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Game 45: Penguins @ Kings- Five things to Watch

January 18, 2018, 10:50 AM ET [28 Comments]
Adam Kirshenblatt
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The Los Angeles Kings will have a visit from the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins tonight in the first of two matchups this season.

Last season, the Kings wound up sweeping the series with Pittsburgh. Both games were tight ended up in a 3-2 and 1-0 victory in overtime.

Both teams are currently going in opposite directions as the Kings have allowed the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks to get within striking distance, while losing their last four games in regulation. Meanwhile, it looked like this might be a season we wouldn’t see Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in the playoffs with the way they started their season, but they have won their last five games and won six of their last seven.

After LA’s loss to the Sharks on Monday, San Jose has been able to climb past the Kings in the standings, putting LA in the final Wild Card spot in the West.

Now that the cushion is gone from the beginning of the season’s hot start, every game has to be a war. After they play Pittsburgh, they will be taking on three divisional opponents, starting with those same Ducks tomorrow.

Starting goalies have not been confirmed yet, but it will be interesting to see if John Stevens elects to play Vezina candidate Jonathan Quick tonight, or wait for round three of the Freeway Faceoff tomorrow. Meanwhile, we know Matt Murray won’t be starting for the Penguins due to the passing of his father, and Tristan Jarry started last night in Anaheim.

So it is possible we might see third stringer, Casey DeSmith tonight for Pittsburgh. In the two games he made an appearance in this season he is 0-1-0 with 3.00 GAA and .833 save percentage.

On the bright side for the Kings, it appears as though Jake Muzzin will be ready to go after missing his last three games due to injury. Hopefully his appearance in the lineup move the rest of the defense core back to a position they are more comfortable with and can shore up some of the mistakes we saw against the Ducks and Sharks earlier this week.

Five things to watch:

1. Shots on Net: The Kings have had some trouble of this past stretch getting offense, whether that comes in the form of goals or opportunities. At this point, they need to stop looking for the perfect pass for the perfect shot and try to get a couple of “garbage goals”. In tonight’s game, whether it’s Jarry or DeSmith in net, they will be facing an inexperienced goaltender where rebound control will be an issue. Test them and try to get a good shot off the pads.

2.Depth of the Penguins: The one thing that I’ve noticed about the Kings is that whenever they play a team that has three good scoring lines, they have trouble keeping up with them. Tonight they’ll be facing a team that has Crosby on the top line, Evgeni Malkin on the second line, and Phil Kessel on the third. All three lines have speed and grit and it will be fun to watch how Stevens game plans for it.

3. Stanley Cup Champion Phil Kessel: Speaking of Kessel, he is having the most productive season of his career, while not playing with either Crosby or Malkin consistently. He is currently tied with John Tavares for second in the Art Ross Race and is six points back of Nikita Kucherov. He is also tied for ninth in the league in goal scoring with 21 goals, seven behind Alex Ovechkin for the top spot. Last night, he was on the Penguins third line with Conor Sheary and Jake Guentzel so this team comes at you in waves.

4. Consistent Goaltending: Whether it’s Quick or Darcy Kuemper tonight, the Kings will need them to stand up tall and give them a chance to win. Last time we saw Quick in net, he gave up two bad angle, short side goals against the Ducks which led to them losing the game on Saturday. On Monday, you couldn’t fault Kuemper for any of the goals that he allowed, but he was out-dueled by Martin Jones who made the saves when he had to. Someone needs to step up.

5. Sidney Crosby: As this section is a things to watch for section, any time you have a top six player of all-time come to visit, he’s a thing to watch. Crosby has 17 goals and 49 points this season, which puts him 12th in the league in points. He’s currently playing with rookies Dominik Simon and Daniel Sprong, which is a part of showing his talent in how he can make everyone better. Who plays with Crosby has always been a question in the Penguins organization, and especially now that Chris Kunitz left as a UFA to Tampa Bay, that has been an issue. However, again, Crosby only visits the Staples Center once a year so enjoy watching him.
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