The Kings are back on the ice after a long bye week, All-Star break and recent sad news. They will play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning. TBL currently sits second in the Atlantic Division and fifth overall in the league standings with a 29-15-5 record. It would be nice to get some redemption after falling 4-3 to these guys in a SO a couple weeks back.
This year’s break felt exceptionally long to me. I guess that’s due in part to the bye week being nestled closely with the ASG. In all honesty, I’ve never been an All-Star game guy (but props to Kopitar for getting the nod for a fifth time!). I feel like it’s gotten progressively cheesier or something. I think the last one I watched was in the ‘90’s when they had Beezer mic’d up and talked to him during gameplay. That was it for me. Haha.
I suppose the bye week/ASG break is good for a team like LA that is recently coming off a rough road trip and having a tough overall year - it’s a chance to step away from the reality of the season for a bit. On the flip side, I wonder about the teams and guys that are playing really good and/or starting to surge. I know they always say, “They’re in a great spot heading into the All-Star break/bye week,… and that’s probably the case. I think I’m just more of the mindset that if I’m playing really well, I’d rather keep that going than taking a week or so off and risk getting out of the groove - though I’m sure it does the body good from a recovery standpoint.
Come to think of it...I go into LD mode as soon as I see the promos for it.
Some of the excitement for Kings fans during this time may have lied in the AHL All-Star skills competition where Kale Clague, Martin Frk and Cal Petersen competed.
Obviously the big talk coming out of the skills comp was Frk. We knew this guy had a nasty shot, but ripping a 109.2 MPH clapper to set a new AHL record? Wow.
Doughty Out? Lizotte Practicing
According to Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider:
“Drew Doughty, who left Sunday’s practice early with an undisclosed injury and didn’t practice on Monday or Tuesday, appears set to miss his first regular season game since a shoulder injury sidelined him for the final four games of the 2013-14 regular season.…
Doughty is the Kings franchise leader with 460 consecutive games played. While he’s not officially ruled out of action against Tampa, his streak could come to an end. I know DD has fans split, but he certainly has been pretty durable in order to amass 902 total games in his career.
I’m curious to see what McLellan’s move will be if #8 is out. How will he jumble up/structure the defensive pairings?
In other injury news...
Lizotte returned to his first practice since January 8th to center Kempe and Wagner. In a twist from the typical very descriptive “upper body… and “lower body… injury reports, it seems that Lizzy and Kings brass are OK with disclosing the injury he sustained against the Dallas Stars earlier this month:
…[Andrew] Cogliano leaned into me and I felt it a little bit in my groin earlier. I told Kinger right away, and that was it. ‘Shut ‘er down,’ he said.…
Adding that he was relieved it was that and not something else:
“For me, I was more happy – it wasn’t because it was overuse. It was a hit, so that makes me feel better about my preparation. Coming into the year it was nothing I could avoid. That injury just kind of happened. It’s disappointing to miss games, but it’s nice to be back.…
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Let’s get back to work...Go Kings Go