LA Kings drop out of a playoff spot as the team endures a terrible start from goalie Darcy Kuemper

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

The LA King starts slow, stage of thrilling comeback, only to lose another game that

goes beyond regulation.

And for now, thought of a playoff spot.

Do the Kings need to re-evaluate their goal-tuning position, which is seven games left in the

regular season.

You are Lockdown Kings, your daily podcast on the Los Angeles Kings, part of the Lockdown

Podcast Network, your team every day.

Hey Kings fans, welcome to Lockdown LA Kings.

I'm Eddie Garcia.

On today's show, we're going to talk about the Kings following the back-end of the wild

card spot in the West.

We'll tell you about some serious concerns surrounding Goli-Darcy Kemper.

But we start with game number 75 of the NHL regular season, game three of a crucial seven

game homestand, and the biggest game of the season to this point.

With a wild card spot on the line, the LA Kings were hosting, the Nashville Predators,

and things did not start well for LA as the Kings fell behind two-nothing in part to

some subpar goal-tuning.

Things certainly opened up in the second period with the Kings scoring three goals.

The Predators put two more in the net.

Kings went out four-three going into the third, but you felt like momentum was shifting

as well.

Just one goal scored the third as the Kings tie it up at four-four.

After a scoreless overtime, we go to the shootout, eight rounds of the shootout before the

Kings fall five to four the final.

Sports on goal, favored Nashville 34 to 33.

The Kings wrought shot 18-9 in the opening period, that was a season high for shots on

goal for Nashville.

Second period, LA, edged out the Predators in shots 10-9, then the third period of the

Kings, 13 shots to only five for Nashville.

In the overtime, the Predators had two of the Kings one, and the only goal scored in the

shootout was by the Predators in the eighth round.

The number of shots on goal 33, I think good for the Kings, but obviously you don't want

to give up 34 to the opposition.

Special teams normally, I would say, being even with Nashville is a good thing.

The Predators do have statistically a much better power play and penalty kill.

The Kings were over two as were the Predators, and I thought the Kings power play looked

very strong on this one.

Faceoffs favored the Kings, they won 56.2%, 41 of 73.

For Nashville, they won 43.8%, 32 of 73.

Hits favored the Kings, 32 to 19, we like seeing that.

Block shots did narrowly favor the Predators, 16 to 15.

Kings are now 30, 26, and 19 on the season.

They have 19 regulation wins, they have 19 games that have been decided beyond overtime.

The Kings home record, 11, 17 and 9, and LA is now 6, 5 and 5 under interim head coach,

DJ Smith, 1, 1 and 1 on this crucial 7 game, homestand.

The Kings have now played 43, one goal games this season, 30 have gone beyond regulation

into overtime or shootout, and that has tied the NHL record set by the 2003,

four Boston Bruins.

All right, big takeaway in this one, and there was a lot to take away from this game.

Headscratching blunders, a steering comeback, both teams looking good and bad at times,

some wild gold tending, and I don't know how many posts and crossbars were hit,

but several, mostly by the Kings, unfortunately.

And I have to admit, had the Kings scored a couple in that damn shootout,

I would be talking to you right now about an amazing win for the LA Kings,

certainly not a perfect game, very rarely are they ever,

but had the Kings pulled that out after starting poorly and then having a big comeback

and getting two points against that team, I'd have been singing their praises.

So it feels a little disingenuous for me to rip them to shreds

for not getting one of those goals in the eight rounds of the shootout or two.

So while there are certainly things I didn't like about this performance,

and we're going to get into those, I can't honestly sit here and say,

I'm really upset either.

I thought, obviously, didn't like the way the Kings started.

I didn't like their gold tending for most of the game.

I loved the way they came back.

They really fought in this one.

They showed a lot of heart, and in the end, they just came up a little bit short.

I thought it was all in all pretty even game when it was all said and done.

And I guess when it's all said and done, it just makes Monday's rematch against Nashville,

even that much more important.

We'll tell you where the playoffs stand after that one point for the Kings,

two points for the Predators coming up in just a bit.

I think the two biggest things though I was looking for

was a much better start for the Kings than they had against Utah or St. Louis.

The starts to games have been an issue for the Kings.

