Kings-Leafs Recap

Short and sweet like as there was nothing all that compelling about the game to warrant a long discourse.

We now know the Kings issues will be in the scoring dept and have known for some time. Last night that were at least 5 great scoring chances that for whatever reason didn't go in the net. Cost us the game and it sucks but its nothing that should come as a surprise to anyone.

Labarbara-Cant really blame him for the loss but the first Leafs goal he looked really really lost on the play. You just dont see good goalies lose track of the puck all that often. When an air born lands square in the middle of the crease and the goalie has no clue its even there-thats just bad goaltending mmkay. Cant fault him on the second goal...they dont get much cleaner then that but at the end of the day when you're a team thats not going to score a lot of goals, questionable goals will result in losses. Not blaming the loss on Larbarbara once again but goals like that dont exactly inspire confidence. Contrasted with Toskala's cool demeanor (or 80% of the other NHL goalies for that matter) this stands out even further.

Refs- Maybe Im just biased and wearing the homer glasses but doesnt it seem like the Refs tend to give more breaks to Canadian teams then non Canadian teams?

Ivanans- Ive tried to support this guy but he should have pummeled the Leaf who was messing with Kopitar. One of the old school goons was interviewed one time and said "You dont ask a guy to fight-you make him fight you." The point being is if the guy wont drop with Ivanans then Ivanans needs to go to any Leaf and start roughing him up. Eye for an Eye. Back to the previous note-how does the Ref not call a penalty when the Leafs thug gives Ivanans a face wash? If only this was the mid 80s this story would have a totally different and much more entertaining ending.

Richardson-I still like his play....is there any reason we shouldn't try him at wing with Brown and Kopitar as opposed to Kyle "The Rally Killer" Calder? Calder reminds me a slower smaller Craig Johnson these days with only a touch more grit.

O'Sullivan- In another thread someone mentioned that Sully can play on any line and immediately help that line without hurting them defensively. Truer words were never spoken and though we may complain about Sully being misused and what not Sully in the last couple of games has been the Kings best player. We need to get him a linemate who is at Sullys level ASAP though. It would be a nice complementing 1-2 punch with Kopitar/Brown.

In summation-this game sucked. Looked like the Kings were handled physically, didn't know how to respond, and didn't get any breaks. On the bright side-if they win tonight no one will give a frogs fat ass about the loss and all will be wine and roses for a couple of days. If we lose I predict a CBGB post titled "Hate to say I told you so."

Thoughts?