Drew Doughty

steve mason's fantastic season continued tonight i think the kings scored more goals than mason had saves

i don't think anaheim's defense is going to be able to take them any where in the playoffs. i'd love a first round matchup with them, but that's me.

if o'sullivan doesn't sulk his way out of the nhl i could see him being a fantastic defensive player. he showed a lot of promise at that end of the ice when he played here, even when he wasn't scoring last season (i was seriously disappointed to see him go). he improved his game in that area 10-fold after coming to the nhl as an offense only player. of course he still has tons of offensive-potential, but he seems to have worked himself into the doghouse of two straight coaches, so we'll see how that pans out. i definitely like purcell's offensive game, but it's not nearly tough enough. he stays outside on the perimeter and very rarely ventures to the "tough" areas. having a goal scoring center like vinny or stamkos could really help though. he is a very gifted passers, probably one of the best i've seen on the kings. he just seemed to like the confidence to play any kind of a gritty game and never ended up producing for us.

nah. he doesn't fit in our lineup at all. schenn and loktionov and moller and even parse are way better prospects than purcell. he could definitely be one of those "change of scenery" guys though. definitely didn't fit here any more though.

Depends on what kind of draft pick they get. Toronto is pathetic, and a mess in goal. If they can trade bad contract for bad contract, stabilize goalie in the short term and gain a decent pick, it makes perfect sense. Huet is decent and not grossly overpaid. they already stabilized goaltending in the short term

toivonen was a decent prospect for the bruins a few seasons ago. aside from that, i got nothin'.

going to play a little homer here but Rafalski was very good in the tournament, not sure who out of those three I would take out though. i'd take out nash and put in rafalski, but behind toews. keith and doughty were both close too. honestly, a great game. one of the best i've ever seen. the game tying goal was the hardest i've cheered for a goal in 8 or 9 years.

great period for everyone i've been down on. kane worked hard and took the puck to the net, was in the right places. kessel worked hard and created the first goal. stastny picked up a goal and had a nice assist on parise's goal. that was...unexpected

Take it easy. It wasn't that bad. Honestly, I didn't realize the term was so taboo. I mean, aside from being obviously derogatory. i don't really care about this comment. he's just a moron that shouldn't be on tv.

mike milbury is a moron and a bad mouth for hockey to put itself behind. i sure hope he gets fired for one of the stupid remarks he makes or is bound to make in the near future.

seen it, explained it. i even said he can pick up points but he won't dominate a game that is physical. he played a bad series against detroit after a good one against vancouver. he's played a very bad tournament so far. he's played poor when i've seen him in physical games. he has moments when he plays well, they're just inconsistent. most of it is inexperience, and it will come. you'll see flashes of it at times, but he has more talent than what he shows in most crucial games. i'll take the player that already has it at a young age (toews; the strip on malkin tonight is an example of something that i've seen him do repeatedly and not something i've seen kane do with any regularity). he's not in a bad group either, and it doesn't really take away from his game or potential. kovalchuk had the same problems his first time in the playoffs when avery completely picked him apart. semin strikes me as that kind of guy. i worry about kopitar being that guy. even ovechkin was a slow learner his first few games in the playoffs (and he's not doing a damn thing tonight against canada AND he plays a physical game). these playoffs will be a huge test for kane, as well as the next game (if he still has a significant role in the top 6). and kane isn't close to the equivalent of a 450 obp guy with 50 homers. thornton is, and he disappears every single time he touches a big game.

kane is hit or miss, most of it is inexperience though i'd think. he has no physical edge to his game, and doesn't hold up in a physical game very well. it has nothing to do with him or his character or anything, his game just does not translate very well to a game that is physical (i.e. important games or playoff games). it could in time, but count me in the group of people that aren't fans of kane's overall game. some people have speculated that he might be hurt though, that could explain some of his disappearing act in this tournament. he isn't the only one that has done it, and i have the same issues with the other notable player that's gone missing (Kessel). they might pick up points in important games, they might even dominate a game where the other team backs off or plays poorly (vancouver), but they just don't play well under physical scrutiny. zach parise is a small guy but he has edge to his game and he plays balls out every shift even when he's being hit and physically abused. ryan callahan is another one. i think it's just...kane hasn't adjusted to the desperation level of the high-importance games. he doesn't play with the intensity that these other guys do, he doesn't fight for pucks, he doesn't win battles. he loses them. for a guy that isn't big, he can't get knocked off the puck so easily or his game is going to fold in games like this. also worth noting that vancouver is not a hugely physical team and wasn't really considered a huge playoff threat last season. he had a great series against them, was ok against calgary, and did nothing against detroit. even in the vancouver series he ended up a minus 4. that tells me that he played great on the power play and probably was badly outmatched at even strength with no time and space. he was -6 in a 5 game stretch against detroit. that's horrible. i'm not a big fan of +/-, but it's pretty remarkable in a short series to end up that far in the negative.