I thought the Kings from an energy standpoint,

from a sense of urgency standpoint.

I thought the skaters for the Kings were better in the first period than Utah or St. Louis.

Unfortunately, the gold tending was shaky as hell in that opening period.

We're going to get into Darcy Kemper's eventful night coming up.

There was a moment in the first period where I thought head coach DJ Smith

should have pulled Darcy Kemper.

Kings are down to nothing.

Kemper had a really bad play that led to a penalty shot.

He was able to make the save on it,

but you can look at it a couple of ways.

Number one, there is certainly a standard that you have to have with your players.

When that standard isn't met,

and I don't think Darcy Kemper lived up to that standard,

certainly in the first period,

then there needs to be repercussions.

There needs to be held accountable.

Now, had he been, maybe the Kings have two points in the final wild card spot in the West.

Had he played a little bit better?

Had he started better?

But that wasn't the case.

Now, number two, Jim Fox said in the broadcast, and he's not wrong.

You also, when you're trying to make that decision, don't want to panic.

It's too nothing, and you're in the first period.

There's still two periods left to go.

And if you pull him after two goals,

maybe that doesn't have the effect you want on your team.

And you also have to think of the bigger picture as well.

How is this going to affect what we do from a goldening standpoint of the rest of the season?

Personally, I was for pulling him.

And I've said this before,

I think this has been an issue with the Kings all season.

I don't think that players have been held accountable as often as they should.

And I certainly know it's easy for me sitting on my couch to make that call.

But I just think that there has to be a standard.

And when that standard isn't met,

the players need to know there's going to be repercussions.

Now, Kimper kind of redeemed himself.

Maybe he paid back that faith that DJ Smith showed in him

because he was better the rest of the way for the most part.

But like I said, for me,

I would have pulled him.

I don't think at this point in the season,

there's no being patient to me.

I think there has to be that sense of urgency from the head coach too.

But anyway, this was a wild game.

I thought it was a very entertaining game, frankly.

And remember the other day I said,

I felt bad for King's fans who paid money and spent their time

going to that terrible Utah game?

Well, I was envious of the fans in crypto for this one.

It was great to hear the building being loud,

seeing the fans getting excited,

seeing the King's battling and showing some heart

and coming back and tying it up.

So there were definitely some positives to take away.

But of course, at this point of the season,

when it's all about points in your fight

for your playoff life, the results obviously

are most important.

DJ Smith was asked about Darcy Kemper and his status

as being the number one goalie.

And he said, quote, buck, that's referring to Mike Buckley,

will make those decisions.

He's the goalie coach, but Kemps has been our guy all along.

Certainly we'll look at everything in every position

that gives us a chance to win.

And then he was asked, did he consider pulling Darcy Kemper

when there's too nothing and he said, quote,

no, I don't love the start by us.

Sometimes you have long presentations

and you're a little rusty and then it's a high stick

and you just start and it wasn't what we wanted

by the players either.

So no, not it too, for sure.

And quote, so again, DJ Smith saying he never considered

pulling Darcy Kemper after that very tough start.

There were two key blunders though in this game

that I think were worth pointing out.

And when you look back and it's a five four shootout result

and obviously it's very close to big mistakes,

clearly made a big difference in this game

and you have to think what if those unforced errors,

which is what I would call them,

were not the difference in this game.

And look, mistakes are made on both sides, they happen.

But I thought there were two at this stage of the season

and with these two players in particular, pretty unexcusable.

Darcy Kemper, the first goal he led in was a goal

you can't let in.

I don't care if it's game two or game 82,

that just can't go in.

I want to say it was the first official shot

on goal for Nashville.

It was from a horrible angle, it was from the corner,

almost at the goal line.

Kemper seemingly has the post covered

and it just somehow finds a whole through them

and it just can't, it just cannot go in,

especially on the first shot of a game

in a hugely important game.

And that was bad and it did seem like it rattled Darcy Kemper.

Now later at the very end of the first period

there was a power play for the King's final minutes,

Puck goes down the ice again, it's too nothing

and Kemper makes the bad decision to come out

and play the puck and loses a race to the puck,

tries to get back in his net

and in the process he throws his stick

to try and prevent a goal being scored.

