However, I do think that the Kings are suffering from an arrogance or over-confidence that is akin to having a four goal lead in a playoff game and then blowing it, or playing two great periods and then the wheels falling off. There has been, both in the fan base and in Lombardi’s moves (3 year deal for Jarret Stoll? Trading Loktionov…) an attitude of “what happened in the playoffs is the REAL Kings (finally having arrived) while the regular season Kings were just growing pains.

Well, guess what? The only way for the Kings to play like they played in the playoffs is for them to play like they played in the playoffs. That did not involve, in any meaningful way, Simon Gagne. It did involve both Matt Greene and Willie Mitchell. And Quick played out of his mind.

I said in the preview that I thought riding Quick in this shortened season was foolish. I also said Gagne was not a proven quantity. I never liked Stoll in that third line slot, as everyone who reads this blog knows. If Lombardi had the whatever to play Gagne or King with Loktionov and Toffoli, with Stoll Lewis and Clifford/Nolan on the fourth, would we be having these problems? At the very worst, we’d be scoring more goals. The defense really couldn’t be much worse.

Now we’re really stuck with stoll at 3c, until Lombardi makes a move of some kind. which he probably will in the next couple of weeks, because frankly, the only way this team is going to win games is to batten down the hatches and win 2-1 or 1-0 like last year (remember both GF and GA went DOWN under Sutter), but that’s impossible without Mitchell and Greene. So instead we’re not scoring and we’re losing.

I hoped that the Kings might have continued their elite level of play but Doughty looks like he signed yesterday, Penner is a loaf (again), Carter is -3 in spite of 4 goals, Scuderi seems lost and Drewiske’s limitations have been exposed, worse he’s attempting plays well beyond his pay grade..

I question that Bernier did not get the call in either Nashville game after having proved successful against Trotz. Quick does not appear ready, sharp only at times…and very lucky. The CBJs had several empty nets to shoot at and pulled a Stevie Wonder each time.

The intensity level just isn’t there for all players at all times and Murray’s pride, the defense, is “HORRID”,. They get beat to the net over and over. Same mistakes game after game. It just ain’t there. Still time, but it ain’t there now.

I was hoping for a modest 3 game win streak starting in Nashville, instead I got a vision of LA out of the playoffs. Through the Kings have several games in hand the thought that nearly 25% of the season has been played is not comforting. Ugh!

Let’s face it folks. The Kings overachieved last spring. They struggled all year. They barely made the playoffs. Then they got hot and somehow pulled off an almost impossible run to the cup. All it proved is that it can be done.

They’re struggling even worse this year and they show no signs of even being able to make the playoffs.