Records:
Los Angeles Kings (4-2-0)
V.
Tampa Bay Lightning (3-2-0)
Last 10:
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Location: Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, Florida
Time: 4:30 PM PST, 7:30 PM EST
Channels: Fox Sports West
Local Radio: AM 1150
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Leading Scorers:
Los Angeles:
| Player | goals | assists | points | +/- |
|---|
| Jeff Carter | 4 | 1 | 5 |
-1 |
|---|
| Anze Kopitar | 0 | 5 | 5 |
+1 |
|---|
| Mike Richards | 0 | 4 | 4 |
-1 |
|---|
| Justin Williams | 2 | 0 | 2 |
+1 |
|---|
| Dustin Brown | 2 | 0 | 2 |
+1 |
|---|
Goaltender Stats
| Player | W | L | OT | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|
| Jonathan Quick | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2.64 | .905 | 0 |
|---|
Ben Scrivens | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 1 |
Tampa Bay Lightning
| Player | goals | assists | points | +/- |
|---|
| Steven Stamkos | 4 | 3 | 7 |
+3 |
|---|
| Martin St. Louis | 2 | 5 | 7 |
+3 |
|---|
| Teddy Purcell | 3 | 3 | 6 |
+4 |
|---|
| Alex Killorn | 2 | 4 | 6 |
+2 |
|---|
| Valtteri Filppula | 4 | 1 | 5 |
+3 |
|---|
Goaltender Stats
| Player | W | L | OT | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|
| Ben Bishop | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.93 | .928 | 0 |
|---|
| Anders Lindback | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4.07 | .843 | 0 |
|---|
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Team Stats:
| Category | Los Angeles Kings | Tampa Bay Lightning |
|---|
| Powerplay | 25.0% (8th) | 31.6% (4th) |
| Penalty Kill | 84.0% (10th) | 68.2% (26th) |
| G/G | 2.33 (21st) | 3.40 (9th) |
| GA/G | 2.33 (7th) | 2.80 (18th) |
| S/G | 30.2 (19th) | 25.8 (26th) |
| SA/G | 27.2 (7th) | 26.8 (6th) |
| Faceoffs | 56.3 (4th) | 51.7 (13th) |
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Los Angeles Kings Preview:
The winning trend for the Kings has continued in Florida thus far with the Kings holding the Panthers scoreless over 60 minutes on Sunday as they cruised to a 3-0 victory. Now they make the trip across state to face a much more potent opponent in Tampa Bay. The Kings should be ready for an uptempo game as Tampa is in the top-10 in the league in scoring.
Even though there was a good effort on Sunday Darryl Sutter has resigned to swap up the top two lines, swapping Richards wingers for Kopitar wingers. It makes sense when you look at the fact that Carter has been the Kings’ best goal scorer, and Kopitar has been the Kings’ best playmaker. It only makes sense to put the two together. Carter and Kopitar surprisingly have played very limited together, with Carter almost exclusively playing at the wing of Mike Richards aside from a stint where he played second line center. It should be interesting to see if putting the two hot hands, three if you count the spirited play of Dwight King, together.
The Kings have got the message from Darryl Sutter that staying out of the box is key to success. After racking up 52 penalty minutes over the first three games the Kings have compiled just 24 over the last three. Sunday they had a season low taking just two minors over the 60 minute contest against Florida. Staying out of the box will be integral in this matchup as Tampa Bay’s powerplay is clicking at a 31.6% rate and is 4th overall in the league. High scorers like Stamkos, and set up men like Purcell and St. Louis have been massacring teams with the extra man.
Ben Scrivens came off a fantastic performance on Saturday, and hopefully the old saying that success is contagious will spread to Jonathan Quick. He looked the best he has all season against Carolina his last outing. Quick is a career 3-0 against the Lightning and holds a .978 save-percentage and a 0.55 goals against. Statistically Quick has performed the better against the Lightning than any other team in the league.
It seems like Willie Mitchell has shown no signs of rust since returning from a year long absence from the game. On Sunday the 36-year-old played a team high 23-minutes. He has been behind only Drew Doughty in ice-time over the first six games of the year. Not bad for someone whose career was perhaps in question by more than one media outlet around the end of August.
Kings Lineup (Subject to change)
Dwight King - Anze Kopitar - Jeff Carter
Dustin Brown - Mike Richards - Justin Williams
Kyle Clifford - Trevor Lewis - Matt Frattin
Daniel Carcillo - Jarret Stoll - Jordan Nolan
Robyn Regehr - Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell - Slava Voynov
Alec Martinez - Matt Greene
Jonathan Quick
Ben Scrivens
Scratches: Keaton Ellerby, Colin Fraser, Jake Muzzin
Players to Watch: Dwight King, Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Willie Mitchell
Tampa Bay Lightning Preview:
The Bolts have gotten off to a strong start in 2013-14 when you consider what a young roster they are dressing. While vets like Sami Salo, Ryan Malone, St. Louis and Nate Thompson are in the lineup, they have a number of young 20 somethings who figure to be part of a bright future for Tampa Bay. Led by Steven Stamkos, the youth movement has hit hard this season with 10 roster regulars under the age of 25. Richard Panik, Ondrej Palat, Radko Gudas, and Tyler Johnson are just a few of the unfamiliar names you’ll here from the Blue and White tonight. Make no mistake though, there is some serious talent being bred on the west coast of Florida these days.