One problem, that's against the rules

and that's a penalty shot, which the predators were awarded.

Fortunately though for Darcy Kemper, he did stop that shot

but that was another bad decision in his part

that could have had horrible repercussions

for the King's, they could have been down easily

three nothing after the first period.

So the other major blunder was in the second period,

King's down to nothing and drew down in his own zone,

backhand blind pass up the middle to no one.

It's easily intercepted, got on a goal,

save made rebound gets put in.

That's the kind of play that gets you benched

and I've defended drew down to this year.

A lot of people taking their shots at him,

I respect what he has done for the King's,

I respect his career.

Look, that can't happen.

I don't care if you drew down or a rookie or whatever.

He's lost a step but what drew down

he's supposed to have is the intelligence

and the game awareness and knowing

when to make the right play at the right time.

Of course he's not perfect, there's gonna be mistakes

but in a game like this,

when you're down to nothing to make that play,

that was awful, just bad.

And those two glaring mistakes

by two veteran players, two leaders on your team,

I mean those guys are supposed to be different

makers in a positive way, not in a negative way.

All right, coming up next,

we're gonna talk a little bit more about Darcy Kemper

and what is the goal-tending position

looking like for the King's going forward?

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Let's check the lineup for the LA Kings going into this game.

And I was a little surprised that they did not have

the exact same lineup.

Of course, minus the gold tender that they had the previous game.

But there was one change.

Samuel Holenius was back at center on the third line.

Alex Turkot came out of the lineup.

I will say it again until the Kings decide to go back to it.

The fourth line that's been so good,

all season long needs to be put back together.

Taylor Ward, Samuel Holenius and Jeff Malod.

I have seen enough of Matthew Joseph.

No disrespect intended.

He skates hard, he gives you what he's got,

but it's not enough.

And that fourth line has been great

for when they've been together.

Need to be put back together.

Matthew Joseph needs to come out of the lineup.

I'm gonna keep saying it until it happens.

All right, let's get more into Darcy Kemper.

We already talked about the first goal he gave up,

a goal that just can't go in.

And then the third goal that it was allowed,

it was a drew doubt, he mistakes.

So we're not gonna rehash that.

The second goal that Kemper allowed

that made it to nothing.

I wasn't a huge fan of.

Brent Clark was fronting the Nashville forward.

He tried to block the shot,

which he normally does a good job at.

It got through him.

And then the Nashville forward had the puck.

And he was in really close on Kemper.

And then Kemper reaches and extends for the puck.

And when he does that, he's dead.

He's out of the play.

If he just holds his position,

the player has almost nothing to shoot at

because he's so tight.

But when Kemper reached, that was it.

He was out of the play.

And the player just kind of stick handled around him

as he was totally off balance and put another net.

I mentioned his mistake coming out too far

when he threw his stick and he was able

to stop the penalty shot.

The fourth goal was on a two on one.

This one was not on Kemper.

Joel Edmondson is back on defense.

Now he's put in a tough position.

But in that situation,

you cannot let the pass get through you.

He goes down to a knee, his stick is on the ice.

And just as the pass is made through him,

he lifts his stick up.

And the pass goes right by him and it's a tap in goal.

And Darcy Kemper has no chance on that one.

Then the Kings go to his shootout.

And I'm like, this is gonna end quickly

because Darcy Kemper stinks in shootouts.

And he was amazing.

Stopped the first seven shooters he saw

and looked like he was a rock.

The bad news was UCSAR was the owner of the net

who also wasn't great during regulation.

He was great too.

It was such a weird game.

The goal tending during regulation was spotty.

And then in the shootout, they were unbeatable.

So the bigger picture though here is

and I've gone back and forth on this a little bit.

And I've talked about how the numbers

before this game were pretty even.

But I still, the eyeball test to me

says Anton Forsberg is playing better than Darcy Kemper.

So the rematch coming upon Monday,

I'm putting Anton Forsberg in net.

I don't know what the King's gonna do,

but we shall see.

And of course, DJ Smith was asked about it

and he said apparently Mike Buckley,

the goalie coach makes that decision,

which is interesting.

Adrian Kemp Bay scored two goals.

He hits 30 on the season.

He now has 65 points.

