Game Day #29: Kings @ Ducks Preview

Los Angeles Kings v Anaheim Ducks (Honda Center)

Time: 7.00 PM

TV: Fox Sports West

Enemy reading: Anaheim Calling (and their super super super hilariously mad preview)

Ducks (projected) lineup:

Penner-Getzlaf-Perry
Palmieri-Perrault-Selanne
Winnik-Koivu-Cogliano
Beleskey-Bonino-Jackman

Fowler-Lovejoy
Fistric-Vatanen
Lindholm-Grant

Hiller

Injured: Bryan Allen, Viktor Fasth, Jakob Silfverberg, Sheldon Souray, Luca Sbisa, Francois Beauchemin; Scratched: Patrick Marron, Nolan Yonkman

Kings (projected) lineup:

King-Kopitar-Carter
Brown-Stoll-Williams
Nolan-Richards-Toffoli
Clifford-Fraser-Frattin

Muzzin-Doughty
Regehr-Voynov
Mitchell-Martinez

MARTIN JONES

Game notes:

• Martin Jones, you guys! Making his first NHL start! Crazy stuff. I think the concept of playing up or down to opponents is stupid, but it's undeniable that the Kings have sometimes had an uneven effort level, so obviously it would be ideal if they could focus on the understanding that they need to be play well in front of a rookie starter.
• Bryan Allen might be in for the Ducks tonight to shore up a defensive corps still weakened by injuries to Luca Sbisa, Sheldon Souray, and Francois Beauchemin. He'll take warm-ups and be a gametime decision.
• Pennerbowl! I know what's happening to him this season is basically what we all knew would happen because regression, etc., but I'm not gonna lie that it still makes me a little mad.
• The non-Martin Jones big news of the day is that Tanner Pearson has been sent back down to Manchester, and Jeff Schultz has been recalled. Schultz won't play tonight, and is likely just a failsafe for a potential injury to Robyn Regehr, but if he stays longer- you know what, I'm not going to jinx it by talking about it. I'm not.
• The new mixed-up forward lines will start again tonight. There was a lot to like about the dominating game-minus-five-minutes that the Kings played last night against the Blues, so there is clearly potential to the idea of spreading out the scoring threats, but I'm disappointed that Linden Vey doesn't draw back in tonight against.
• ~Fun With Numbers~:

Team	GP	Points	ROW	Goal Diff	PP%	PK%	S/G	SA/G	CF% (5v5SC)	FF% (5v5SC)	PDO
Kings	28	38 (6th, W)	13	+13 (9th)	16.7 (20th)	85.4 (6th)	30.9 (12th)	26.4 (5th)	56.3% (2nd)	55.1% (3rd)	987 (21st)
Ducks	29	40 (3rd, W)	17	+14 (8th)	15.2 (22nd)	79.8 (19th)	32.6 (4th)	28.2 (9th)	51.1% (11th)	52.5% (9th)	1034 (3rd)

• Prediction: Kings win 4-1, Blues fans are still complaining about how classless we are, and everything is fully hilarious.