Los Angeles Kings v Dallas Stars (Staples Center)
Time: 7.30 PM
TV: Fox Sports West
Kings projected lineup:
Gaborik – Kopitar – Williams
Pearson – Carter – Toffoli
King – Richards – Brown
Pearson – Carter – Toffoli
King – Richards – Brown
Clifford – Stoll – Lewis
Doughty – Muzzin
Greene – Martinez
McNabb – McBain
Jones
Injured: Regehr; Suspended: Voynov
Stars projected lineup:
Benn – Spezza – Seguin
Roussel – Eakin – Garbutt
McKenzie – Fiddler – Eaves
Cole – Horcoff – Sceviour
Roussel – Eakin – Garbutt
McKenzie – Fiddler – Eaves
Cole – Horcoff – Sceviour
Goligoski – Klingberg
Benn – Daley
Dillon – Oleksiak
Benn – Daley
Dillon – Oleksiak
Lehtonen
Injured: Nichushkin (groin), Nemeth (arm), Peverley (heart)
Game notes:
- Remember when we used to have prayer circles for Darryl Sutter to stop scratching Alec Martinez for no reason and it was all very sad and stressful and then he was a regular and everything was supposed to be fine? Everything is not fine. Martinez has been mostly terrible to start the season and if he keeps it up, we are going to have to do prayer circles to find his fucking talent. With McNabb – McBain as the bottom pairing, the second pairing has got to be able to provide more quality minutes than they’re currently offering up.
- Do we think that it’s time to split up Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin? When you only have two top-four defenders on your team, better to have at least one of them on the ice for forty-five-ish minutes than both for twenty, right? Right.
- Benching Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli last night was stupid. Pearson and Toffoli playing crappily is still better than giving the bottom six too many minutes. I don’t care how motivational anything thinks it might be – you play to maximize the performance of your team. If Pearson and Toffoli are such idiots that putting them in time-outs would actually make them play better, please get them off my team.
- Speaking of stupid scratching, Ales Hemsky will be sitting out this game, although he’s healthy. I don’t know the fancystats, and I do know that his production thus far has been minimal, but – again, the Stars were already a team that didn’t have extensive forward depth. With Valeri Nichushkin sitting out injured again, scratching Hemsky means they’re back to being a one line team. That line is very very good, but the team as a whole isn’t better without Hemsky.
- Prediction: Kings win 6-5 to make up for last night, which was stupid garbage.