Fourth time in his career,

he has scored 30 or more goals in a season.

His first goalie goes hard to the net.

He gets taken down as the pass is coming to him

as Artemis Pinarin is falling down.

It goes off of Kemp Bay's skate

as he's kind of sliding into the second base there

where the goalie was.

No distinct kicking motion.

That's a good goal for Pinarin.

He gets his 51st assist on the season.

And now in 19 games with the Kings, he's got 20 points.

The second goal for Adrian Kemp Bay,

Joel Edmondson puts a shot towards the net.

It was blocked by a Predator's defender,

but the rebound went right to Kemp Bay

who puts it in for the second goal of the game for him.

Joel Armia also had a 2.9.

He had a goal and an assist on his goal,

rookie Jared Wright jumps up into the play

on a three on two, puts the shot on.

It trickles through the pad of goalie, UC Saros.

It was sitting there in the crease

and there's Joel Armia going to the net,

taps in and over the goal line for the goal.

That's 11 goals and 23 points now on the season

for Joel Armia.

Scott Lawton scored the Kings third goal.

Joel Armia, this was his assist.

He puts the shot on net.

I don't know if it hits something on the way in.

It was kind of through traffic.

It looked like it was kind of wobbling.

And it came off the pad of UC Saros

and was a fat rebound for Scott Lawton.

And he was right there and he left no doubt.

Put it right in.

14 games for Lawton with the Kings.

He's got four goals and six points.

Overall in the season, he has 12 goals and 18 points.

He also won 14 face-offs, lost nine.

In this game, we haven't talked too much about it.

I think I've mentioned it maybe once,

but Lawton is a UFA at the end of the season.

So the Kings, if they want to retain him,

they'll have to resign in.

And I would like to see the Kings Resign Scott Lawton.

I really like what he brings to the team.

I love him in the face-off circle.

I think he's very responsible defensively.

He brings a lot of energy, seems smart.

And then from what everyone says,

he's absolutely beloved in the locker room

and the Kings could use some of that.

So he's making or he made 1.5 million this season.

That's not a lot of money.

I can't imagine he's going to be looking

for a lot more than that.

So if he's willing to sign for two,

I'd be more than happy for the Kings Resign.

I've liked him a lot as a third-line center.

Ajay Kopitar had a secondary assist

on the second goal by Adrian Kempe.

I did like that after the game.

Ajay Kopitar was asked something like,

have you thought about that you only

have seven games left in the season?

And he responded, I plan on playing more than seven games,

which I did like that answer.

But of course, before this game, Ajay Kopitar was honored.

I don't know why this game, they decided to do it.

I know I saw some Predators fans complaining about it.

Well, they can suck it.

But it was odd that this first home game,

or I should say it was odd that they didn't do it.

The first home game after he broke the record

and became the King's All-Time League of Score.

Or you could certainly understand why

why not have Ajay Kopitar Appreciation Night

for the final home game on April 11th against Deloitte?

Now I know there's fan appreciation night.

I think we can do both.

We'd have the pre-game ceremony for Kopitar before the game.

You have all of the giveaways during the game

and at the end of the game, they do the jersey off the back thing.

I don't know.

I don't know why they picked this game.

Maybe somebody knows I have no idea why.

It was a nice ceremony.

We're all celebrating Ajay Kopitar's career

in becoming the King's All-Time Leading Score.

What are we doing given out these weird sunglasses?

That's the thing.

We're celebrating.

There's no commemorative, I don't know, poster or something.

I saw the sunglasses they gave out.

They were very weird looking.

If you gave me those, I wouldn't wear them.

So I don't know.

I just thought that's what we're giving away to the fans

to celebrate Ajay Kopitar's career,

some bizarre looking sunglasses.

I don't know.

We talked about the last game.

We had the switch of the defensive pairs.

Cody C.C. with Mikey Anderson.

Brian Dumolin with Drew Dowdy.

They started with that pair.

And then at some point during the game

in the middle of the game, I did notice they switched back.

Dowdy and Anderson back together.

Dumolin and C.C. back together.

I don't think it had anything to do with players

playing on special teams and having

to change things up right after that, something like that.

So yeah, it was played with from what I saw during the game.

