GDT: Game 80: Kings @ Flames, Wednesday 4/9/14 7:00PM PDT

[Little Psycho]

KINGS (45-28-6) at FLAMES (34-38-7)

TV: TSN, KCOP-13

Last 10: Los Angeles 7-3-0; Calgary 6-4-0

Injury report:

Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty (shoulder) and forward Dwight King (undisclosed) are day-to-day. … Calgary defensemen Ladislav Smid (upper body) and Tyler Wotherspoon (shoulder) were not in the lineup Monday. Defenseman Dennis Wideman (upper body) and forwards David Jones (shoulder) and Markus Granlund (upper body) are sidelined.

Team Quotes:

The Kings are locked into third place in the Pacific Division and are waiting to find out if they'll face the Ducks or San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference First Round. Coach Darryl Sutter believes it's good for his players not to have battle tooth and nail down to the final days to get into the postseason.

"It's not easy once you've secured [a playoff berth] because if you could do it -- hey, we did it with 10 days left in the schedule or whatever it is. That's what you want to do," coach Darryl Sutter said. "That should be your target … and the sooner you can do it, the better you are in the way the League is now with the schedule. You're way better off."[/B]

On playing on the fourth line: "On another team, it might be a bit of a shock," Richards said."But here we roll four lines as well as anyone in the league. Even on the fourth line [against Minnesota], I played 18 minutes. I think it was 15 and 17 the game before. It's not like you're losing a lot of minutes.
"On any other team, it's four, five, six, seven minutes [on the fourth line]. It's not too bad and I like playing with Trevor and Kyle. You almost have to pull back a little bit because they're so eager to get in on the forecheck, get in there. They're extremely easy to play off with because you don't have to read off them because they're always in the right positions."

GO KINGS!!!

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[kingsholygrail]

 

[KingKopitar11*]

Kings better be great and play very well, teams in much better placing in the West are on fire, Kings can't afford to coast. They need to be hot entering the playoffs.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Expecting very little.

 

[BigBrown]

Is it the playoffs yet?

 

[YP44]

I like that the kings home and road records are so similar.

 

[mbar]

If we fall behind Minnesota in points total would we lose home ice advantage against them in a hypothetical WCF or WCSF? They would still be a wildcard team and we'd be the #3 seed in the West so that's why I'm asking.

If so, maybe that's motivation to finish strong.

 

[redcard]

Time to pad those regular season stats boys.

 

[jimmy1100]

If we fall behind Minnesota in points total would we lose home ice advantage against them in a hypothetical WCF or WCSF? They would still be a wildcard team and we'd be the #3 seed in the West so that's why I'm asking.

If so, maybe that's motivation to finish strong.

My understanding is that CF and SCF both go by overall points. So, if we finished with less points that Minnesota, they would have home ice if we met them in the WCF, despite them being a wild card team.

 

[Reclamation Project]

I like that the kings home and road records are so similar.

I agree.

 

[mbar]

My understanding is that CF and SCF both go by overall points. So, if we finished with less points that Minnesota, they would have home ice if we met them in the WCF, despite them being a wild card team.

Thanks, what if they end up in our bracket? If the end up with more points then us, than beat the Ducks and we beat the Sharks who has home ice in the second round?

 

[KingsCourt]

If we fall behind Minnesota in points total would we lose home ice advantage against them in a hypothetical WCF or WCSF? They would still be a wildcard team and we'd be the #3 seed in the West so that's why I'm asking.

If so, maybe that's motivation to finish strong.

nope locked into the third spot in division..minny will be a wildcard

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Expecting very little.

Yep.

Calgary's been playing solid hard hockey for a while and have people auditioning for jobs. meanwhile, we're locked into a spot and have been resting people and have a road back-to-back right now. I know Sutter talked about refining our game going into Saturday, but my expectations are low for this one. I bet we take a 2, 3 goal lead and let them come back as has been our M.O. since clinching.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Yep.

Calgary's been playing solid hard hockey for a while and have people auditioning for jobs. meanwhile, we're locked into a spot and have been resting people and have a road back-to-back right now. I know Sutter talked about refining our game going into Saturday, but my expectations are low for this one. I bet we take a 2, 3 goal lead and let them come back as has been our M.O. since clinching.