While the offense has led the charge so far for Tampa, the defense has been surprisingly stellar and it starts with the goaltending of Ben Bishop. The big 6’7 butterfly goalie is a perfect 3-0 with victories coming over Buffalo, Florida, and the most impressive one against Chicago. Against the Blackhawks Bishop stood on his and head and made 37 saves while only allowing two. A former St. Louis Blue prospect he has faced the Kings twice in his career, both times in relief. He allowed 4 goals on 25 shots in said appearances but Bishop has seemed to turn a corner recently. If he is on his game, he is capable of frustrating shooters to no end with his massive frame. Bishop was scratched on Saturday against the Penguins with a minor injury but hopes to be back in the fray tonight.
When you talk about the Lightning you have to talk about three players in my opinion: Steven Stamkos, Marty St. Louis, and Victor Hedman. St. Louis and Stamkos have started red hot again this year, each with seven points in five games, and Victor Hedman is slowly starting to mold into that defenseman that garnered him a second overall selection in 2009. If the team is successful, it usually comes on the back of one of those three pillars.
Val Filppula has certainly seemed comfortable in Tampa Bay after not being tendered a contract to his liking by the Detroit Red Wings this summer. The flying Fin is tied for the team lead in goals with four and has been spending time on the powerplay for the Lightning as well. He has been the team’s No. 1 faceoff man as well coming in at a 58.2% while taking the most draws on the team. Between he and Tyler Johnson, who has also been one of the team’s best men in the dot, it looks like they have successfully replaced the boughtout Vincent Lecavalier in terms of faceoffs.
Tampa Bay Lightning Lineup (Subject to change)
Ryan Malone - Steven Stamkos - Marty St. Louis
Alex Killorn - Valterri Filppula - Richard Panik
Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Teddy Purcell
P.C. Labrie - Nate Thompson - B.J. Crombeen
Victor Hedman - Sami Salo
Matt Carle - Radko Gudas
Eric Brewer - Andrej Sustr
Ben Bishop
Anders Lindback
Scratches: Keith Aulie, Cedric Dejardins, Mark Barberio
Players to watch: Alex Killorn, Steven Stamkos, Val Filppula, Marty St. Louis
Scoring:
First Period
Tampa Bay Lightning Goal - 0:19 - Ryan Malone, Assists: St. Louis, Salo
Tampa Bay Lightning Goal -12:44 - Teddy Purcell, Assists: Palat, Carle
Second Period Scoring
Tampa Bay Lightning Goal - 16:22 - Marty St. Louis, Assists: Stamkos, Sustr
Third Period Scoring
LA Kings Goal - 10:23 - Slava Voynov, Assists: Frattin, Stoll
Tampa Bay Lightning Goal - 12:40 - Marty St. Louis (2), Assists: Stamkos (2), Malone
Tampa Bay Lightning Goal - 18:39 - Ondrej Palat, Assists: Purcell, Johnson
Post game Analysis
Well that was just plain ugly. The Kings did not start well, getting scored on 18 seconds into the game, and they did not end well, getting scored on twice in the third period. They played a strong second period and unfortunately had a ridiculous call negate a 2-1 goal.
First off, let me get this out of the way, I think it's absurd that we don't review goalie interference calls THAT NEGATE GOALS. No, not every goalie interference call should be reviewed, but clearly when it is something that could possibly determine the outcome of a game why not? Mike Richards was clearly pushed into Ben Bishop by Sami Salo, he made an effort to get out of the way, and the puck had already gone by Bishop when the contact was made. A simple review by the refs would have displayed the evidence and justice could have been done. I say this not from a place of sour grapes but from a place that wants to see the proper call made. For any team. Ask yourself this, if it is 2-2 in game 7 of the finals, do you want that play to happen and it to be unreviewable?
Anyways, moving on, there were much more detrimental things happening on the ice than a disallowed goal. The speed of Tampa Bay absolutely demolished the Kings. You can't hit what you can't catch, and that certainly was the case. Great defensive zone breakouts and neutral zone support were the key for Tampa Bay in starting great breakouts and catching King defenseman on their heels. The Kings are not a speedy team, particularly on the blueline, and that made a tremendous difference. Credit the craftiness of the Tampa Forwards because they simply skated circles around the Kings tonight.
Drew Doughty had a forgettable night with several bad turnovers and iffy defensive plays. He was a -4 on the night, and he and partner Robyn Regehr looked lost at sea against the quick Lightning players. The talented defenseman has been hit or miss this season, and the turnover in the first 20 seconds of the game was eerily familiar to the play against Brad Richards in the King home opener which led to a goal. As a whole the Kings need to step up the crispness defensively. As seen on the 4th goal by Tampa, Regehr and Doughty both went to the same player leaving two forwards completely uncovered. It's little things like that that make a huge difference. I don't think there is any question the Kings, and Doughty in particular miss the calm and presence of Rob Scuderi.
The lone takeaway here is that the Kings played a tremendous second period where they dominated the play but unfortunately were not rewarded for their efforts. They neutralized the speed of the Lightning and started getting continuous pressure on the cycle. They also forced numerous penalties from the Lightning but were unable to capitalize. So it wasn't as if the team was completely shut down. It was just one of those nights where Tampa was on and the Kings were...well...not.
I was extremely impressed with some of the young forwards for Tampa, most notably Ondrej Palat and Andrej Sustr. Both did very well with the ice time they were given.
The Kings finish up the road trip on Thursday against Nashville, and tonight aside they will at least break even on the trip which isn't bad.
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