Los Angeles Kings v Ottawa Senators (Canadian Tire Centre)
Time: 11.00 AM
TV: NHL Network, Fox Sports West
Enemy reading: Silver Seven Sens
Senators (projected) lineup:
MacArthur-Spezza-Condra
Conacher-Turris-Ryan
Michalek-Smith-Zibanejad
Greening-Pageau-Neil
Corvo-Karlsson
Phillips-Ceci
Wiercioch-Gryba
NOT MARTIN JONES Anderson
Injured: Marc Methot; Scratched: Matt Kassian; Suspended: Jared Cowen
Kings (projected) lineup:
King-Kopitar-Carter
Brown-Stoll-Williams
Clifford-Richards-Toffoli
Carcillo-Vey-Nolan
Muzzin-Doughty
Regehr-Voynov
Mitchell-Martinez
MARTIN JONES
Game notes:
- This preview will be short because the game is, uhh, soon.
- The Sens were supposed to be good this season. Everyone thought so. I thought so. I thought that, with the acquisition of Bobby Ryan, and if Craig Anderson could keep up being great, they were one of the legitimate threats in the east. (Spoiler: I was wrong.)
- Anderson has been replacement-level. Promising young players like Jared Cowen, Cory Conacher, and Colin Greening have been bad. The defence has been bad. Despite what appeared to be a break-out season from Kyle Turris, and a strong performance from off-season acquisition Clarke MacArthur, things have been bad.
- The Sens’ last game was a 2-1 shootout victory over the Sabres, and we all know that the Sabres are terrible, and any halfway decent team would never get into a shootout with the Sabres.
- I spent some time after the Leafs game quietly freaking out about the Kings’ poor performance, but I’ve decided to put it behind me. They logged one of their worst games of the season playing the second half of a back-to-back after travelling cross-continent – unless a pattern starts developing, no need to worry yet.
- Colin Fraser has a concussion after getting hit in Toronto, so Linden Vey draws back into the lineup today.
- Martin Jones is a legend and a hero and an indefatigable monster and the rest of the NHL just needs to deal with it. #Joner
- Fun With Numbers: Kings good, Sens bad. Except for shots. They have a lot of shots.
- Prediction: Kings good, Sens bad. Even Daniel Alfredsson feels bad.
