Hips Thoughts-The Thanksgiving Edition

Always nice to see a win around Thanksgiving. My memory but hazy and eclectic at best but it seems like the Kings generally lose around the holidays so this win was refreshing. For the record-I put Eggnog in my oatmeal as well as my coffee this morning. Would have probably thrown some baileys and rum as well if not for the fact I have to drive in a little bit.

Some Thoughts-

Labarbara played well enough to get the Win, but I wouldn't by any means call its performance that inspires confidence. Especially in the waning moments there were a few chances that really should had been goals for the Oilers. On that same note...

Losing to the Kings must be feel like rock bottom for Oil fans. They've lost 5 of their last 6 games with 4 of those losses coming at Home. The people over at www.letsgooilers.com are probably on suicide watch.

I probably wasn't the only one who thought Ray Ferraro does great color commentary. He said some very complimentary things about the Kings and called out some gaffes by Kings players as well. Ferraro has a bright career ahead of him in this field IMO as that was probably one of the most well balanced color commentaries I've heard. Funny as well commenting on Ales Hemsky how Ferraro could praise and criticize in the same sentence. Props to RayFer though-the Kings probably should have never have gotten rid of him all those years ago but once again thats a pretty long list.

Back to the Goalies- I'm not yet going to give a grade on Terry Murray's line combos but his system of focusing and concentrating all energy on limiting shots against is one of brilliance simply based on the talents of our goalies. Its quite simple-if you're not sure about your goalies ability to stop a shot you damn well better minimize those shots against. Its like having a NFL QB who cant throw and makes bad decisions so the Coach via defualt decides to run the ball 95% of the time.

Some more player thoughts....

Kopitar looks like he is starting to turn it on. Is there nothing more amazing then seeing a guy score by hitting the puck out of mid-air?

Sully- Was it me or did it look like there were a couple of shifts with Kopitar and Sully but no Brown. Crazy thing was it looked like it worked. Maybe putting those two together and putting Brown on another line might give a more balanced attack?

Brown-Held off the score sheet but his one on one moves are amazing. When the Kings can get some other legitimate scorers so opposing teams cant key in on him he will should have a couple of 40 goal seasons IMO.

Doughty was once again amazing. 1 assist and +1 he looks like a veteran out there at 18 years old. His confidence nad patience with the puck is amazing. Cant imagine what he'll be like at 22 or 23. Just for comparison sake-Doughty has 7pts and is +6 at 18 years old; Jay Bouwmeester has 10 pts is a -6 and is 24 years old with 6 full NHL seasons under his belt. For the record, Boumeester's rookie year he finished -29.

Richardson- I thought he played well, he had a nice combo of speed yet looked to work hard and finish his checks. There is no reason IMO he shouldn't be playing over Zeiler or Ivanans.

All in all it was a good win over a struggling team. I'm happy to be back at .5oo and doing a bit more research we're currently 9th in the standings 1 pt behind Nashville and 1 pt behind Columbus. Still very early in the season but being we're picked by many to come in Last not sure anyone should complain.

Have a great thanksgiving.