...kane was pretty bad in this game. probably the worst US forward. aside from him and maybe stastny, everyone played pretty well. hiller was an animal.

I wouldnt discount the Finns. i would to be honest. i've watched parts of two of their games and they certainly aren't impressive so far in this tournament. i'm not a big fan of kipper and their backend is not outstanding. their top level scoring (selanne, skoivu) is old.. jokinen has gone backwards in a big way. mikko koivu and niklas hagman aren't going to carry an offense. even the US has kane and parise at forward. i wouldn't put one finland forward on their level.

pronger had 3 minutes of ice time in the third; keith and doughty had the most ice time in the game for canada. i thought crosby was actually pretty good. yes Crosby played well. Doughty has probably been their best dman overall. It was obvious the US was just dumping pucks in behind Pronger and Neidermayer and taking advantage of how slow they are. Do you think Yzerman should have added Ryan Smythe to put some pressure on opposing goalies in front of the net? nah. i can't think of anyone that smyth would replace to be honest. he wouldn't be able to play in a top 6 role, and if you really wanted to, you could have morrow do his job on the power play. morrow is also a harder worker and is one of the players that is willing to get dirty that everyone talks about on the US (backes, brown, ryan, drury, callahan). smyth isn't that guy. they should have had stamkos (especially after seeing doughty be awesome at the same age) and probably green on the team, but other than that i don't think any of the omissions are that glaring or bad. pronger definitely shouldn't have made the team though.

pronger had 3 minutes of ice time in the third; keith and doughty had the most ice time in the game for canada. i thought crosby was actually pretty good.

wayne simmonds should be everyone's favorite hockey player and everyone should be terribly upset that he's out for the next 4-8 weeks. unless you're a fan of a team we play during that stretch. then you're counting your blessings that he does not terrorize you. also jack johnson already has his career high in points and he's done it while (generally) playing a very solid, sound defensive game. obviously doughty has been the star, but johnson has been fantastic and has, at times, been even better than DD. also, he's almost a lock for a goal in the shootout, which is awesome.

anisimov is 2 years older and spent 2 full seasons in north american hockey before graduating to the nhl this year. filatov played half of one season (games-wise) in NA. kulikov might be more ready than filatov though, who knows? he's producing at the nhl level and filatov isn't. or at the very least the braintrust in florida doesn't mind him, whereas the columbus guys thought this would be the way to go. i don't think columbus would just give up on a highly touted first round pick like this, he'll be back in camp next season. if he can't make a serious go of it then, i'd be worried. he's still only 19 though. it's not like there's a serious rush. he says his "goal" is to play in the nhl. we'll see in 9 or 10 months.

i thought the filatov loan was like a mutual thing that both parties thought would be beneficial to him. he goes back to a place he's comfortable to get his game back on track and work on the things they want him to work on. i don't think this is like the radulov thing where he basically just ditched nashville, if i'm remembering right.

stamkos's is better.

stamkos's goal against the ducks is probably the best goal since ovechkin slid on his back to ruin phoenix's [expletive]. might even be better.

i credit it to the fact that he's by far the most flexible goalie i've ever seen. always wanted to see him get a real chance to start for a team, think he could've done good things. he had the one season with the kings where he got 63 gp, but that was behind a terrible defense. at times he managed to win games on his own anyway.

in OT, hedman (i think) scored from the point but it was ruled goalie interference. only problem was that o'donnell was the one pushing people into quick. should've counted as far as i know. i know incidental contact exists, but pretty sure it doesn't count when the player is shoved into the goalie. that really needs to be a reviewable play. it makes no sense for it to not be.

haha, refs gifted us a win tonight. i'll take it.

i turned it off after the 2nd but they really weren't being controlled. such a dumb game. defense (randy jones and matt greene in particular) made some bad bad plays at the offensive blue line and quick let in a softie. the last 3 goals in the second all came at the tail end of shifts where the kings dominated the play.