Records:
Los Angeles Kings (4-3-0)
V.
Nashville Predators (3-3-0)
Last 10:
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Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Time: 5:00 PM PST, 7:00 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 |
-3 |
|---|
| Anze Kopitar | 0 | 5 | 5 |
even |
|---|
| Mike Richards | 0 | 4 | 4 |
-3 |
|---|
| Matt Frattin | 0 | 3 | 3 |
-4 |
|---|
| Justin Williams | 2 | 0 | 2 |
even |
|---|
Goaltender Stats
| Player | W | L | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|
| Jonathan Quick | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2.90 | .896 | 0 |
|---|
Ben Scrivens | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | .939 | 1.22 |
Nashville Predators
| Player | goals | assists | points | +/- |
|---|
| Mike Fisher | 2 | 3 | 5 |
even |
|---|
| Patric Hornqvist | 2 | 2 | 4 |
+1 |
|---|
| Craig Smith | 1 | 3 | 4 |
+3 |
|---|
| Shea Weber | 1 | 2 | 3 |
-3 |
|---|
| Seth Jones | 1 | 2 | 3 |
even |
|---|
Goaltender Stats
| Player | W | L | OT | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|
| Pekka Rinne | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3.11 | .887 | 0 |
|---|
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Team Stats:
| Category | Los Angeles Kings | Nashville Predators |
|---|
| Powerplay | 20.0% (15th) | 22.2% (12th) |
| Penalty Kill | 85.7% (6th) | 71.4% (28th) |
| G/G | 2.14 (25th) | 2.17 (24th) |
| GA/G | 2.71 (18th) | 3.00 (22nd) |
| S/G | 30.3 (17th) | 29.8 (19th) |
| SA/G | 26.9 (4th) | 27.5 (8th) |
| Faceoffs | 55.8 (4th) | 56.2 (3rd) |
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Los Angeles Kings Preview:
Strap yourselves in everyone, because tonight we get a showdown between the two high flying, high-scoring, powerhouse offenses that are the Nashville Predators and the Los Angeles Kings. I am, of course, saying this in jest as the Predators and the Kings are both notorious for playing physical, slow, and methodical games with very little flash and dazzle. However, since 2011-12 the Preds and Kings have played seven times with the Kings holding a 4-2-1 record, and the scores have been pretty surprising. Goals were 20-16 in favor of the Kings in those seven games, and four of those games had one team or the other scoring four or more goals. It hasn’t been as low scoring of a series as you would think. Maybe it has something to do with the team playing somewhat similar styles. To find the weakness of each other the teams only have to look at themselves.
The great line shuffle of 2013 lasted a grand total of...*drum roll please* no shifts? Wait, what? That’s right. All the practice lines the Kings rolled with on Monday before the Tampa Bay game were not utilized. While Kopitar lined up with Jeff Carter and Dwight King the day before, Mike Richards stepped out to take the opening draw Tuesday aside his regular wingers of Carter and King. Also despite being pounded into submission by the relentless speed off the Lightning, there wasn’t hardly any line swapping or changing throughout the game. It was an odd move in light of the fact that the lineup changes were reported on multiples fronts. Sutter must have had a change of heart before puck drop. Tonight it looks like their are a few minor swaps being reported with Lewis centering the fourth line and Carcillo joining back up with Carter and Richards.
Quick was removed from Tuesday’s contest after giving up three goals on 16 shots. Scrivens didn’t fare much better as he gave up 2 goals on 8 shots. Sutter though didn’t seem that pleased about Quick’s performance, particularly with the lazy rebound Quick kicked right into the slot for Marty St. Louis on Tampa’s third goal. When asked about the switch and wether it was done for a team response or if it was based on performance he responded:
“Both. I mean, we clearly outplayed them in the second period and we were still down. Their goaltender was outstanding.”
Doughty, for the first time this season, did not lead the Kings in icetime on Tuesday. Instead Slava Voynov picked up the minutes for a struggling Doughty who for the first time in his career was a minus-4. Aside from skating a season high 25:47 minutes, Voynov recorded his first goal of the season. Hopefully this kicks Voynov back into high gear.
These are two of the best faceoff teams in the league, and it’s safe to say that winning draws is going to be vital. Kings have only won one game this season when they lost the overall faceoff battle and that was opening night to the Wild. Nashville, in fact, has not lost in faceoffs so far this year. They are a perfect 6-0 when it comes to prevailing in the circle.
Kings Lineup (Subject to change)
Dustin Brown - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams
Daniel Carcillo - Mike Richards - Jeff Carter
Dwight King - Jarret Stoll - Matt Frattin
Kyle Clifford - Trevor Lewis - 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: Drew Doughty, Jon Quick, Kyle Clifford, Jarret Stoll
Nashville Predators Preview:
The Predators are bringing a five game home stand to a close tonight, and it has been a very successful one. Despite a big 4-0 shutdown by a strong Toronto Maple Leafs team, the Preds have gone 3-1 so far at the Bridge and will be looking to close out the Kings and take 8 out of 10 points.
