The Los Angeles Kings in their first game were plagued with numerous problems that lead to a crushing defeat on their opening night at the Staples Center. In a season that many were predicting to be a breakout season, the Kings have shown minimal promise after the first game. But, one must remember that it’s just one game in a string of 82.
One of the big problems a lot of people are going to focus on, and to be honest it is rightfully so, is the goaltending on Jonathan Quick. He played exactly how most people expected him to play, he shows flashes of brilliance but mere minutes later gives up a backbreaking goal or a weak goal that kills the momentum of his team. There was a goal that was a somewhat weak shot that was literally shot right through him. When you’re in position and you have a good look at a shot like that and it finds its way through then you know you’re in trouble. There was also a goal that went high glove side and you could see Quick had no clue where it was because his glove hand went inward toward his chest instead of up to the corner to make any sort of reasonable chance at it. At this point, I would have made a change in goal, just to give Quick a rest because aside from struggling the rest of the team wasn’t doing a whole lot for him anyway.
The next goat that will be feeling the pressure of the Los Angeles media would have to be Drew Doughty. A young defenseman with all the promise in the world played possibly his worst game ever in the King’s opener. He turned the puck over twice in his defensive zone to set up two Coyotes goals and took two costly penalties as well. He did manage to score a power play goal towards the end of the game, but at that point it didn’t really matter because his goal only made it 6-3.
The Kings power play was working somewhat effectively but all in all it was far too inconsistent. They managed to net three power play goals, however, there were times when they couldn’t even get a single shot off on the power play. The infamous shotless power play is never something you want to happen and it wasn’t because Phoenix’s penalty kill was that good.
One of the factors that caused this horrible opener, in my opinion, is how much the media seemed to tell them how much promise they had and that they have the potential to make the playoffs. Combine that with the Kings probably underestimating the Coyotes and you have the King’s horrible season opener. Everyone thought that with Gretzky stepping down as the Coyote’s head coach that they would be in shambles, but the Coyotes proved that they came to play while the King’s seemed to think that the win was owed to them for some reason. Too many penalties, too many turnovers, a lack of a consistent powerplay, and questionable goaltending all lead to the season opening thrashing that the Los Angeles King’s received from the Phoenix Coyotes.
