The Los Angeles Kings are going to be looking for their first three-game win streak tonight against the Dallas Stars. The last time they won more than three in a row was when they won five straight between the end of December and the beginning of January. They will be looking to do that without their top goalie, Darcy Kuemper after he was ruled out for the game today after the birth of his son.
This is a big absence for the Kings as Darcy Kuemper has been one of the top goalies in the NHL as of late. They will now turn to David Rittich, who has been somewhat inconsistent as of late.
The Kings backup goalie has lost five of his last six starts and given up at least two goals in each of those games. While the Kings did lose his last start, which was against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Rittich looked the best he had in close to two months after saving 30 of 32 shots.
David Rittich has had success against the Dallas Stars this season for the Los Angeles Kings
While Rittich has struggled some, he does already have one start against the Dallas Stars this season. That game was back in the beginning of December in a game the Kings would win by a final score of 3-2. In that game, Rittich would end up saving 26 of 28 shots.
The Kings are going to need a similar performance from Rittich if they hope to secure a win against a Stars team that is playing really good hockey. They have won five out of their last six games but that one loss was on Tuesday to the Anaheim Ducks by a final score of 2-1.
If David Rittich can play like he did in December, the Los Angeles Kings have a great chance of securing their third straight win and move their home record to 17-3-1.