Los Angeles Kings at Chicago Blackhawks 7PM Central/5PM Pacific NBC Sports/CSN Chicago+
THE BUZZ
When the contenders are separated from the pretenders, many observers expect the LA Kings to be a force in the Western Conference playoffs. Including, especially, the Kings themselves. During an “off… season last year, the Kings two Cups in 3 years were lost in the hubbub of the Blackhawks winning 3 in 6 years.
Coming on the heel of divisional showdowns with St. Louis and Dallas, this is yet another big test for the Blackhawks, and they need to have a better response than they have in the last two games. Dallas, especially, played the “how to stop Chicago… formula to a T. An aggressive forecheck, jamming up the neutral zone and repeatedly forcing the hawks to slowly tack their way through center ice, and disrupting their offensive zone entries. On the power play, whenever the puck came to Patrick Kane at the halfboard, a Dallas defender would immediately pressure the puck—and the Hawks struggled. The Hawks penalty kill continues to plummet in the league rankings.
They must play better tonight.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Los Angeles
Lucic Kopitar Carter Pearson Lecavalier Toffoli King Lewis Brown Clifford Shore Versteeg
Scuderi Doughty Muzzin Martinez McNabb Schenn
Quick
Chicago
Ladd Toews Hossa Panarin Anisimov Kane Desjardins Teravainen Fleischmann Panik Shaw Weise
Keith Hjalmarsson Van Rirmsdyk Seabrook Ehrhoff Rozsival
Crawford
All for now.
JJ
FOB (good peeps, good reads)
Chris Block Al Cimaglia http://www.thethirdmanin.com
Frank Nova http://www.hockeenight.com
Greg Boysen http://www.letsgohawks.net
Puckin’ Hostile Crew http://www.puckinhostile.com