Kings look to Quick-ly put embarrassment behind them

If there is one word to describe the Kings game last night it is embarrassing. From time to time, teams will not show up and will be flat on the ice. Last nights Kings team was far from that.  They were out-skated, but not outplayed.

The Kings out-shot the Thrashers 38 to 21 but neither Jonathan Quick nor Erik Ersberg were able to stop the pucks fired at them from going behind them and into the net.

After a scoreless first period, the Thrashers came out in the second period and found ways to beat Quick for three goals in less than four minutes time.  Terry Murray felt enough was enough and called on back up goalie Erik Ersberg to attempt to stop the bleeding.  One minute and ten seconds later Maxim Afinogenov found himself skating in on a breakaway on a nice feed from Ilya Kovalchuk and beat Ersberg, taking his head out of the game immediately and helping the Thrashers cruise to an easy win.

Ron Hextall reacts on Jonathan Quick at Rich Hammonds page, LAKingsInsider.com.

It seems as if the Kings are going to let Quick play through his issues and attempt to bounce back, in a mature way, from an ugly defeat.

Tonight’s line up (subject to change):

Smyth – Kopitar – Williams
Parse – Stoll – Brown
Frolov – Handzus – Simmonds
Ivanans – Richardson – Purcell

Scuderi – Doughty
Johnson – Jones
Drewiske – Greene

Quick

Justin Williams was given a match penalty last night on a controversial hit that was called “Checking from behind” and questions arise on disciplinary action. Kings fans across the Internet feel that it was a bad call, but it’s up to the league to determine that. I will leave my bias out of this situation.

It is up to the team to forget about last night and focus on tonight’s contest. The Panthers have the upper hand when it comes to the Goaltending for tonight as veteran Tomas Vokoun has been playing very well this season.  A fast start to the game, with a tempo to match last nights are two keys to the game.  The Kings need to make sure they are focused on the back check, on special teams and very much need to get pucks on net and traffic in front. Two points are a must.