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Here are five things to watch when the Calgary Flames play host to the Los Angeles Kings:
1. Matthew Tkachuk vs Drew Doughty
Tkachuk goes out of his way to target stars at the best of times. He loves it. He lives for it, especially when he gets a reaction. Well, Doughty continues to get riled up and give Tkachuk what he wants. If there was any doubt the rivalry between the two would be a thing of the past, that disappeared when Doughty made a comment about him being the better player and suggesting Tkachuk should apologize for his actions and the things he’s said. Yeah...not happening. Tkachuk is a smart guy. He’s not going to be off the rails and take a bunch of penalties trying to get at Doughty, but you best believe he’ll poke the bear any chance he gets. This will be fun to watch.
2. Stay out of the box
Ilya Kovalchuk is washed up. Jeff Carter is washed up. Anze Kopitar has failed to surpass 60 points in two of the last three years. Tyler Toffoli’s hands are tied playing with highly mediocre linemates. You get the point. The Kings don’t have much firepower. The name-brand guys they do have aren’t capable of what they once were. Scoring goals is going to be an issue for them. That’s why it is imperative the Flames show a little discipline and don’t parade to the box like they did in the first two games. If they keep things 5v5, the Kings are going to have an awfully hard time scoring goals. If the Flames take a billion penalties, well, this game might not be close to the gimme it should be (relatively speaking).
3. Pepper Quick
Jonathan Quick was once a very good goaltender. That’s no longer the case. While the Kings don’t defend like they used to, they are still a low-event team that does a serviceable job. It doesn’t matter because Quick lost his fastball. He posted a .906 save percentage from 2017-19. That tied him for 40th with the likes of Jake Allen, Mikko Koskinen, and Malcolm Subban. Not great! He’s as likely to slide himself out of position as he is to make one of those ridiculously athletic saves we grew accustomed to seeing. If the shot volume is there tonight, I think the Flames *could* put up a big number.
4. Show more
Two games is two games but Sam Bennett has been pretty quiet following a really strong preseason. He’s mustered up just one scoring chance and three shots on goal at 5v5 thus far. He’s getting top-6 minutes tonight – Michael Frolik has been demoted again – and the matchup is pretty soft so he really needs to show more of an offensive pulse if he wants to take the RW2 job moving forward.
5. A more balanced approach
Sean Monahan has already piled 10 scoring chances and four high-danger looks at 5v5. That’s the good news. The bad news is he accounts for 25.64% of the team’s chances and 30.70% of their Grade A looks. As great as it is to see Monahan looking dangerous and healthy, it’d be nice if he could get some help. This is a good Get Right spot.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Elias Lindholm
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Sam Bennett
Milan Lucic - Derek Ryan - Andrew Mangiapane
Tobias Rieder - Mark Jankowski - Michael Frolik
Mark Giordano - T.J. Brodie
Noah Hanifin - Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington - Rasmus Andersson
David Rittich
Los Angeles
Alex Iafallo - Anze Kopitar - Dustin Brown
Ilya Kovalchuk - Adrian Kempe - Jeff Carter
Austin Wagner - Blake Lizotte - Tyler Toffoli
Kyle Clifford - Mike Amadio - Trevor Lewis
Tobias Bjornfoot - Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez - Matt Roy
Ben Hutton - Sean Walker
Jonathan Quick
Puck drop is just after 9 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on SNW and FS-W.
Numbers via naturalstattrick.com
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