The bodies keep on washing ashore. Or so it seems as the Kings are
going through a rather harsh stretch of injuries, particularly to
the goaltenders.
It all started in the 5-5 tie with Colorado. Stephane Fiset went
down with a groin injury and Jamie Storr relieved him.
Unfortunately Storr then went down with his own groin injury but
was able to finish the game. However his injury was worse in the
long run, with him having to go on the injured reserve.
Manny Legace and Alexey Volkov were both called up to spell the
injured goalies, with Legace becoming the number one. In his first
three starts of his career, Legace has put in some pretty
impressive time. He faced 50 shots in his first game against
Florida, allowing one goal. Admittedly I think the stat keeper was
on crack during that game since there were a few phantom shots
there, but he still got peppered pretty good.
Alexey Volkov, who was a draft pick of the Kings this past year, was
only there for one game as a backup, which is a pretty good thing
since he looks so damn young and seeing him play would have made me
feel so damn old.
The Kings, a little desperate for a backup goaltender who could
shave, went out and got themselves Ryan Bach from the Red Wings for
a conditional draft pick. And luckily he got into town in time for
the Tampa Bay game, where Legace started but got run over by Darcy
Tucker, suffering a concussion as a result. Bach stepped in and
gave up two goals on 23 shots. The odd thing about Bach was that
he still had his red helmet and pads, making him look like he was a
Red Wing.
In other injury news, Jozef Stumpel is suffering from a hip injury
he suffered in the last exhibition game. The injury cuts down his
maneuverability considerably, and it showed, since he pretty much
sucked in the games he did try and play. Ian Laperriere, also a
center, partially tore an ACL and is trying to return after only
doing rehab. If surgery is required, he'll be out for the season,
which would be quite a loss since there aren't that many small
players who play like psychos in this league.
As a result of those injuries, Ray Ferraro has gone from being an
extra forward who would center a checking line or would be
scratched to being the No. 2 center.
One thing that the injuries to the goaltenders have highlighted is
that the Kings are deeper there than they used to be. If this
string of injuries had occurred two seasons ago, Andre "Red Light"
Racicot would have been called up as a replacement, with Daniel
Berthiaume probably being dug up from the grave as a backup.
But it also highlights how crappy of a job that the Kings have been
doing both offensively and defensively. What the hell is 50 shots
on poor Legace in his first NHL game? That many shots usually only
happens in practice, when the goaltender is some poor clubhouse boy
pushed out on the ice in pads.
The reason for the shots? It mostly has to do with the breaking
from the basics: by not making the safe play, by not getting the
puck out of their zone when they get a chance, by them trying to
make the fancy play and turning it over. It is only by the grace
of God and some damn fine goaltending that the Kings don't have
more than the two losses.
Many of those reasons also apply to the struggling offense. They
are not going into the corners enough, instead preferring to try
and make the risky pass into the zone instead of driving it in
deep. They are not shooting as much as they should, forgetting the
fact of how can you score if it doesn't go toward the net? And
finally they aren't crashing the net like they should. One
exception to that is Sandy Moger, who can be seen camping out front
all the time.
Good news? The Kings have the best penalty-killing unit in the
league, and are second in the league in shorthanded goals. How are
they doing this? They have excellent goaltending and one of the
better defensive corps in the league, but the key has been the
depth of forwards who play penalty kills. This allows there to
always be fresh bodies out there who can be aggressive knowing they
will not be having to stay out there most, if not all, of the
penalty.
Russ Courtnall is having an exceptional year on the PK, already
scoring a shorthanded goal and getting several other chances. Many
times his speed makes the others on the ice look like they are
wearing lead skates and his constant pressure is impressive. Yanic
Perreault has also scored two shorthanded goals. When he and Luc
Robitaille are out there during penalty-killing situations, it
seems like they are on the offense more than the other team.
Aki Berg played his first games in Finland, making him pretty much
lost to the Kings for the rest of the season. If he were to sign
with the Kings and attempted to play this season he would have to
clear waivers, meaning all those teams hurting for a big young
defenseman would have a chance to steal him away.
But maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. The boy is pretty
delusional as to his worth, considering he scored all of eight
points last season, was a paltry +3 on the ol' +/- scale, was
sporadic defensively, and was going to be a fifth or sixth
defenseman for the Kings. C'mon, he's lucky to even be in the
NHL. So let him play in Finland. Heck, what will probably happen
is that a GM for a defensively challenged team will take a hit from a
crack pipe and call the Kings in order to make a trade. Berg will
become the J.J. Daigneault of his generation, good enough to get out
of the minors and to hop from team to team.
