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Columbus Blue Jackets @ Los Angeles Kings
Time: 7:30 Pacific
TV: Fox Sports West, Fox Sports Ohio
Enemy Reading: The Cannon
Los Angeles Kings
Gaborik-Kopitar-Brown
Lucic-Carter-Toffoli
Pearson-Shore-Lewis
Clifford-Andreoff-Nolan
McNabb-Doughty
Muzzin-Martinez
Ehrhoff-McBain
Quick
(Enroth)
Scratched: Forbort, Weal Injured: Greene, King
Columbus Blue Jackets
Saad-Dubinsky-Jenner
Calvert-Johansen-Atkinson
Hartnell-Karlsson-Foligno
Campbell-Wennberg-Boll
Savard-Johnson
Tyutin-Murray
Connauton-Prout
Bobrovsky
(McElhinney)
Injured: Clarkson Scratched: Rychel, Goloubef, Borque
Stats & Such
(Small sample size warning. Fancy stats courtesy War on Ice)
Team | Jackets | Kings |
Record | 3-10-0 | 8-4-0 |
Points | 6 | 16 |
Division Rank | 8th | 1st |
Streak | Won 1 | Won 1 |
Goals For/Game | 2.31 | 2.42 |
Goals Against/Game | 3.69 | 2.08 |
ES Goal % | 37.3 | 48.4 |
ES Shot % |
48.8 | 51.8 |
ES PDO | 95.9 | 99.2 |
ES Corsi % | 49.8 | 54.8 |
ES Fenwick % | 49.1 | 53.8 |
ES Scoring Chance % | 48.7 | 52.9 |
ES High-Danger SC % | 48.3 | 49.7 |
Power Play % (Rank) | 18.4 (17th) |
17.5 (18th) |
Penalty Kill % (Rank) | 73.8 (28th) | 84.8 (9th) |
Starting Goalie (tonight) | Bobrovsky | Quick |
Goalie Record | 3-8-0 | 6-4-0 |
Save % | .877 | .918 |
ES Save % | .878 |
.928 |
Notes:
- So tonight the Kings return home for their third game in four nights. Considering I'm exhausted with just writing these damn previews three times in four days, I can only imagine how tired the players must be. Then again, their fingers are probably in better shape!
- Their opponent in tonight's game is of course the Columbus Blue Jackets, they of the eight straight regulation losses to start the season. Since starting off the year like that they're 3-2-0, which would be fine except they started off 0-8-0. That kind of pace just isn't going to get it done for the Jackets anymore (unless they played in the Pacific; then it might).
- The Jackets are coming off a win over the San Jose Sharks, which was cool and funny. Bobrovsky stood on his head to get the Jackets the win, stopping 41 of 43 shots; as you can see by his save percentage on the year, that isn't exactly something he's done a lot of this season. Of course his save percentage was never likely to stay in the sub-900 range all year long, and the Kings don't exactly shoot anyone's lights out, so I guess what I'm saying here is prepare yourself for the possibility of a shutout tonight.
- Meanwhile, the Kings salvaged a victory over the Blues in St. Louis a day after blowing a third-period lead and losing in regulation in Chicago, so all things considered things worked out okay.....except for that whole "Anze Kopitar left the game" thing. But everything turned out to be sunshine and joy as opposed to the firey explosion of the sun and wailing, as Kopitar confirmed he'll play in tonight's game. If you want to imagine a terrifying Kopitar-less world anyway, hypothetical person who does not exist, Nick has you covered.
- We're four bullets in and I'm already out of steam. Today has not been a good day when it comes to hockey and (especially) online discussions of it, for reasons I'm not going to go over here (but should be rather obvious), and I think I want to wrap this up. Besides, it's only the Blue Jackets, who really gives a crap.
- Alas, I won't let you down. I know why you really clicked on this link. It's because you want to know the answer to which Mega Man villain are you, opponent? I've got you covered. The Blue Jackets are obviously:
- PREDICTION: The Kings lose 1-0 in a shootout in a game so boring the entire world falls asleep, allowing pollen-allergic robots an easy route to our conquest.