The Royal Week Ahead: Kings begin 6-game road trip at CBJ, PIT and BUF
By Matt Pelkey
The Royal Week Ahead is a weekly feature on RinkRoyalty.com that looks into the Los Angeles Kings’ games for the upcoming week.
This week, from December 7-December 13, the Kings kick off a six-game road trip with three games. They first begin their road swing Tuesday in Columbus and follow it up with two days of rest before they play back-to-back games in Pittsburgh Friday and Buffalo on Saturday.
Tuesday, December 8 @ Columbus Blue Jackets – 4:00 p.m. (PT)/ 7:00 p.m. (ET)
The Kings look to commence their Eastern road trip the very same way they finished off their four-game home stand – with a win. L.A. are winners of their previous four games and are 5-0-1 in their last six but are 0-1 against the Blue Jackets, who were losers in 3 of their last 4 games, this season. In the second of two meetings this year, the Kings will look to get redemption on Tuesday after Columbus narrowly defeated L.A. 3-2 at Staples Center back on November 5. In the contest, Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky tallied a goal and an assist while goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves for the win. Alec Martinez and Jeff Carter scored for the Kings.
Despite their early season loss, Los Angeles is 11-4 against the Blue Jackets in their last 15 games.
Entering Tuesday, Columbus owns the 4th-best penalty kill percentage at home in the NHL at 88.2%, but they also own the league’s 2nd-worst home winning percentage at .375% thanks in large part to a 0-6 start at Nationwide Arena. Only the San Jose Sharks (0.333%) have a worse win percentage in their home arena. Advantage: Kings!
There will be plenty of familiar faces in this matchup, with Blue Jackets defenseman and former L.A. defender Jack Johnson suiting up for the home team while both Carter and Marian Gaborik both spent time playing in Columbus in recent years. The Blue Jackets will look to halt Carter’s current six-game point streak (1+5=6) while Gaborik has four points (2+2=4) in his previous four games.
Oh, and if you don’t already know, the Blue Jackets release game day posters customized for each of their opponents that day. If you haven’t yet you should check them out here. They’re awesome.
Friday, December 11 @ Pittsburgh Penguins – 4:00 p.m. (PT)/ 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Hey, didn’t we just play these guys?!
Los Angeles will play Pittsburgh for the second time in four games on Friday. In L.A.’s 5-3 win over the Penguins December 6, the Kings were led by defensemen Jake Muzzin (1g, 2a) and Drew Doughty (1g, 1a) as they built a 3-0 lead and propelled themselves to victory. The five L.A. goals were huge for a Kings team who failed to score a single goal against Pittsburgh in two games versus the black and gold in 2014-15.
Once again, Los Angeles will have to keep an eye out for Sidney Crosby and his long-time partner-in-crime Chris Kunitz. Crosby scored a goal and an assist in the meeting earlier this season while Kunitz scored once and added two helpers as Pittsburgh will undoubtedly look to these two players to lead the way. After a slow start to the season, the Penguins’ hottest player right now, “Sid”, has scored points in 7 of his last 8 games entering the week.
After posting 8 points (5g, 3a) in 4 games, leading scorer Evgeni Malkin has gone pointless in his last two games while registering a -4 ratings as of the time of this post.
With Pittsburgh playing a better defensive game this season it will be crucial for L.A. to get off to another quick start against a Penguins team that boasts some of the league’s most dangerous scorers. Doughty (2+2=4 in last 3 GP), Milan Lucic (4+2=6 in last 6 GP) and Anze Kopitar (1+4=5 in last 4 GP) are all hot as of late and should garner special attention from the Penguins. But really, when don’t these guys receive special attention?
Saturday, December 12 @ Buffalo Sabres – 4:00 p.m. (PT)/ 7:00 p.m. (ET)
When the final horn sounds at First Niagara Center in Buffalo on Saturday night the Kings will officially be halfway through their six-game trip. If L.A. wins against Columbus on Tuesday and Pittsburgh on Friday and are thus carrying a six-game win streak into Saturday, the Kings will be crossing their toes, fingers and anything else they can cross.
Why? Because the Kings have not won in Buffalo since February 21, 2003. That’s closing in on almost 13 years.
Jan 21, 2014; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres defenseman Brayden McNabb (44) during the third period against the Florida Panthers at First Niagara Center. Panthers beat the Sabres 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
L.A. heads to Western New York for a showdown with the Sabres, a team they are 0-5-1 against over their last 6 games in Buffalo. Three of those games saw L.A. lose 5-0, 10-1 and 8-3.
Yeah, not too pretty. Start crossing those fingers.
The Sabres are led offensively by off-season acquisition forward Ryan O’Reilly (9+14=23) and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (4+14=18). Rookie phenom and the second overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft Jack Eichel sits third in team scoring with 14 points (9+5=14).
Kings defenders Brayden McNabb and Jamie McBain are both former Sabres players while Buffalo’s Matt Moulson and Nicolas Deslauriers were once L.A. property.
Here’s hoping the drought doesn’t make it to 13 years.
vs Western Conference
Record: 10-5
Goals for: 37
Goals against: 34
Power play: 8-for-51
vs Eastern Conference
Record: 7-3
Goals for: 31
Goals against: 21
Power play: 7-for-29