After somehow scrounging up two points against the Canucks on Monday night in Vancouver, the Kings will attempt to take over first place in the Pacific division tonight in San Jose.
The Kings are currently tied with San Jose in points with 35 and are just two behind a slumping Anaheim who are now 4-4-2 in their last 10. Last night the Ducks had a third period collapse, giving up five goals in the third period to Dallas, including three in a span of 53 seconds. The disappointing run of form from the former league-leading Anaheim Ducks has set the stage for the winner of tonight's NorCal/SoCal showdown to take over the lead in the division. Anaheim currently has played more games than either squad, so despite a tie in points, the Sharks and Kings would move to first based on point percentage.
The Sharks have run into a few problems of their own in November going 5-3-2, including three straight losses at home to start the month. A road trip up north to Canada seemed to help right the ship, and now the team is buoyed by the return of Brent Burns who had been out since October 17th with a facial injury. A-5-3-2 record isn't bad, but the Sharks have been involved in a number of close games. Five have gone to an extra period (2-0-3) and six have been one goal games. Tomas Hertl has heated back up with seven points and four goals in November, and Marleau, Thornton, and Couture each have five points in their last five games. It's hard to know what Sharks team will show up tonight, but since the division lead is on the line expect the Sharks to have all hands on deck.
On the other side of things, the Kings have points in ten straight and have only lost two games in regulation over the last 15 despite dealing with a plethora of injuries. The Kings have been carried in games by Ben Scrivens, who has been simply phenomenal. While Darryl Sutter admittedly "Isn't jumpin on the Scriven's wagon..." he has a league leading .947 percentage, 1.44 Goals against average, and three shutouts. He is carrying a 6-1-3 record on the season and has never faced the San Jose Sharks before. The Sharks have been notoriously difficult on the Kings in recent years, particularly on home ice. Just ask Jonathan Quick, who holds a career .908 save percentage against the team despite holding a 10-4-5 record. In fact, Quick has only won three times in HP Pavillion, and hasn't since the 2010-11 playoffs. Scrivens, though has proven to be a strong road goaltender with a staggering .953 save percentage and 5-1-1 record in opposing buildings.
The Kings are also bolstered by the return of Jeff Carter, who didn't wait long to get on the scoresheet. He had a key assist in the game tying goal by Mike Richards late in the third period against Vancouver Monday night. It was the old Carter-Richards connection Kings fans had been missing. The Kings offense has been woefully inefficient lately, being held under one goal in three of their last five games. Hopefully the return of Carter can get the Kings back to a more offensive threat. Also worth noting was the return of Kyle Clifford, whose line of Toffoli and Vey contributed a goal and was incredibly solid throughout the game. That lines corsi numbers from Monday were very impressive as well. The match up of the King bottom lines versus the Shark bottom lines is likely to be a key point in tonight's contest. It will be a challenge to contain the line of Pavelski/Havlat/Kennedy who have been solid as of late.
What to watch for:
Brent Burns. The guy is a bull in a china shop. If the Sharks emerge victorious look for him to be in the middle of it. His sheer size and strength gives the King defenders fits on a regular basis.
On the Kings side it has to come down to Scrivens and the Kings defense. If they can contain the Sharks high flying offense enough it could be the deciding factor. I personally wouldn't expect a shutout, but as long as they can keep themselves in it and in it early it could be huge.
King/Sharks game are rarely of the 1-0 fashion so I'm expecting a slug fest. Either a 3-2 or 4-2 affair would seem to be the standard when these two get together. The Kings won 4-3 in OT the last time these two met back on October 30th at Staples.
No lineup changes are expected for the Kings, and Scrivens will make his eighth straight start.
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