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The LA Kings will be taking on the Calgary Flames tonight as they finish up their Western Canadian road trip. The Kings are fresh off a 5-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers and have won four of their last six games.
There was a bit of a scare in that Oilers game when Drew Doughty took a hit to the head from Patrick Maroon and had to be looked at by team doctors. Doughty returned to the game and is expected to play tonight. As well, Anze Kopitar showed signs of discomfort after jamming his arm along the boards when he took a hit. He appeared to be alright as he finished the game.
The Kings are currently in a fight for first place in the Pacific Division with the Vegas Golden Knights. Currently, LA is three points back of the Golden Knights but Vegas has two games in hand.
This will be the Flames first game of the New Year and will be hoping that it is an improvement from the 2017 portion of the season. Calgary came into the season expecting to be in the hunt for the Pacific Division and contend for the Stanley Cup after trading their 2018 first round draft pick as well as two seconds for Travis Hamonic.
Right now Calgary sits at 42 points and are four points out of a playoff position. However, they will need to climb over Chicago, Colorado, Minnesota, and Anaheim (or San Jose) to reach the playoffs. The Flames have won two of their last five games and have essentially played .500 hockey in their last 10.
This is the second matchup between the two teams as the Flames gave the Kings their first loss of the season way back on October 11th in a 4-3 victory in overtime. Last season Calgary won the season series by taking three of the five games against Los Angeles.
Five Things to Watch:
1. Continue the Good Starts: As mentioned before the Oilers game, the Kings have given up the first goal of the game in 23 of their 40 games so far this season. On Tuesday the Kings came out strong and even though they didn’t score in the first period, they were able to keep the Oilers off the board as well. This gave them time to push the Oilers into penalty trouble and knock them out using the power play.
This has been a process all season long and improving here will only make the Kings that much more dangerous when it comes to clinch time at the end of the season.
2. Matthew Tkachuk: It is a compliment when a player is named something to watch. When you’re dealing with the Flames, you know Matthew Tkachuk is going to be a factor, either on the scoresheet or in the penalty box. The 20-year-old forward has a reputation this season of playing over the line and getting under some of the top player’s skin. The Kings are a heavy team and won’t be pushed around and are a prime target for him to get up to his antics.
The key here is to not engage him and to remember who you’re dealing with if he disrupts the flow of the game. There is no need to take silly penalties to send the kid a message.
3. Containing Johnny Hockey: The first line of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Michael Ferland is the straw that stirs the drink in Calgary. Monahan is the skilled centerman who can skate and carry the puck, Gaudreau is your super skilled winger that you don’t know what he’ll do next, and Ferland is your sandpaper that goes into the boards and cleans up rebounds in front of the net.
Just like with Colorado, once you get past that top line it’s tough for Calgary to get supplementary scoring. They have a few players who have the talent to be those types of guys for Calgary such as Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Mikael Backlund, and Mark Jankowski, but they haven’t proven they can do it consistently.
The Kings will want to make it so those guys will have to beat you.
4. Second Line Power: Since uniting Marian Gaborik with Adrian Kempe and Tyler Toffoli, that line has been unstoppable of the last two games. The trio have combined for three goals and seven assists over the two games and have been a key factor in both.
Due to the Flames having last change, it will be likely that this line sees a lot of the Gaudreau, Monahan, Ferland line in an effort to get the line away from Anze Kopitar’s Selke skill. Their ability to keep up with them and to be a threat will be a factor in this game.
4. Jaromir Jagr: He won’t necessarily be a factor in this game but any time you have a chance to watch Jagr, you take it. The man is a treasure amongst active hockey players as it’s a wonder that he’s been able to keep going at a high level. Recently the 45-year-old has been playing with Tkachuk and Backlund where he’s been able to help develop more youngsters under his sage wisdom.
It will be a celebration when he does finally retire, but it will be a sad day.