Tonight is the next in a series of very important December match-ups for the Kings, and they’re going to need some real results if they want to be in the mix for the playoffs come the end of the year. In general I think they’re in a good position. Although they’ve got some injuries to key players such as Scuderi and Smyth, they’ve had other players (including Simmonds and Quick) step up and fill in. Are they 100%? Of course not. They are a surprisingly strong team, still capable of making noise.
Tonight the Kings face off against the Ottawa Senators, a team that the Kings don’t play terribly often, since they’re in the East, and a team that has been largely underwhelming so far this season, with 30 points from 25 games, which is good enough to put them squarely in 7th place. To be fair, unloading top scorer Dany Heatley to San Jose and then having Cheechoo, one of the key parts coming back fall on his face so far this season hasn’t made things easier.
In spite of that key loss, the Senators have played acceptably, if unimpressively, and could see a significant increase in the quality of their team, and playoff hopes if Cheechoo manages to climb out of his slump and start producing again. It looks like Quick will be starting the game again for the Kings, and he’ll be looking to build off the strong play from the last few games. Let’s hope we can get two points and move that much closer to a playoff slot! Go Kings!