Like I said earlier, this team is the Salvation Army to garbage teams. How many points have they handed out to bad teams?

 

[kovacro]

Like I said earlier, this team is the Salvation Army to garbage teams. How many points have they handed out to bad teams?

The Salvation Army..haha.

Who's between the pipes tonight?

I was thinking Jones simply because he played his junior hockey in Cowtown, for the Hitmen, just a pure guess on my part.

 

[YP44]

The Salvation Army..haha.

Who's between the pipes tonight?

I was thinking Jones simply because he played his junior hockey in Cowtown, for the Hitmen, just a pure guess on my part.

Jones started last game against Calgary as well
Just saw that Quick was off first so he is the likely starter.
Nolan, DD , and RR stayed out so they are likely scratches.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

No Doughty and Regehr.

http://lakingsinsider.com/2014/04/09/april-9-morning-skate-notes/

Gaborik – Kopitar – Williams
King – Carter – Toffoli
Pearson – Stoll – Brown
Clifford – Richards – Lewis
Nolan

Muzzin – Voynov
Mitchell – Martinez
Campbell – Greene
Regehr – Doughty

Quick
Jones

-Jonathan Quick left the ice first. He is expected to start against Calgary tonight.

-Jordan Nolan, Robyn Regehr and Drew Doughty remained on the ice for extra work, so they are not expected to play tonight. Lisa Dillman and I spoke with Doughty after he left the ice, so be on the lookout for stories from both LAKI and the LA Times on Doughty later today.

-Dwight King is expected to rejoin the lineup tonight. He has not played since the 4-2 win over Winnipeg on March 29.

-Andrew Campbell is expected to play his second National Hockey League game.

 

[damacles1156]

Expecting a mail it in effort, these guys are just trying not too get hurt.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Pearson/King-Carter-Toffoli is absolutely terrifying for the other team when they get set up in the other zone, but they always seem to have trouble getting there--none of those guys can carry the puck through the neutral zone except Carter when he builds up some speed. Think Sutter is tinkering to see if there's chemistry?

Those D pairings are lol. Tonight's gonna be hilarious.

 

[HYORI 1963]

Glad to see Campbell get another start. He's pretty vanilla, but that's a good thing on a team that's built to win a SC. Also glad to see King back in and Doughty out. Personally, have Doughty sit as long as he needs, and then some.

 

[damacles1156]

Pearson/King-Carter-Toffoli is absolutely terrifying for the other team when they get set up in the other zone, but they always seem to have trouble getting there--none of those guys can carry the puck through the neutral zone except Carter when he builds up some speed. Think Sutter is tinkering to see if there's chemistry?

Those D pairings are lol. Tonight's gonna be hilarious.

Pearson shows flashes of being a puck possession guy, Like a J-Dub light.

Pearson is just still a kid, doesn't have that MAN Strength down low yet, or the smarts that J-Dub has.

But I have always thought Pearson was going to be a J-Dub from the LW.

 

[HYORI 1963]

Pearson shows flashes of being a puck possession guy, Like a J-Dub light.

Pearson is just still a kid, doesn't have that MAN Strength down low yet, or the smarts that J-Dub has.

But I have always thought Pearson was going to be a J-Dub from the LW.

Now that I've seen more of Pearson, I think he has better acceleration and more flash than JW. JW is more of a grinder, where as I see Pearson to be more of a skilled sort. But I don't dislike the comparison.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Pearson shows flashes of being a puck possession guy, Like a J-Dub light.

Pearson is just still a kid, doesn't have that MAN Strength down low yet, or the smarts that J-Dub has.

But I have always thought Pearson was going to be a J-Dub from the LW.

I agree, that's actually a really good comparison imo. With better wheels to be sure, but he's going to be an absolute terror on the boards/forecheck with some more man strength and training (he already is).

I was just concerned about that line as a whole being able to get zone entries, but it's a small concern.

 

[Little Psycho]

@reallisa: Hearing that if it is Kings vs Sharks, series could open on Wed in SJ. Not set in stone, of course. Obviously all can still change!

 

[YP44]

@reallisa: Hearing that if it is Kings vs Sharks, series could open on Wed in SJ. Not set in stone, of course. Obviously all can still change!

My jitters are already here