an out numbered attack. This lead to a goal once, and zone time and momentum for the oilers the other times. He did this like 3-4 times in just one game (that the Kings lost). He was killing Kings momemtum and handing it to the Oilsers. I hated it. Sure, he potted a few goals, but he gave the Oilers a lot of gifts. So, 85% of the time his was pretty good, but 15% of the time he was a disaster. Right now Kaliyev is mostly bad and/or a disaster with a little good. Fox finally called him out for what he has been doing all year and the last half of last year.

Grunstrom for all the little mistakes he has made this year has only made 2 mistakes (that I saw) where I though you are an idiot. That was in the first 4-5 games of the season. Since then he has been solid. Not mistake free, as mistakes happen. Just not many brain dead plays like last year, or worse two years ago. I saw a progression with Tonkas game with fewer stupid plays as he went along. Kaliyev has regressed if you ask me. After this time last year and his injusry a little later he does not seem to be the same player out there. At this point (or close to it) last season Kaliyev was leading the Kings in goals and he was making a positive impact in games. Now, he is not potting goals and not making a positive impact in games (for the most part).

For a team that wants to win now, I was arguing that Laf was maybe a better overall option than Kaliyev for that spot.

 

[jammer06]

While I agree with some of what you said, especially about PLD.... I really started to bring this stuff up when the discussion was around Laf or Kali. That is when I started to point out Kaliyev's issues. Laf for having played just a handful of "Pro" games under his belt was already playing a more mistake free game and making a positive impact more so than not. Kaliyev with almost 200 Pro games played can still be a disiaster on the ice and often would have a negative impact on the shift / game. Kaliyev seems afraid out there a lot of the times. Afraid to get hit, and afraid to make mistakes. This just leads to a lot of mistakes.

Kaliyev got to play with Danault and Moore and when he did he looked good because his linemates were awesome. He still made mistakes and killed numorous plays because of Kaliyev, ,but overall his game looked much better. He was riding on the coat tails of his linemates. Laf on the other hand played with PLD and Fiala who were both pretty meh, but Laf stood out. How do you think Laf would look playing with Danault and Moore? I think I would like to see that line combo. Though, Grundstrom looks pretty good up there now, but he is sorely missed on the 4th line.

Comparing Kali to Q is a bit of a stretch. I get it, they are both young and make mistakes. However, Q was never afraid to eat the puck along the boards if he needed to, never afraid to take the body. Did he win the puck battles early on, probably not so much. Did he make mistakes, sure. At least he was doing things the right way but he was fumbling the puck, rushing plays and also making mistakes. While some of Kaliyevs issues can be compared to Q's early on issues, Kaliyev often is not doing things the right way, making dumb playis, while rushing plays and making mistakes. That is my issue.

Grundstrom when he was less experienced made a lot if mistakes. 2 years ago playing the Oilers in the playoffs most people were happy with his game becuase he potted a few goals and played pretty well on the forecheck was very physical and played pretty well for 85% of the time. He often impacted the game in a positive way. However, I was not so positive because I could only remember him skating the puck through the neurtral zone trying to make a move at the blueline when he is skating 1 on 2 only to lose the puck and the Oilers came charging back with an out numbered attack. This lead to a goal once, and zone time and momentum for the oilers the other times. He did this like 3-4 times in just one game (that the Kings lost). He was killing Kings momemtum and handing it to the Oilsers. I hated it. Sure, he potted a few goals, but he gave the Oilers a lot of gifts. So, 85% of the time his was pretty good, but 15% of the time he was a disaster. Right now Kaliyev is mostly bad and/or a disaster with a little good. Fox finally called him out for what he has been doing all year and the last half of last year.

Grunstrom for all the little mistakes he has made this year has only made 2 mistakes (that I saw) where I though you are an idiot. That was in the first 4-5 games of the season. Since then he has been solid. Not mistake free, as mistakes happen. Just not many brain dead plays like last year, or worse two years ago. I saw a progression with Tonkas game with fewer stupid plays as he went along. Kaliyev has regressed if you ask me. After this time last year and his injusry a little later he does not seem to be the same player out there. At this point (or close to it) last season Kaliyev was leading the Kings in goals and he was making a positive impact in games. Now, he is not potting goals and not making a positive impact in games (for the most part).

