Los Angeles Kings v Anaheim Ducks (Honda Center)
Time: 5:00 PM
TV: RDS, TSN, NBCSN
Enemy reading: Anaheim Calling
Ducks (projected) lineup:
Beleskey-Getzlaf-Perry
Maroon-Perreault-Selanne
Cogliano-Koivu-Silfverberg
Smith-Pelly-Bonino-Etem
Fowler-Lovejoy
Lindholm-Beauchemin
Allen-Fistric
Hiller
Injured: Stephane Robidas, Sheldon Souray, Tim Jackman; Scratched: Kyle Palmieri, Daniel Winnik, Luca Sbisa
Kings (projected) lineup:
Gaborik-Kopitar-Brown
Pearson-Carter-Toffoli
King-Stoll-Williams
Clifford-Richards-Lewis
Muzzin-Doughty
Regehr-Voynov
Greene-Martinez
Quick
Injured: Willie Mitchell; Scratched:Jordan Nolan, Jeff Schultz
Game Notes:
- Remember when the Kings did the thing and the thing was great and Joe Thornton was really sad? Well, nobody cares anymore. New game, new series, new incredibly annoying opponent. I hope you're all ready for about a million unfunny "SoCal" jokes from hacky media members and also idiots on twitter, because you're going to get them no matter what.
- So, the Ducks! As the more useful members of this blog have spent the past forty-eight hours breaking down for you, the Ducks are an extremely good match-up for the Kings, primarily in the sense that the Ducks are, uhh, not particularly good at hockey. If the Kings had a slight edge in even-strength puck possession over the Sharks, the comparison to the Ducks resembles a chasm, somewhat.
- Luckily, the Ducks might be able to exploit- wait, no, their power play isn't any good either.
- The Kings have been tremendously unlucky against the Ducks recently, leading to their dismal 1-3-1 (or whatever it is - I don't particularly care) season series record, including that horror show of an outdoor game. So to recap: the Kings have "being good at hockey" on their side, and the Ducks have something that doesn't actually exist. Good stuff.
- That being said, the Ducks are led by a pair of good players having excellent seasons, in Hart finalist Ryan Getzlaf and former Hart/Richard winner Corey Perry. In addition to being good at hockey, they are both assholes and enormous whiny babies. If the Kings don't sweep the Ducks and elicit temper tantrums three times as hilariously childish, I will be gravely disappointed.
- Rookie goaltender Frederik Andersen was the Ducks' starter throughout their series against the Stars, but he was pulled twice, including in the decisive game six. Jonas Hiller was able to close out the Stars, and now he gets the chance to try to shut down the Kings. (Enjoy playing behind that amazing Bryan Allen-Mark Fistric pairing, Jonas!!)
- The Kings will line up as they did for the last few games against the Sharks, still sans the injured Willie Mitchell (who did not travel the vast distance to the Honda Center). Matt Greene was passable on the bottom pairing in game seven against the Sharks, and somehow managed not to take a single penalty, which is a great miracle of our time. If he maintains that level of performance, I'm not terribly concerned about his playing for the duration of this series.
- ~Fun With Numbers~ from Extra Skater.
- Prediction: Kings win the game like they'll win the series, 4-0.