2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs, First Round
Game 4: San Jose Sharks @ Los Angeles Kings
Time: 7:30 PM Pacific
Location: SAP Center
TV: NBCSN, Fox Sports West, CSN-CA
Radio: KABC 790 AM
Live Stream: NBC Sports
Projected Lines
Hertl – Thornton – Pavelski
Donskoi – Couture – Ward
Nieto – Marleau – Karlsson
Spaling – Tierney – Wingels
Vlasic – Braun
Martin – Burns
Dillon – Polak
Jones
(Reimer)
King – Kopitar – Gaborik
Lucic – Carter – Toffoli
Pearson – Lecavalier – Brown
Clifford – Lewis – Versteeg
Scuderi – Doughty
Muzzin – Schenn
McNabb – McBain
Quick
(Enroth)
Scratched: Andreoff, Shore Injured: Martinez, Nolan, Greene
Game Notes:
- I’m not necessarily superstitious, but I must ask every one of you to do everything to prepare for this game that you did on Monday. It’s important.
- The lines have changed, yes, but they very closely reflect the lines we saw at the end of Game 3. The most noticeable changes are:
- The reunion of LA’s most-used line combination in 2015-16, which brings Milan Lucic back to the wing of Jeff Carter and Tyler Toffoli.
- First. Line. Dwight. King.
- Top. Pair. Rob. Scuderi.
- And, of course, overtime hero Tanner Pearson plying his trade with Vincent Lecavalier and Dustin Brown on the third line.
- Monday was a must-win game; this one feels only slightly less necessary for a series win. LA has had a lot of trouble with the Sharks this year, having lost all four home games against their rivals, and the fact that San Jose’s struggled so much at SAP might be a bit of a mirage. As Jake Sundstrom from Fear the Fin pointed out on Monday’s Jewelcast, Marc-Edouard Vlasic was out for a large stretch of San Jose’s home games, and their possession numbers at home are just fine.
- Point being: asking LA to win three straight is still a tall order.
- The best sign for the Kings was that they played a very Kings-style game on Monday, and they held San Jose scoreless for 60+ minutes after the beginning lapse.
- It was really nice to change the number at the start of the preview from 16 to 15.
- The Sharks are making these previews very boring, as their lineup remains the same for a fourth straight contest. The current worry from their end? They’re looking for depth scoring, as in, “Anyone not named Joe.” Will they get it?
- PREDICTION: Jonathan Quick stops San Jose’s first shot on goal for the first time all series, and the rest of San Jose’s shots as well.