Darryl Sutter wasn’t about to tip his hand at this morning’s pre-game skate in San Jose, so make sure you ‘get there in time for the song’ if you want his official line-up for Game 4. However, it appears this is what he’s going with…
FORWARDS
Dustin Brown – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Dwight King – Mike Richards – Jeff Carter
Dustin Penner – Trevor Lewis – Tyler Toffoli
Kyle Clifford – Colin Fraser – Brad Richardson
DEFENSEMEN
Robyn Regehr – Drew Doughty
Rob Scuderi – Slava Voynov
Jake Muzzin – Keaton Ellerby
(Note: Alec Martinez and/or Matt Greene could also play. Nothing is expected to be official until just before game time)
UPDATE – Greene is in, Ellerby is out.
Jonathan Quick will start in net.
RELATED CONTENT:
Game 4 morning skate: Anze Kopitar says Kyle Clifford brings ‘a litle meat’
Drew Doughty on Jonathan Quick – ‘He was pretty pissed off’
Sharks forward Logan Couture – ‘Brown is dangerous, Williams is crafty’
Two down, one to go for the White Line
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I wonder what Sutter sees in Dwight King. Seems like there isn’t a single person watching the game who can figure it out. He brings nothing to the table other than being a big body. His work along the boards and down low (a trait that made him very effective last year) has been a joke thus far… Jeff Carter does better board work than King… and that’s saying something.
King’s job is to get in on the forecheck, battle for loose pucks and dig them out to Richards or Carter. Homeboy is lucky to even get to the puck before it’s being transitioned the other way. In the neutral zone and d-zone Fox mentioned last year that King would never lose a board battle to get the puck out… what happened to that?
Someone, help me see what I’m missing here..
Finally someone see the same thing i am watching. king needs to be bench for sure and put toffoli
well to be fair, he wins about 30% of the board battles
I hear you, but there’s not really any other option. Clifford was used on those top lines at the beginning of the season when he was hot, but once his offensive production went down, King became the better option because of his mobility.
With Penner, Clifford, Nolan, and Pearson as the only replacement options, I’d still probably stick with King. He actually has an amazing sense for where the puck is going to be, and that is especially invaluable in the playoffs.
I’m with you though, he can be very frustrating to watch. Hopefully he’ll turn his game up a notch tonight!
GKG
I don’t think King has been as bad as some others believe he has been. He made the hit causing Richards/Carter goal to win a game vs. STL.
I think one of the reasons he hasn’t won as many board battles is bc the Kings are not generating speed thru the NZ, due to spending more time in their own zone. This has caused weak dumps / line changes which doesn’t allow King (or other fwds) to get in on a good forecheck. . He may be on a line where he’s expected to produce, and that may not be his best fit. He may do better in a checking role rather than 2nd line. I mean how much would we expect from him if he were switched w/ Penner or Toffoli and on the 3rd line?
Overall, I would grade him a C+, and he’s been better than Nolan, who it appears is planning to sit tonight.
I would prefer to have Toffoli move up to the second line with King going down to the third line at least but sounded like Toffoli wasn’t comfortable playing LW.
I agree with the King comments, dont get it clifford, toffoli, lewis, heck probably pearson would be better suited on that second line
Sorry, King is awesome. He has done really well on that line.
I agree 100000% I liked cliffy there or even lewis. One of the guys on the podcast thought that king must have loaned sutter some farming equipment or something. Lmao! I just don’t get it
I would much rather see PlayoffPenner get bumped back up to the 2nd line. He’s earned that with some much better play along the boards and creating. Drop King with Lewis and Toffoli, he’s better suited to playing bottom 6, or better yet drop him down to 4th and let Clifford play up on 3 if he’s back in the lineup tonight.
I was never impressed with King while he was in Manchester. He seemed to play at 50-60%. I was impressed during last year playoffs with him but zero effort this season. Pearson or Vey both bring more skill and effort.