Los Angeles Kings: A Mixed Bag After Two Games

LOS ANGELES — Two games into the 2009-10 season, the Los Angeles Kings are right where most everyone expected them to be, sporting a 1-1-0 record.

But that did not happen, to coin a phrase, according to Hoyle.

Indeed, the Kings were expected to easily defeat the bankrupt, owner-less Phoenix Coyotes on October 3 and then lose three days later to the class of the Pacific Division, the San Jose Sharks.

Instead, the Kings looked more like the Keystone Kops than a National Hockey League team in an embarrassing 6-3 loss to the Coyotes and then turned right around and defeated the Sharks on October 6, 6-4.

Against the Coyotes, one word describes the Kings’ performance.

Disastrous.

Phoenix easily ran around, past and through the hapless Kings in the Kings’ home opener. They were so bad that the phrase “comedy of errors” does not even begin to describe just how awful they were, especially in their own end.

Poor positioning. Standing around and watching the other team. Lack of poise. Poor decision-making. Blatant turnovers. Failure to win physical battles. The list of problems was very, very lengthy.

“It’s definitely not the start we wanted,” said center Anze Kopitar, who scored a goal and added an assist in the game. “We had some breakdowns in the defensive zone that led to their six goals.”

“We weren’t managing the puck good, we weren’t passing the puck, we didn’t play heavy enough or support each other,” added Kopitar. “Those are all small details that lead to a good result in the end.”

The Kings saved their worst for their own zone.

Read the rest on Gann Matsuda’s Frozen Royalty