So evidently, they're not necessarily

all that thrilled with how that change is gone.

As for the four players, Dowdy Dumolin and Anderson

were all even on the night.

Cody C.C. was actually a plus one.

All right, checking the final player stats.

And this one, two goals for Adrian Kempe,

Scott Lotton and Joel Armea goals as well,

assists for Joel Armea, Anjie Kobatara,

Temi Pinarian, Jared Wright, Mikey Anderson,

Brian Dumolin and Joel Edminton.

Alex LaFarrier had five shots on goal to lead the team.

And he had four hits to lead the team as well.

Quinn Byfield, Brandt Clark, Drew Dowdy, Brian Dumolin,

Joel Edminton all had two blocked shots.

Drew Dowdy led the Kings and Ice time,

26 minutes and 11 seconds.

And Anjie Kobatara,

116 face-offs in loss 10, 63.3%.

All right, where are the LA Kings now?

After this loss, we will let you know next.

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All right, wanna check the scoreboard on Thursday.

The sharks beat the Maple Leafs 4-1.

Maple Leafs are the team that the Kings are playing next

coming up on Saturday.

The Golden Knights down the Flam 6-3.

Jets lose to the stars, three nothing,

and the crack and fall to the mammoth.

Six to two.

So let's check the updated standings

in the Pacific Division.

The ducks are now tied with the Oilers,

both at 87 points.

Now I do think it's a bit of a long shot

for the Kings to catch the biggest Golden Knights,

but if they were to, I think we're all thinking,

ah, we have to play the Oilers again.

Man, not necessarily the ducks might slip down

to that number two spot.

That would be a lovely matchup for the LA Kings.

That would be fun.

But anyway, Ed and Brea though would have a heart attack.

The Golden Knights are three points back

on both the Oilers and the ducks for the top spot

or the second spot.

The sharks with their win have 79 points just like the Kings,

because San Jose has played one fewer game.

They also have more regulation wins than the Kings.

They would have the tiebreaker.

As we've talked about many times,

Kings don't have the tiebreaker in any situation.

So they have to finish ahead of teams

like the sharks or the predators.

Crackin have 75 points.

They're four points back of LA and San Jose

and their playoff hopes are on life support.

As for the wild card race, San Jose

is holding that second wild card spot,

but they are tied with the predators

and the Kings all at 79 points.

But as I mentioned, the sharks have a game in hand

and the predators and sharks both have the tiebreaker

over the Kings.

So LA is right there in points,

but they have to finish ahead of Nashville and San Jose.

And then Winnipeg Jets are kind of hanging around there

three points behind or the final wild card spot.

All right, a bit of Kings news to pass along.

And I think it's an exciting news.

The Kings have signed Goldie Prospect Hampton-Sleukinsky

to a three-year entry-level deal.

They also signed his brother Grant to a contract as well.

So I'm guessing there's a lot of Kings gear

being bought in the Slukinsky household.

For Hampton, great, but brief college career,

won a national championship at Western Michigan

two seasons with the Broncos.

The Kings now have Hampton-Sleukinsky and Carter George

ready to turn pro next season.

I had said I would not have been surprised

if Slukinsky would have played out his college career,

become a free agent and then signed with any team he wanted to,

but clearly he didn't want to wait.

He wanted to turn pro.

And I think it's a good sign that he is not afraid

to compete for the Kings, you know, a spot with the Kings

or with the Rain or whatever the situation is going to be

with Carter George.

So, you know, made the best Goldie win,

but there are two really good young Goldies in the King's system.

And we'll see how it plays out.

Of course, you throw in Eric Portillo in there as well.

Certainly would think something's got to give

between Darcy Kemper and Anton Forsberg.

And frankly, the way Kemper has looked this season,

I think I'd be inclined to move him.

Of course, he makes, you know, twice as much as Forsberg.

He makes over five million a year as Darcy Kemper.

So that certainly factors in as well.

So we'll see worth keeping an eye on.

All right, up next the Kings are going to host the Toronto

Maple Leafs on Saturday.

Maple Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs

with their loss on Thursday.

This is a must win game for the Kings.

And would be great for them to just take care of business,

make it easy on us, but we know better than that, right?

And then of course, the rematch against the Predators

on Monday.

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