I thought the rebound he gave up on the 3rd goal was a little too juicy, however, Lehkonen is one of the few players in the league that can battle that hard through the D and bury that.
well, that's good that a couple people have said the goals were not on Kuemper. There was a lot of traffic in front of the net on all of them (or 3/4) from what I remember.
Shinny hockey is just pickup hockey - just people getting together to have fun - no refs, no hitting, lots of beer drinking
Based on the way the two teams played on opening night, you will not be waiting long.
Every year the first 10 games are a crapshoot. There’s such a thing as a negative fan bias also. If someone judged any team this intensely after game 1 it’d be way over the top. That doesn’t change just because it’s the team we root for and follow closely.
4 years/playoffs in a row losing to the same team playing the same exact style and the Kings refuse to adapt. It’s maddening. Even if this team amasses 100 points in the regular season the play style and roster has an absolute ceiling.
I agree, but my point was they may not even make the playoffs this year. They could easily finish 4th in the pacific and not make a wild card spot.
Some of you may remember the same issue coming up when Justin Williams talked about shinny hockey and everyone thought he said...
The internet is forever:
To be fair, it's not like they haven't tried. Andersen, Marner, Raitanen just in the last few months. Can't make players come here.
I agree that one game doesn't make a season, but when the game seems to confirm the pessimism and problems everyone brought up during the off season it makes it hard not to feel down.
I guess my expectations aren't that high and didn't need any confirmation of the issues. They are clear to see for everyone. While I expect them to be a playoff team, there are too many teams that are much better than the Kings on paper. The real disappointment will be if they fail to make the playoffs.
It’s a bit more nuanced than that. It sucks having to face the same team four years in a row, especially one that honestly has a lot of teams’ numbers in the playoffs. Look at Dallas.