Records:
Los Angeles Kings (1-0-0)
@
Winnipeg Jets (1-0-0)
Last 10:
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Location: MTS Center, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Time: 5PM
Channels: Fox Sports West, TSN
Local Radio: AM 1150
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Leading Scorers:
Winnipeg:
Dustin Byfuglien - 0g, 3a, 3p
Michael Frolik - 2g, 0a, 2p
Jacob Trouba - 1g, 1a, 2p
Tobias Enstrom - 0g, 2a, 2p
Los Angeles:
Drew Doughty - 1g, 0a, 1p
Jeff Carter - 1g, 0a, 1p
Mike Richards - 0g, 1a, 1p
Matt Frattin - 0g, 1a, 1p
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Team Stats:
| Stat | Los Angeles | Winnipeg |
|---|
| Powerplay | 33.3% | 25.0% |
| Penalty Kill | 80.0% | 60.0% |
| G/G | 2.00 | 5.00 |
| GA/G | 2.00 | 4.00 |
| S/G | 18.00 | 28.00 |
| SA/G | 29.00 | 38.00 |
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Los Angeles Kings Preview:
- The Kings may certainly feel like they got away with one in Minnesota last night on opening night. The Wild played them tight all night and if not for some heroics by Jon Quick, Jeff Carter, and Trevor Lewis the game could have ended much sooner than it did. Nonetheless the Kings got out of dodge doing what no team has done before; beat the Wild on a home opener.
- The Dwight King experiment lasted all of a period and a half until he was returned to the third line with Jarret Stoll and Trevor Lewis. Brown returned to his regular role on the top line with Kopitar and Williams
- Darryl Sutter was quoted after the game saying Willie Mitchell “struggled with the pace”. Mitchell played 24 minutes which was behind only Drew Doughty on the Kings. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Keaton Ellerby come in on a back to back to give Mitchell the night off
- Trevor Lewis made what might have been the play of the night last night. In the waining minutes of the 3rd, without a stick, Lewis came to the aid of his scrambling goaltender and blocked an assured goal with a body save. Sutter’s response? “Trevor is good.”
- Along with Willie Mitchell, Matt Greene seemed to be fighting the puck almost all night, losing his man Matt Cooke on the first goal and getting caught too high and out of position on the Wild second goal. The veteran defender will almost certainly look to bounceback tonight.
- In case you missed the lovely upheld goal decision on the Matt Cooke goal last night...check it out. Call me crazy but that looks like a kicking motion.
- Kyle Clifford and Colin Fraser seemed like they wanted to mirror each other last night. Each had a fight, a boarding minor, and Clifford was even mistaken by the referees on a tripping from Colin Fraser which was wrongfully assessed to Clifford.
- Although masters of the advanced statistics of Fenwick and Corsi last season, the Kings were trumped by what seemed liked a Minnesota Wild team doing their best impression of the 2011-12 post-season Kings.
Check out the breakdown here
- The Kings won just 19 faceoffs to Minnesota’s 32 last night and Anze Kopitar was absolutely brutalized at the dot going 5-for-19 (26%). Two wild players were in the 70% range with Koivu going 16-23 and Brodziak going 7-for-9.
- The Kings mustered just three shots in the second period of last night’s contest, and were outshot overall 18 to 29. They were led by Matt Frattin and Jeff Carter with 3 apiece.
Kings Lineup (Subject to change)
Dustin Brown - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams
Matt Frattin - Mike Richards - Jeff Carter
Dwight King - Jarret Stoll - Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford - Colin Fraser - Jordan Nolan
Robyn Regehr - Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell - Slava Voynov
Jake Muzzin - Matt Greene
Jonathan Quick
Ben Scrivens
Scratches: Daniel Carcillo, Alec Martinez
Players to Watch: Jeff Carter, Trevor Lewis, Drew Doughty
Winnipeg Jets Preview:
- Winnipeg played a high flying, high scoring contest for their season opener against the Oilers, winning out five to four. However, the Oilers aren’t exactly noted for their strong defensive play and they should expect a much tougher contest matching up against the stalwart Kings.
- Edmonton allowed 28 shots to go through on Devyn Dubnyk, who gave up five. The Jets got goals from four different players including two off the stick of former Blackhawk Michael Frolik. Frolik was picked up as a penalty kill and defensive specialist and is not counted on to score. He had all of three goals last season with Chicago in 45 games.
- Rookies Mark Schiefele and Jacob Trouba had quite a first game of the season, as both recorded goals on the night. Trouba had a multipoint game and played a team high 25 minutes. Not bad for a 19 year old rookie eh?
