Game Day Thread
Game #43/82
01/20/24
7:30pm Pacific on KCAL Ch9
New York Rangers vs. Los Angeles Kings
Crypto.com Arena | Los Angeles, CA
**Star Wars Night**
Neck Gaiter Giveaway - first 10,000 fans
Pregame Fanfest at LA Live
Previous Meeting
12/10/23 -- Kings 1, Rangers 4
**Game Time 7:30pm**
TV:**KCAL Ch9**
Radio: LA Kings iHeartRadio app
Please remember, DO NOT post links to Live Game Streams in the GDT or anywhere else on LGK
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Anze Kopitar & Todd McLellan 1/18/24 Post-Game Quotes:
Anze Kopitar
On what is missing from the Kings game right now
We’ve just got to figure it out, really. We’ve got to play better in certain moments of the game. It’s not like the effort’s not there and everybody wants to win, but we’ve got to play better. It starts with me on top and I’ve got to be a lot better for this team and pull along. It’s the only way we’re going to get out of it, is play hard and as a group.
On the energy level from the team tonight
I thought it was there. I thought the third period was good, we had some chances but didn’t score on them and then once it comes down to final minutes here, just trying to throw everything at them and it didn’t work for us.
On the team’s finishing right now, especially on odd-man rushes and slot chances
Yeah, it’s definitely not good when you go 1 out of the last 10 or whatever it is. So, the confidence is not sky high but it’s on us to get it back and get this thing moving in the right direction.
On David Rittich’s performance
He played extremely well, the last couple of starts. It’s obviously nice to see him get the opportunity and be there for us when we need him.
Todd McLellan
On if he felt tonight’s game was similar to the stretch that preceded it
I would say this is similar in a lot of ways, in fact I think this is a little bit different because we checked better today, we were tighter defensively, we didn’t give up a lot. Looking back to the 5-on-5 scoring, the power play’s getting us one a night, that should be okay, it’s just the lack of production offensively. A lot of it’s off the rush, where we don’t look near as confident with the puck, making plays, we’re not as relaxed with it and it’s not going into the net. So, the more that we fail to score, the tighter we get and it’s just a vicious cycle. So is it similar? Well, we didn’t score an even-strength goal in Dallas, we did in Carolina, but we didn’t score one in Detroit, I believe, all power-play goals. So, in some sense yes, but I thought we checked better. So we fixed the one area of our game, tonight we didn’t give up a lot and when we did, I thought Rittich played really well, but at the other end of the rink, you’ve got to score goals to to win. If we’re only giving up two, we should be able to win every night.
On if he feels the lack of offensive conversion is weighing on the players
I do. It’s human nature to go down and have opportunities and then be denied, but I think it takes a lot of energy out of you, because we do all the work to get to a certain point and then it chokes itself out and it’s kind of oh, here we go again. Again tonight, we had a 2-on-1 and we never got a shot on, we didn’t even think about shooting and the play evolved slowly, where we had no chance at a pass. I’d like to see us just get direct, get it to the net in those situations, make the goaltender make a save and see what happens. We had 3-on-2’s, a 4-on-2, we had some other entries where we really garbled the puck when earlier on in the year, those were nice plays that were being made. So, a little bit of stress and tension and we’ve got to fight through it.
On the approach to trying to keep the team’s mentality positive in a tough stretch
We’ve stressed, we’ve shown a lot of positive video over the last little bit. A lot of, some of it’s playing fast and playing fast defensively, but a lot of offensive, promoting offense as well and making them feel good that way. So, I think maybe that’s leading to some of the frustration too, look at what you did before but now you’re struggling to do it, so maybe we’ll have to think that process through.
On calling his timeout with 7 seconds left, as opposed to earlier, with the goalie pulled
Because we had fresh guys going on the ice. They iced the puck, we had fresh guys going out and they were stuck keeping them on. So, we had I think it was Phil’s line going out, if I remember correctly, and Kopi’s line coming off or vice versa and we didn’t need it at that point, why give them the rest too.
Subject to Change
Lineups Courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com
RANGERS PROBABLE LINEUP
Former Kings
Jonny Brodzinsky
Jonathan Quick
___________________________________________________________________________________
GOALIE COMPARISON
Jonathan Quick: 9-3-2 .912 SV% 2.49 GAA
Cam Talbot: 14-11-5 .915 SV % 2.43 GAA
PACIFIC DIVISION STANDINGS
*VBookie BETTING THREAD HERE*
**Today’s Poll Question**
Part 1 - How many Shots on Goal will Jonathan Quick/all Rangers goalies face in tonight's game?
You can take 2 guesses -
+/- 1 = 1 point, Dead on = 2 points
Part 2 - Which Kings player will score first against Quick?
You can take 4 guesses for Part 2 - (you can choose "no one")
Take your best guesses in your post below
the only Prize is the glory of seeing your name in the next GDT if you get it right.
PREVIOUS GAME’S WINNERS
Congratulations to the following posters who correctly guessed 3 goals in the second and/or 0 goals in the third:
Special Congrats to Rogie-Vachon for being the only poster to boldy declare there would be zero goals in the 3rd period.
Both (2 Points):
Rogie-Vachon
3 Goals in the 2nd Period (1 point):
randdog
Guinevere
Byron
waynet
mugs
dannybuoy1
kaydid213
KernCoKingFan
Dr. Tran
Kings of the Mountain with 27 points - Angel Eyes & notbob
26 points = forum gold
25 points = Rusty
24 points = hornman, Jerram, mugs, Nyssa42, VegasHockey
23 points =
22 points = beady eye, Cross Traffic, SirJW
21 points = Chateau Bow Wow, Guinevere, katydid213, KernCoKingsFan, Randdog
20 points = clif, Dr Tran, puckoff, VCRW
19 points = jammer06
18 points = empire, Kurisu, Rogie-Vachon, Shackleford
17 points = CIrvine, DRGinLBC, JayWells24
16 points = dannybuoy1, pray4mojo
15 points = Byron, DRice, KHenry14, Liz4LA, TooCool, waynet
14 points = hihocarp, Madness20721, Rinkrat
13 points =
12 points = Bill Hicks, Rog or Reg?
11 points = Madness20721, Salty Puck
10 points = Sevenhole
9 points = sonnyboy11
8 points = cokingsfan, Ice24, symbology
7 points = Drums4Pigs, rfischer
6 points = Busted Chops
5 points = JETS GARAGE
4 points = beedee, Dexter, fake_it_make_it
3 points =
2 points = Ragbone
1 point = JC6388LAKings, PuckMaster, STONE
photos courtesy of LA Kings twitter
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