As expected, the Preds don’t give up a lot of shots on goal. They also don’t block a whole lot of shots either which leads you to believe that they force bad shots or force bad possessions. How do you force bad possessions? By clogging up the neutral zone and slowing the game down. If you’ve watched any Barry Trotz hockey over the past five years you will know exactly what I speak of. However, it’s always worked for the Preds and it can be absolutely frustrating as an opposing team or fan.
How do you go through a preview of the Preds without talking about Seth Jones? Arguably the biggest coup de grace of the year, the extremely talented Jones who was once considered the top pick, fell to the Preds at 4th overall. He has been very good for such a young player and is currently a close second in ice time to work horse Shea Weber. He’s an exciting young player and definitely someone you should keep an eye on tonight and in the future.
Score by committee has always been the mantra of Nashville. The team, in general, has been void of any legitimate star forward for some time. However they always manage to get it done through multiple goal scorers of varying degree. This year already they have had 11 of their total 13 goals come off the sticks of different players. They don’t score a lot, but they certainly have a robust amount of players who can pot one at any given time. Hornqvist and Fisher are the names to watch up front right now but at any given moment one of Legwand, Smith, Nystrom, Wilson or Forsberg could net one.
Viktor Stalberg is back, and is definitely a man to watch. Fresh off his cup win with the Blackhawks, Stalberg missed the beginning of the season with injury but is back and trying to get up to speed.
Nashville Predators Lineup (Subject to change)
Colin Wilson - Mike Fisher - Patrik Hornqvist
Gabriel Bourque - Matt Cullen - Craig Smith
Viktor Stalberg - David Legwand - Filip Forsberg
Eric Nystrom - Paul Gaustad - Matt Hendricks
Seth Jones - Shea Weber
Victor Bartley - Kevin Klein
Mattias Ekholm - Ryan Ellis
Pekka Rinne
Carter Hutton
Scratches: Rich Clune, Nick Spaling
Players to watch: Seth Jones, Viktor Stalberg, Patrik Hornqvist, Mike Fisher
Scoring
First Period Scoring
Nashville Predators goal - 10:33 - Matt Cullen, Assists: C. Smith, G. Bourque
Los Angeles Kings goal - 19:18 - Slava Voynov, Assists: M. Richards, J. Carter
Second Period Scoring
None
Third Period Scoring
None
Overtime
None
Shootout
Nashville shot - Craig Smith -
Save
Los Angeles shot - Mike Richards -
Save
Nashville shot - Filip Forsberg -
Miss
Los Angeles shot - Jeff Carter -
Miss
Nashville shot - Matt Cullen -
Save
Los Angeles shot - Anze Kopitar -
GOAL
Kings win 2-1 in a shootout
Postgame analysis
A tight checking, 1-1 game that was decided by a shootout between the Kings and the Predators. Who would have thunk it right? That was the script though and the Kings will now go home taking six out of eight points on a southeast swing. It was rather important that the Kings kept earning points on the road due to how well both the Sharks and Ducks are playing at the moment.
All things considered this was tremendous road trip, despite the much beleaguered performance against Tampa Bay. Bad losses happen but you aren't defined by a single loss. This was a good character win tonight and the Kings had to put their work boots on to get it done. There were tons of great examples. Jonathan Quick was world class this game, especially in the first period where he came up with a number of stellar saves to hold the Kings in it. The penalty kill in overtime was also decisive, as Alec Martinez made his way to the box on an offensive zone infraction. Mitchell, Stoll, and Greene dug deep as they spent almost a minute and a half solid hemmed in their own zone on a 4-on-3 PK which was eventually killed. Great battles, and overall a great two points for the Kings.
The infraction was caused at the hands of Alec Martinez, who is currently in a roster battle with both Muzzin and Ellerby for playing time. Is it possible we see one of those two get a nod for the game on Saturday? Would be a harsh move from Sutter but similar things have happened in the past.
The team is now 3-0 in shootouts, and Jonathan Quick has yet to concede a goal. Carter has two winners in shootouts and tonight the silky smooth forehand backhand game winning move was that of Anze Kopitar.
Doughty was back at it with a King high 28:35 in ice time. He was behind only Shea Weber of the Predators who played the entire game and never came off the ice. It sure seemed like it right? But really Weber had a game high 30:23.
Quick saved 34 of 35 and it was single handedly his best performance of the season thus far. It easily could have been a shutout for him if not for a bit of a defensive miscue in front of the net in the first period which led to the Preds goal. Considering he was yanked in his last performance this is a huge step back in the right direction for the USA Olympic hopeful.
Carter and Hornqvist were easily the most potent forwards on the ice, as each had seven shots and Carter led all forwards with 22:07 in ice time.
Nashville stayed perfect in faceoffs for the season winning 34-26. They have yet to lose a game this season in terms of faceoffs. Richards and Kopitar were both an even 50% on the draw while Stoll, Lewis, and Carter finished up with 43%, 33%, and 17% respectively. Fisher took 24 draws winning 15 for 58%. Gaustad was also a 60% faceoff man on the night.
Kings powerplay went 0-for-3 on the night and overall went 0-for 13 on the trip. Despite their struggles on the offensive side they went 1-for-14 in penalty killing on the trip which is excellent.
Kings return home for a four game stand, and for the first time this year will play an opponent in their own division when they meet up with Calgary on Monday.
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Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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