The Royal Week Ahead: Kings finish road trip at OTT, MTL and TOR
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 14-December 20, the Kings play out the final three games of their six-game Eastern road swing. L.A. is in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, Monday night before heading to Quebec for a game against Montreal. The Kings will finish off the trip Saturday night in Toronto before heading back home.
Monday, December 14 @ Ottawa Senators – 4:30 p.m. (PT)/ 7:30 p.m. (ET)
The Kings will head to Ottawa Monday night for their fourth game of a six-game road swing for a battle with the Senators. It is the first of two meetings this season between the two clubs. Last season, the teams split the season series, 1-1. However, recent history shows that L.A. has had the better results when these two teams meet. The Kings are 4-1 in their last 5 games versus Ottawa and 11-3-1 (one tie) in their previous 15.
Marian Gaborik and Anze Kopitar will try to continue their strong play of late as L.A. attempts to end the tail end of their trip successfully. Gaborik has 11 shots over his last two games with one goal and a +3 rating, while Kopitar has points in nine of his last 11 games and hasn’t finished a game as a ‘minus’ player since October 13, the third game of the season.
Leading the way for the Senators is two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. The Swedish defenseman leads the team with 32 points. Forwards Bobby Ryan (28 pts), Mike Hoffman (27 pts), Mark Stone (27 pts) and Kyle Turris (24 pts) are all close in the scoring race on a Senators team that sits 4th in the Atlantic Division and owns a 7-4-4 home record.
Although they’ve come out of the gate hot, Ottawa finds itself in a mini slump having lost three of its last four games.
February 26, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Ottawa Senators goalie Andrew Hammond (30) blocks a shot against Los Angeles Kings right wing Marian Gaborik (12) during the third period at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Thursday, December 17 @ Montreal Canadiens – 4:30 p.m. (PT)/ 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Currently sitting atop the Atlantic Division with 43 points, the Canadiens will get a visit from the Kings on Thursday. Last year’s Vezina Trophy winner Carey Price remains sidelined with an injury as Montreal has won just twice in the last seven contests. This is good news for L.A. and its fans as the Kings are 3-7 in their last 10 and 6-14 in their previous 20 games against the Canadiens.
March 5, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings center Jordan Nolan (71) fights against Montreal Canadiens right wing Brandon Prust (8) during the third period at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
L.A. will certainly take any advantage they can get over Quebec’s team.
Tomas Plekanec (27 pts) and captain Max Pacioretty (26 pts) lead the way offensively for Montreal. Pacioretty sits third in the NHL with 127 shots and star defenseman P.K. Subban continues to play solid defense while still finding ways to put up points (21 pts). He currently leads his club with a +13 rating.
L.A. should come out for this game with plenty of energy as they will have had two rest days between this game and their contest in Ottawa Monday night.
Saturday, December 19 @ Toronto Maple Leafs – 4:00 p.m. (PT)/ 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Another team the Kings are meeting for the first time this season, L.A. heads into Toronto having gone 3-1-1 in their last 5 games against the Maple Leafs and 8-4-2-1 (one tie) in their previous 15. Last season, Toronto got the better of the Kings at Air Canada Centre by defeating L.A. 4-3 in a shootout. Former Kings goaltender and now-San Jose Shark Martin Jones tended the crease for L.A. while former King Jonathan Bernier was in net at the other end.
The game on Saturday will be somewhat of a homecoming for many players on the L.A. roster as a number of them grew up in Ontario and were within a couple hours’ drive at the most.
Andy Andreoff (Pickering, ON), Tyler Toffoli (Scarborough, ON), Kyle Clifford (Ayr, ON), Jordan Nolan (Garden River, First Nations/St. Catharines, ON), Tanner Pearson (Kitchener, ON), Jake Muzzin (Woodstock, ON) and Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty (London, ON) were all born and grew up close to Toronto. Expect there to be plenty of Kings fans at the ACC Saturday night.
The Leafs enter the week as the third-lowest scoring team in the NHL with 64 goals in 28 games. James Van Riemsdyk is the club’s leading scorer with 17 points (8+9=17) while Leo Komarov has gotten off to a hot start for the blue and white and leads the team with 10 goals. Komarov, a native of Estonia, has already surpassed his career-high of 8 goals registered last season.
When the final horn sounds Saturday night, the Kings will have finished a long, nearly two-week road trip out East and will return home to Los Angeles.
Jan 12, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier (45) makes a save off a shot by Los Angeles Kings left wing Kyle Clifford (13) in the second period of the game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
vs Western Conference
Record: 10-5
Goals for: 37
Goals against: 34
Power play: 8-for-51
vs Eastern Conference
Record: 9-4
Goals for: 38
Goals against: 26
Power play: 7-for-34
Next: 15 things the Los Angeles Kings should be thankful for