Los Angeles Kings (blech) vs. San Jose Sharks (18-12-5, 2nd in Pacific)
The Kings are terrible, and a big part of this has been their propensity to turn over the puck. The Kings have 5 players in the top 20 of turnovers; that's not good. Lubomir Visnovsky leads the league in giveaways, Kopitar is 2nd, Frolov is 6th, Brown is 14th, and Jack Johnson is 20th. These are all players on the team who are responsible for carrying the puck up ice. Why can't the Kings carry the puck up the ice consistently? There are two possible reasons: either the Kings' offensive system puts too much pressure on individual players to get the puck into the zone, or the above players aren't good enough. I don't think it's door #2, so I'm inclined to believe that Crawford isn't creating an adequate gameplan. He's just saying, "Hey, go score," and then sending them out there. I don't know, maybe I just like blaming Crawford because it means there isn't something wrong with their personnel, but something needs to change. Their breakout is horrible, their break-in is atrocious, and they basically suck ass at hockey and also life. Hopefully that can change tonight.
Prediction: Kings win, 5-3. Kopitar (x2), Frolov, Preissing, and Lubo all score.
The Kings are terrible, and a big part of this has been their propensity to turn over the puck. The Kings have 5 players in the top 20 of turnovers; that's not good. Lubomir Visnovsky leads the league in giveaways, Kopitar is 2nd, Frolov is 6th, Brown is 14th, and Jack Johnson is 20th. These are all players on the team who are responsible for carrying the puck up ice. Why can't the Kings carry the puck up the ice consistently? There are two possible reasons: either the Kings' offensive system puts too much pressure on individual players to get the puck into the zone, or the above players aren't good enough. I don't think it's door #2, so I'm inclined to believe that Crawford isn't creating an adequate gameplan. He's just saying, "Hey, go score," and then sending them out there. I don't know, maybe I just like blaming Crawford because it means there isn't something wrong with their personnel, but something needs to change. Their breakout is horrible, their break-in is atrocious, and they basically suck ass at hockey and also life. Hopefully that can change tonight.
Prediction: Kings win, 5-3. Kopitar (x2), Frolov, Preissing, and Lubo all score.