Los Angeles Kings v Montreal Canadiens (Bell Centre)
Time: 4.00 PM
TV: RDS, TSN, Fox Sports West
Enemy reading: Habs Eyes on the Prize
Habs (projected) lineup:
Galchenyuk-Plekanec-Gionta
Pacioretty-Desharnais-Gallagher
Eller-Briere-Bournival
Moen-White-Prust
Subban-Markov
Gorges-Emelin
Diaz-Bouillon
Price
Injured: Rene Bourque, Davis Drewiske; Scratched: George Parros, Douglas Murray
Kings (projected) lineup:
King-Kopitar-Carter
Brown-Stoll-Williams
Clifford-Richards-Toffoli
Carcillo-Fraser-Nolan
Muzzin-Doughty
Regehr-Voynov
Mitchell-Martinez
MARTIN JONES
Game notes:
- Did you know that twenty years ago, it was 1993? DID YOU????
- Well, it was. 1993, I mean. Twenty years ago. It’s important. Don’t forget. Or the ghost of Marty McSorley will show up and take away Christmas.
- NINETEEN-NINETY-THREE.
- Okay, to be fair, there isn’t much recent history to discuss. The last time these two teams played was over two calendar years ago. That game, a 2-1 Kings loss, featured Andrei Kostitsyn, Dustin Penner, Erik Cole, Jack Johnson, and Jonathan Bernier. I think I speak for all of us when I say that that would be the best boyband ever.
- The Habs come into tonight’s game arguably the hottest team in the league, having won their last
billionfive games, and going 9-0-1 in their last ten. That streak includes two games against the Sabres and only two games against teams that I would call “good” (the Penguins and the Bruins), but the Kings have lost to the Flames twice in regulation, so uhh…I guess I’ll shut up now. - The Habs, much like the Kings, re-did their forward lines part-way through the season, breaking up their vaunted kid line of Galchenyuk-Eller-Gallagher in an effort to obtain more balanced scoring. The effort has been partially successful – David Desharnais‘ moribund production has been revived and Tomas Plekanec has thrived, but reclamation project Danny Briere is struggling, and Lars Eller has fared poorly with new linemates.
- I just remembered that time the Habs traded Mike Cammalleri in the middle of a game and now I can’t stop laughing. There’s some real Original Six magic, folks.
- The indomitable Martin Jones gets his third straight start tonight, presumably so Ben Scrivens can get the start against his old team for the second half of the back-to-back. Man, Darryl Sutter just loves drama. Also, the Leafs are garbage – but more on that tomorrow.
- Matt Greene is apparently ready to play, but won’t be reinserted into the lineup tonight, so the defensive pairings remain the same. Trevor Lewis and Jonathan Quick remain a little ways out, but Lewis has been skating, and Quick is scheduled to start practicing on Thursday.
- I just, I get this little twitch in my eye every time I see Colin Fraser in the active line-up. Linden Vey’s had his ups and downs, but he’s still a rookie. The Kings have the depth to compensate for rookie mistakes, and peaks of his production have been much more effective than Fraser’s. #ReFreeLindenVey.
- Somebody please please get Jamie Kompon on the phone and beg him to lift his vengeful curse on the Kings’ power play. The Habs have been strong on special teams, and at this point, I’m mostly just hoping that the Habs’ penalty kill doesn’t somehow out-chance the Kings’ power play.
- The Habs have actually not been a very good possession team, bolstered in large part by phenomenal goaltending. The Kings are Kings-ing, as usual. ~Fun With Numbers~:
- Prediction: Kings win 4-2, Max Pacioretty tries really hard not to board another player into oblivion (succeeding partially), and I get thrown out of the Habs bar at which I’m watching this game.
| Team | GP | Points | ROW | Goal Diff | PP% | PK% | S/G | SA/G | CF% (5v5SC) | FF% (5v5SC) | PDO |
| Kings | 30 | 42 (4th, W) | 14 | +17 (9th) | 15.2 (23rd) | 85.8 (5th) | 31.4 (10th) | 26.1 (4th) | 57.1 (2nd) | 56.0 (2nd) | 989 (18th) |
| Canadiens | 31 | 41 (3rd, E) | 17 | +20 (7th) | 22.7 (6th) | 86.4 (3rd) | 29.8 (16th) | 30.7 (20th) | 48.9 (20th) | 49.2 (18th) | 1026 (5th) |