For a team that wants to win now, I was arguing that Laf was maybe a better overall option than Kaliyev for that spot.

I think we are both a lot closer in our evaluation of what Kaliyev is right now than we are separate. My point, and I can't believe I'm going to defend Todd on his development stuff because he's frustrated the hell out of me at times, is that Kaliyev is a focus of this staff to get his game where they think it can go. They are attempting to do that within the structure of a playoff and cup contending team. The duty he got with Moore and Danault is more like his cup of coffee than anything else.

Similarly to the way that Tonka is now with PLD and Laf as well as even in the past when we saw Tonka on the top line at times with Kopi and Kempe. To their credit this staff has a great fit with Laf for a third line north south concept shooter, the kid has a very simple game and it's going to be easier to slot him in places because of it.

Kaliyev has always had his shot, but he was also immediately lauded for his passing vision and deception which makes it a lot easier to put him in special teams play offensively. Regarding Kaliyevs play away from the puck though, I simply see a younger player figuring things out on a really really good team so that process stands out even more than it did for Tonka (note tonka is 25 years old).

Again to this staffs credit they are getting the most out of VA's absence that they possibly can. The reality is that when he comes back there's going to be more than just a slotting down, they're going to be back in cap hell and they will likely have more decisions to make than just sending Laf down since they can.

Kaliyev is 22, his pedigree as a late first/early second means a lot but in terms of Vs Q, its a huge huge gap. And just as Q's progression hasn't been linear I don't think Kaliyev's can be expected to either. I mean Toby played in 100+ games and this staff couldn't trust him more than a 27 yo defenseman. That's not a huge indictment on Toby more than it is that this staff and team has higher aspirations and can only afford so much developmental time. If VA coming back means a similar sentence for Arty, I get it, but in the meantime I appreciate that the staff is still trying to get him there. The big trick to all of this is VA coming back is going to blow the cap back up, still that doesn't look to be January from everything I've read.

 

[Pickle_Pucks]

I'm sure it's been said, but Lindgren (who? seriously, had never heard of him.) had himself a HELL of a game!!! Aside from the quality of saves, rebound control was really incredible. Can't remember in recent memory a tender having quite a game vs us as last night.

First WSH goal was on Gavry really. Got caught in two minds and paid the price. It happens. 2nd goal was a bit of luck after a top save from Talbot.

Game could easily have been 4-0 in the other direction. You take those lumps, the boys still played well. One mental error, and a lucky bounce was all they could muster.

Byfield will start burying more pucks, you can see it coming. He's nowhere close to his ceiling yet.

 

[Histiking]

Goalie stood on his head, and the Kings played to cute (looking for the pretty play) for the first 45 minutes.

Yes, this! I was saying to myself they are trying to pass the puck into the net. I was hoping for non-stop shots from everywhere but it seemed they were looking to make the pretty play instead...just my read.

 

[DRGinLBC]

PLD looks lost out there.

 

[ICE24]

Just think, if Kopitar wears a 13 skate instead of a 12, we probably wouldn't be talking about this at this time.

 

[ICE24]

Individual players on the Kings did not lose this game last night. That goalie won the game with his outstanding play. Kudos to him for being on fire last night.

 

[Pevsfreedom]

PLD looks lost out there.

Wasn't that the scouting report from Jets fans? He's about the only player on the roster I'm very unimpressed with. Already pulled from away from Fiala and PP1. I wasn't too excited when we got him. If he's pulling minutes away from other players and giving them a break then good - but so far what I see from PLD involves a) coasting around, b) making stupid drives to the net looking like he's trying to injure himself.

 

[Madness20721]

Was looking at the game as a measuring stick against an elite team to see where the Kings really are so far this season, but I consider this game a one-off because the goalie obviously had the best game of his career. Let's see how the Kings do against Colorado.

 

[ICE24]

Was looking at the game as a measuring stick against an elite team to see where the Kings really are so far this season, but I consider this game a one-off because the goalie obviously had the best game of his career. Let's see how the Kings do against Colorado.

I imagine early on teams playing the Kings last season with Copley in net were saying the same thing, until he actually started winning games consistently. It's just one of those performances, the next game he might give up 5 and get pulled.