Los Angeles Kings in Ottawa to Face Senators Tonight
Thursday night the Los Angeles Kings are in Ottawa to face the Senators. Puck-drop is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PST (7:30 p.m. EST) at Canadian Tire Centre.
This is the second game of a five-game road trip for the Kings. After putting up 34 shots in Buffalo L.A. was shutout 1-0 by the Sabres on Tuesday. That dropped Los Angeles to fifth place in the Pacific Division. With a record of 14-9-5 and 33 points the Kings slid to ninth place in the Western Conference.
The Kings head into Ottawa on a two-game losing streak.
“L.A. needs to clean up their own play and start skating for 60 minutes to be successful.”
Ottawa hasn’t played since last Sunday, so the Senators will be rested. On Sunday the Senators snuck out an overtime win, at home, against the Vancouver Canucks. Superstar defensemen and Senator captain Erik Karlsson scored 1:21 into extra time to end the game 4-3 Ottawa.
On Monday, however, the Senators unceremoniously fired head coach Paul MacLean. Ottawa also named his replacement, Senators head coach David Cameron, on Monday.
MacLean came to Ottawa three years ago, after learning and working as an assistant coach under Detroit Red Wings coaching master Mike Babcock. MacLean reached the playoffs with the Senators in his first two seasons as head coach, winning the Jack Adams Award for the 2012-2013 season. Unfortuantely MacLean and the Senators failed to make the playoffs last year. This season MacLean was entering the first year of a three-year extension, before being let go on Monday.
This is relevant, because the Senators may be reeling. They’ve had three days to adjust to Cameron, who served as an assistant coach under MacLean. It’s not a huge shift, but certainly management has sent a message to the team.
Ottawa’s change of leadership on the bench would normally be something the Kings could take advantage of. Instead the Kings are reeling themselves, coming off of two losses to teams in the bottom six of sixteen Eastern Conference teams.
L.A. needs to clean up their own play and start skating for 60 minutes to be successful.
The Kings held an open morning skate, as opposed to a formal practice, in Ottawa. Here’s a projection of L.A.’s lineup for tonight:
Forwards:
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Puck Prose
Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Tanner Pearson – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Trevor Lewis – Jarret Stoll – Dustin Brown
Kyle Clifford – Mike Richards – Dwight King
Defensemen:
Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez – Robyn Regehr
Brayden McNabb – Matt Greene
Goalies:
Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones
After recovering from the flu, forward Kyle Clifford is back in the lineup for Jordan Nolan.
Jonathan Quick is the projected starter in net for the Kings. Quick has played very well lately, though wins have been elusive as the star goaltender can’t keep pucks out of the net and score for the Kings, who have struggled at the other end of the ice.
Quick is currently 5th in the NHL with a 2.09 goals against average, and 3rd with .931 save percentage. Despite the Kings outshooting their opponents on most nights, Quick has the 4th biggest workload in the NHL with 671 shots against him, and 625 saves. Though he’s started fewer games than every goalie ranking 7th, 6th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st. New Jersey Devils Cory Schneider, who’s in 1st, has played 5 more games than Quick.
Marian Gaborik will remain on the Kings first line. After returning in Buffalo Gaborik looked unpolished, didn’t have many chances on his 3 shots, and seemed to lose speed in the third period as the game wore on. Gaborik’s performance is crucial to helping the Kings, making L.A.’s first line’s chemistry work, and making Kopitar a more offensive threat.
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Eyes On Isles
Ottawa players to keep an eye on:
Erik Karlsson is a superstar defensemen. Karlsson won the Norris Trophy back in 2012, for his performance in the 2011-2012 season. Unsurprisingly Karlsson leads his team in points with 20, and assists, 13, in 27 games. Karlsson is an extremely skilled offensive defensemen. He’s good moving the puck in transition, can pull out some tricky moves, and he moves fast. The good news is Karlsson is -10, and tends to struggle in his own zone. The Kings need to keep the puck away from him, and keep it hemmed in the Ottawa zone when Karlsson’s on the ice.
Bobby Ryan doesn’t have the name recognition he did when playing for the Anaheim Ducks. Ryan is still a scorer. He’s second on Ottawa with 17 points in 24 games. Ryan is also a +2, one of the few Ottawa top scorers on the positive side of plus/minus. Perhaps Ryan has cleaned up some of his defensive problems that kept him off of Team USA in the 2014 Olympics.
Mika Zibanejad has been hot lately. Zibanejad has scored 4 goals in his last 3 games, and 7 points in his last 4 games. As Ottawa’s second line center he’s helped the team to ramp up their offense, round out their top 6 forwards, and has made the second unit something the opposition has to watch out for. Zibanejad is tied for 2nd on Ottawa in goals now, with Karlsson. Both are behind Clarke MacArthur who has 9 goals on the season.
Craig Anderson hasn’t seen his name in the papers as a top NHL goaltender recently, but he’s still tough to beat. Anderson has 2 shutouts, a 2.50 goals against average, and a .927 save percentage on the season. Anderson’s save percentage is 6th in the NHL, and he’ll be a tough test for a team that’s been struggling to score.
A fun side note, Drew Doughty was drafted at Canadian Tire Centre, which hosted the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
Let’s hope the Kings can turn around their losing skid and get a W tonight.
Go Kings Go!
Dec 14, 2013; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar (11) tries to get past Ottawa defenseman Jose Corvo (77) and center Mika Zibanejad (93) in the third period at the Canadian Tire Centre.The Kings defeated the Senators 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports