GDT: Game 73: Los Angeles Kings at Minnesota Wild | Tuesday, Mar 22 2016 - 5:30PM PT

[KingsKnight]

LOS ANGELES KINGS @ MINNESOTA WILD
Tuesday, Mar 22 2016 - 5:30PM PT
XCEL Energy Center | St. Paul, MN
TV: NBCSN | Radio: AM 790 KABC

|

LOS ANGELES|

MINNESOTA

(44-23-5 93pts)|

(34-28-11 79pts)
​

|

Lucic - Kopitar - Carter |

Zucker - Koivu - Coyle

Brown - Lecavalier - Lewis |

Parise - Granlund - Jones

King - Dowd - Toffoli |

Niederreiter - Haula - Fontaine

Clifford - Shore - Andreoff |

Porter - Stoll - Schroeder
​

|

McNabb - Doughty |

Suter - Spurgeon

Muzzin - Martinez |

Scandella - Brodin

Scuderi - Schenn |

Reilly - Dumba
​

|

Quick / Enroth |

Dubnyk / Kuemper​

INJURIES
Versteeg is day-to-day and may return to play during this trip.
Greene - LTIR - Has been skating before/after practices in El Segundo.
Gaborik - LTIR - Lombardi has indicated that he could start skating soon.
Neither Greene nor Gaborik are expected to return before the post season.
Nolan is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery for a herniated disc.

NEWS | NOTES
This is the last game of 6 in 9 nights including 2 back-to-back games on the road.

3/14 LAK 5 at CHI 0 (#3 West)
3/15 LAK 5 at DAL 2 (#1 West)
3/17 NYR 3 at LAK 4 (#2 East)
3/19 BOS 1 at LAK 2 (#4 East)
3/21 LAK 2 at NSH 5 (#7 West)
3/22 LAK at MIN (#9 West)

MATCHUP
This is the third and last regular season meeting between the clubs:

10/16 MIN 1 at LAK 2 OT
1/21 MIN 3 at LAK 0
3/22 LAK at MIN

|GP|Record|Pts|ROW|Home|Away|Last 10|Streak
LAK|72|44-23-5|93|42|23-11-2|21-12-3|7-2-1|Lost 1
MIN|73|34-28-11|79|31|18-13-4|16-15-7|6-3-1|Won 2

|G/GP|GA/GP|PP%|PK%|S/GP|SA/GP|FOW%
LAK|2.72|2.26|20.6|81.3|32.0|27.7|50.3
MIN|2.62|2.52|18.9|77.5|29.2|28.7|52.2

STANDINGS
WESTERN CONFERENCE

# | [pre] Central [/pre] | GP |

[pre] W-L-OT [/pre]|PTS|ROW

1|[pre] Dallas[/pre]|

73|

43-21-9|

95|

41

2|[pre] St. Louis[/pre]|

73|

42-22-9|

93|

37

3|[pre] Chicago[/pre]|

73|

42-24-7|

91|

41​

# | [pre] Pacific [/pre] | GP |

[pre] W-L-OT [/pre]|PTS|ROW

1|[pre] x Los Angeles[/pre]|

72|

44-23-5|

93|

42

2|[pre] Anaheim[/pre]|

71|

40-22-9|

89|

37

3|[pre] San Jose[/pre]|

72|

41-25-6|

88|

38​

# | [pre] Wild Card [/pre] | GP |

[pre] W-L-OT [/pre]|PTS|ROW

1|[pre] Nashville[/pre]|

73|

37-23-13|

87|

34

2|[pre] Colorado[/pre]|

73|

38-31-4|

80|

34

-|[pre] Minnesota[/pre]|

73|

34-28-11|

79|

31​

SEASON SCHEDULE | RESULTS

Disclaimer: “GDT may not be 100% accurate. I got the line combos from your mom. I used to have Center Ice, Gamecenter Live, and an undercover concession worker in each arena, but this **** costs money. I will admit that my pet otter is using all up that money on his worsening opium problem. I try to not be an enabler, but I haven't had a sea urchin problem in months. Then I thought, why should I pay all this money and have a sea urchin problem to appease fans of random teams that I don't even care about anyway? Unless you are willing to take a bunch of sea urchins off of my hands, don't ***** if I get the lines wrong.” - BF​

Click to read more...

 

[KOPITARRULEZ11]

I'll be at game boys sec 104 by the penalty box super stoked

 

[Reclamation Project]

The Wild are a terrible team. Kings should be able to dispatch them.

 

[Papa Mocha 15]

So is this a Must Win?

We need to show up better against these lower tiered teams and stay consistent.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I wonder how long it'll take for me to fall asleep during this matchup? The Kings are in the State of Boring Hockey.

 

[HansH]

Anther potential first round matchup, only this time a win INCREASES the chance of this particular draw. So the Kings are obviously boned tonight.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

 

[YP44]

The Wild's d is deep...will be hard to get grade A chances. LA needs to go for deflections and fight for rebounds to get garbage goals tonight.

 

[The Pale King]

I don't remember hearing anything about Vanek being such a baby while he was in Buffalo. Not sure if that's cause I wasn't paying attention or Ruff's auto-pilot system allowed for it or what.

Pretty bad when you're scratching one of your only offensive threats in the thick of a playoff chase.

 

[YP44]

I don't remember hearing anything about Vanek being such a baby while he was in Buffalo. Not sure if that's cause I wasn't paying attention or Ruff's auto-pilot system allowed for it or what.

Pretty bad when you're scratching one of your only offensive threats in the thick of a playoff chase.

buffalo didn't have the depth that the wild have and he was producing there. Vanek is only effective as a top 6. He is only useful as a top 6 if he is producing. He is not producing so good benching.

 

[Omni Owl]

Anther potential first round matchup, only this time a win INCREASES the chance of this particular draw. So the Kings are obviously boned tonight.

I think Minny would be a favorable match up, unlike the Preds. Hopefully the Sharks and Ducks tenderize each other in the 1st round. This schedule is ****ing brutal right now. I'm not expecting much tonight, the guys are probably spent.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Lotta moving parts today

Have to wonder if the Wild will avoid megatrapping since they're both at home and on national tv. Have to admit I haven't watched since Torchetti took over though.

 

[YP44]

Have to wonder if the Wild will avoid megatrapping since they're both at home and on national tv. Have to admit I haven't watched since Torchetti took over though.

Hasn't stopped them before. They are in a battle to make the playoffs. they will and should do whatever to get the win.

 

[Butch 19]

I dread watching the Wild play.

Hockey is a beautiful sport to watch, but the Wild's'... "s" name, colors, logo - everything about their franchise makes their games ugly.

Loved watching a bit of the outdoor game with North Stars alum vs Chi a few weeks back. That's how a Minnesota hockey team is supposed to look. I even liked their old arena with the multi-colored checkerboard seats.

Kings 4-1 GKG!

 

[mrkolice]

something to be optimistic about:
- 23 losses this season (60mins only, ot not included)
- only 5 times 2 consecutive losses happened
- only once 3 consecutive losses (those first three games of the season).

this team strikes back after being hurt. the last time 2 consecutive losses happened was 16 games ago (mid feb, 0-1 vs devils & 1-3 vs capitals).

by coincidence, 16 is my lucky number.

 

[mrkolice]

3-1 lak, with an empty net goal by quick.

 

[Butch 19]

3-1 lak, with an empty net goal by quick.

While I like the idea of this, even my wife knows that Quick should NEVER handle the puck in any offensive capacity - or ever for that matter.

If Quick tries this 10x, he will give up a goal 8x.

 

[The Night King]

I think Minny would be a favorable match up, unlike the Preds. Hopefully the Sharks and Ducks tenderize each other in the 1st round. This schedule is ****ing brutal right now. I'm not expecting much tonight, the guys are probably spent.

Kings need to take the last few games seriously to ensure we don't get the sharks in the first round. Let SJ and ANA go to war for 7 games.

 

[SLang]

While I like the idea of this, even my wife knows that Quick should NEVER handle the puck in any offensive capacity - or ever for that matter.

If Quick tries this 10x, he will give up a goal 8x.

LMAO....most likely scoring 6x of those 8x on himself.

 

[The Pale King]

buffalo didn't have the depth that the wild have and he was producing there. Vanek is only effective as a top 6. He is only useful as a top 6 if he is producing. He is not producing so good benching.

I think this is more attitude related. It came out after the Yeo firing that they hadn't spoken in over a month (since his previous healthy-scratch, IIRC), so I'm guessing this is some sort of similar communication/attitude issue.

18 goals and on pace for ~50 points isn't exactly peanuts. But yeah, if you're saying he lost his spot in the top-6 then I agree, he's not a checking line player. A $5.5 million healthy scratch...

 

[YP44]

I think this is more attitude related. It came out after the Yeo firing that they hadn't spoken in over a month (since his previous healthy-scratch, IIRC), so I'm guessing this is some sort of similar communication/attitude issue.

18 goals and on pace for ~50 points isn't exactly peanuts. But yeah, if you're saying he lost his spot in the top-6 then I agree, he's not a checking line player. A $5.5 million healthy scratch...

basically ya I think he has lost his spot...to david Jones.

I would rather have a winger making $5.875 on the 3rd line but effectively hitting than $5.5M in the pressbox. Yay Brown!!

 

[BoxOfChocolates]

Go Kings Go

 

[mrkolice]

Go Kings Go

 

[Zero Pucks Given]

While I like the idea of this, even my wife knows that Quick should NEVER handle the puck in any offensive capacity - or ever for that matter.

If Quick tries this 10x, he will give up a goal 8x.

Hey...if he actually pulls it off, then there's something he can hold over Price and Lundqvist.

 

[tsanuri]

Hey...if he actually pulls it off, then there's something he can hold over Price and Lundqvist.

He already has 2 things he can hold over them at least for now: 2 cups and a Conn Smythe.