- Ondrej Pavelec turned away 34 of the 38 shots he faced the other night in Edmonton, and the Jets in general will probably want to cut down on the shots allowed moving forward. Last season the Jets were 18th in shots allowed per game with 29.7 a night.
- While seating just 15,000 people, MTS Centre is widely considered one of the loudest buildings in the league. The Jets went 13-10-1 last year on home ice and 23-13-5 in their first season back in the NHL.
- Last season the Jets were bottom 10 in both penalty kill (24th) and goals allowed per game (25th). With no real additions to the back six outside of young Jacob Trouba, it looks like they could struggle keeping the puck out of their net again. While the addition of Michael Frolik bolsters the penalty kill, they allowed two powerplay goals on five opportunities on opening night.
Winnipeg Lineup (Subject to change)
Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Blake Wheeler
Evander Kane - Mark Scheifele - Devin Setogouchi
Eric Tangradi - Olli Jokinen - Michael Frolik
James Wright - Jim Slater - Chris Thorburn
Tobias Enstrom - Dustin Byfuglien
Zach Bogosian - Jacob Trouba
Mark Stuart - Paul Postma
Ondrej Pavalec
Al Montoya
Scratches: Grant Clitsome
Players to watch: Jacob Trouba, Michael Frolik, Dustin Byfuglien
Any changes througout the day will be updated on here so keep checking in! Also be sure to check out after the game for post game write ups and quotes. As always follow me on twitter for updates and thoughts on the game.
FIRST PERIOD SCORING
Los Angeles Goal - 14:17 - Matt Greene, Assists: none
Winnipeg Goal - 15:45 - Evander Kane (Wrist Shot), Assists: D. Setoguchi, M. Scheifele
SECOND PERIOD SCORING
Winnipeg Goal - 12:54 - Olli Jokinen (Slap shot), Assists: M. Frolik, T. Enstrom
THIRD PERIOD SCORING
Winnipeg Goal - 2:22 Evander Kane (2) (Slap Shot), Assists: D. Setoguchi, D. Byfuglien
Winnipeg Goal - 5:19 - Devin Setoguchi (Wrap-around), Assists: Evander Kane, O. Jokinen
Los Ageles Goal - 11:00 - Jeff Carter (wrist shot), Assists: J. Muzzin, M. Richards
Los Angeles Goal - 15:44 - Justin Williams (wrist shot) Assists: M. Frattin, W. Mitchell
Winnipeg Goal (EN) - 19:12 - Brian Little (wrist shot) Assists: A. Ladd
FINAL SCORE 5-3 Winnipeg
Post game analysis:
It's quite simple. You can't play a period and a half of hockey and expect to win. However, if I were a betting man, on a back-to-back against a good home team with momentum I would have figured the Kings were going to lose. Seriously though, you could see how tired this team was during the second period and the first half of the third. There wasn't a jump in their step, the passes weren't crisp, and the skating legs weren't there. It was a shame considering how well the came out in the first period. They outshot the Jets 18-7 after one period of play but couldn't keep that level of play up. Down 4-1 you have to admire the fight back of the team, and for an instance it looked very possible they were going to tie it. Pavelec came up with some key saves and a few too many pucks got on edge right at the worst time.
Penalties again were an issue for the second straight night, and they are coming from the same culprits. Greene, Fraser, and King all had minor penalties, and if you are playing on a bottom pairing it would probably be a good idea to stay out of the box.
Give a hand to Evander Kane, the kid took over this game. When you read his stat line it looks like he was the best player on the ice, and watching him play that game I can definitely support that conclusion. one goal, two assists, a plus-three rating, eight shots and five hits. That's a solid game and one that Jet fans will hope for night in and night out from the young power forward. He along with Devin Setoguchi were easily the offensive leaders of the night for Winnipeg.
Drew Doughty played a game high 27 minutes, which was about eight minute more than the next closes King defenseman Slava Voynov.
While the Kings struggled in the dot last night they were downright dominant in it tonight winning 40 faceoffs to Winnipeg's 23. Kopitar turned it around and went 13-for-21 and Jarret Stoll went 8-for-12.
You could see it early on how Winnipeg played. They gave up a lot defensively in order to get the advantage on counter attacks and odd-man rushes up ice. There is a team that plays a similar style much closer to home and that is the Anaheim Ducks. It will be interesting to see how the Kings approach the next game they have against a team that cheats like that, because in the 2nd and 3rd period you could see how thin it spread the team.
MY THREE STARS
Evander Kane
2 goals, 1 assists, plus-3 rating, 8 shots, 5 hits
Devin Setoguchi
1 goal, 2 assists, plus-2, 2 shots, 4 hits
Ondrej Pavelec
36 saves, .917S% and several key stops late in the game.
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