kings playoff notes stauber tv ratings etc los angeles kings notes playoffs stauber disturbed by third man theme by rick sadowski daily news barry melrose s decision to stick robb stauber in the stands rather than in the crease or even on the bench for the stanley cup playoffs does not sit well with the rookie goaltender i want to be a part of the team at the most crucial time of the year the most fun time of the year and i m not stauber said with some emotion monday i think i have worked hard enough for that stauber said he accepts melrose s choice of kelly hrudey as the teams top goalie in their playoff series with the calgary flames hrudey made saves in sundays opening victory but stauber clearly is upset with his sudden status as the no man behind rick knickle stauber had a record and goals against average down the stretch in the regular season and nearly wrestled the no job from hrudey knickle he won of decisions but had a bloated average twice was yanked from games once for stomach cramps and hasn t played since march yet when the series resumes wednesday knickle will serve as hrudey s backup again and stauber will have to satisfy his playoff hunger by munching on olympic saddledome popcorn if i m supposedly close to being the starter or could have been the starter i dropped too what happened to no stauber wondered not that i d be happy with no but i feel i should at least be a part of this team in the playoffs perhaps stauber eventually will get his chance but melrose apparently is not convinced the year old is capable of handling playoff pressure while insisting he is the kings goalie of the future melrose said stauber flubbed all four of the big games he was asked to win this season they were according to melrose a loss to san jose on dec an loss to the new york rangers on jan a tie with detroit on feb an loss to vancouver on thursday four times this season robb could have emerged as the elite goalie he could have taken it away from kelly hrudey and he didn t do it melrose said an elite goaltender has to carry the ball when you give it to him the mark of a great goalie is that he isn t satisfied to be a backup i m not blaming robb for the losses but if you re going to be no you ve got to be able to walk your talk you ve got to be able to play when everything is on the line robb stauber has a great deal of ability but maybe i expect more from him than he does ouch that remark stung stauber he began the season struggled when the team hit a mid season slump didn t play for a month after knickle was signed off the san diego gulls roster then came on at the end i expect more from myself than anybody including barry melrose said stauber a three year star at the university of minnesota who left school in only to have his development hampered by a string of serious injuries what i ve been through the last four years two knee operations a herniated disk in my back shoulder surgery what more can i go through i obviously do expect a lot from myself otherwise i wouldn t be here anybody who would disagree with that doesn t know me i m not saying barry doesn t know me but don t say i ve been without expectations if anything i m a perfectionist stauber acknowledged he played poorly in the four games melrose mentioned but even though i didn t play well i get knocked down from maybe on to three it s a bit of a jump he said you re almost no or if you play a good game you re no and if you don t you re no why does jack nicklaus shoot a and then a can you explain that that s what barry wanted me to explain to him why i didn t come through when he counted on me i don t know what i do know is it s a sport i ll be there melrose s goalie of the future statement doesn t mean much to stauber before you know it i ll be and there will be no future he said game of the kings flames playoff series drew a nielsen rating on abc channel here in la the kings averaged a nielsen rating in the regular season games aired on channel around the nhl san jose fired coach george kingston who lead the team to a mark in their nd nhl season kingston was over the past years with the sharks former islander executive bill torrey was named as president of the expansion florida panthers bobby clarke was named as the clubs general manager last nights games win van van leads tor det det leads stan willis willis empire dnet hac com net contact l a kings talk with the l a kings mailing list kings cs stanford edu to subscribe or unsubscribe kings request cs stanford edu
