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Ger ready for a heavy dose of Kings-Blues hockey over the next 10 days, as the clubs will meet three times — playing out their entire season series in the process.
Unfortunately, the trio of games will begin on the road, and on a night two of a back-to-back set, following a blowout loss in Dallas less than 24 hours ago.
So much has been rightfully made about the Kings being so dominant at home this season. On the flip side of that coin, LA hasn’t found nearly the same success when playing away from Crypto.com Arena. After last night’s game vs. the Stars, coach Jim Hiller’s team holds an away record of 12-15-5, which is the worst among currently qualified playoff teams in the Western Conference. For whatever reason, LA’s home success isn’t showing up on the road.
While looking to bounce back in St. Louis, they’ll face a Blues club not currently in a playoff position; however, they are in the thick of a Wild Card chase. Thus, both sides will be hungry for the two points at stake.
After adjusting his forward lines in Dallas, it will be interesting to see if Hiller tweaks his defensive pairs tonight. Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson could theoretically be reunited at any point, as could Joel Edmundson and Brandt Clarke.
With two straight losses this week, coming in games where the Kings only scored two goals in each, heavy focus continues to center around what GM Rob Blake may do in advance of Friday’s Trade Deadline. Adding another goal scorer — and one preferably with a right shot — has been long talked about. Getting the power play going will also be vital if Hiller and the Kings want to make a splash come postseason time.
More LA’s power play can be found here:
— David Rittich, tonight’s expected starter, has a 2-1-2 record against St. Louis in his career, putting up a 3.57 GAA and a .881 SV%.
— Anze Kopitar has just one goal in the last twenty games and is a minus-10 over that span. History says those numbers should swing back the other direction soon.
— St. Louis has not been a kind city to the Kings, they have an all-time record of 33-67-10-3 when facing the Blues in their building.
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Turcotte – Kopitar – Laferriere
Fiala – Byfield – Kempe
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Jeannot – Lewis
Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Doughty
Moverare – Spence
Clarke
Rittich (starter)
Kuemper
Likely scratches: (F) Thomas and (D) Burroughs
Puck drop is set for 5:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised locally by FanDuel Sports. Additionally, a Kings radio feed is available on the ESPN LA app (which is the new home for Kings radio this season, they’ve moved off of the iHeart platform).
St. Louis is coming off a 5-2 victory over Washington on Thursday. Here is how they lined up for that contest:
Neighbours – Thomas – Buchnevich
Holloway – Schenn – Kyrou
Joseph – Sundqvist – Bolduc
Toropchenko – Faksa – Walker
Fowler – Parayko
Broberg – Faulk
Suter – Leddy
Hofer
MORE LA KINGS NEWS:
Follow @mayorNHL
Continue reading...
Ger ready for a heavy dose of Kings-Blues hockey over the next 10 days, as the clubs will meet three times — playing out their entire season series in the process.
Unfortunately, the trio of games will begin on the road, and on a night two of a back-to-back set, following a blowout loss in Dallas less than 24 hours ago.
So much has been rightfully made about the Kings being so dominant at home this season. On the flip side of that coin, LA hasn’t found nearly the same success when playing away from Crypto.com Arena. After last night’s game vs. the Stars, coach Jim Hiller’s team holds an away record of 12-15-5, which is the worst among currently qualified playoff teams in the Western Conference. For whatever reason, LA’s home success isn’t showing up on the road.
While looking to bounce back in St. Louis, they’ll face a Blues club not currently in a playoff position; however, they are in the thick of a Wild Card chase. Thus, both sides will be hungry for the two points at stake.
After adjusting his forward lines in Dallas, it will be interesting to see if Hiller tweaks his defensive pairs tonight. Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson could theoretically be reunited at any point, as could Joel Edmundson and Brandt Clarke.
With two straight losses this week, coming in games where the Kings only scored two goals in each, heavy focus continues to center around what GM Rob Blake may do in advance of Friday’s Trade Deadline. Adding another goal scorer — and one preferably with a right shot — has been long talked about. Getting the power play going will also be vital if Hiller and the Kings want to make a splash come postseason time.
More LA’s power play can be found here:
Statistically Speaking
— David Rittich, tonight’s expected starter, has a 2-1-2 record against St. Louis in his career, putting up a 3.57 GAA and a .881 SV%.
— Anze Kopitar has just one goal in the last twenty games and is a minus-10 over that span. History says those numbers should swing back the other direction soon.
— St. Louis has not been a kind city to the Kings, they have an all-time record of 33-67-10-3 when facing the Blues in their building.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Blues
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Turcotte – Kopitar – Laferriere
Fiala – Byfield – Kempe
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Jeannot – Lewis
Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Doughty
Moverare – Spence
Clarke
Rittich (starter)
Kuemper
Likely scratches: (F) Thomas and (D) Burroughs
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 5:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised locally by FanDuel Sports. Additionally, a Kings radio feed is available on the ESPN LA app (which is the new home for Kings radio this season, they’ve moved off of the iHeart platform).
Across the Ice
St. Louis is coming off a 5-2 victory over Washington on Thursday. Here is how they lined up for that contest:
Neighbours – Thomas – Buchnevich
Holloway – Schenn – Kyrou
Joseph – Sundqvist – Bolduc
Toropchenko – Faksa – Walker
Fowler – Parayko
Broberg – Faulk
Suter – Leddy
Hofer
On This Day in Kings History
MORE LA KINGS NEWS:
Follow @mayorNHL
Continue reading...
