Los Angeles Kings v St Louis Blues (Scottrade Center)
Time: 5.00 PM
TV: TSN2, NBC Sports Network
Enemy reading: St Louis Game Time
Blues (projected) lineup:
Schwartz-Backes-Oshie
Jaskin-Sobotka-Tarasenko
Paajarvi-Berglund-Stewart
Morrow-Roy-Reaves
Pietrangelo-Bouwmeester
Shattenkirk-Jackman
Leopold-Polak
Halak
Injured: Maxim Lapierre, Alexander Steen; Scratched: Adam Cracknell, Carlo Colaiacovo, Ian Cole
Kings (projected) lineup:
Brown-Kopitar-Carter
Frattin-Richards-Williams
King-Stoll-Lewis
Clifford-Fraser-Nolan
Muzzin-Doughty
Regehr-Voynov
Mitchell-Martinez
Quick
Injured: Matt Greene; Scratched: Linden Vey, Tanner Pearson
Game Notes:
- DID THEY REALLY SEND DOWN TYLER TOFFOLI SO THAT THEY COULD SCRATCH LINDEN VEY AND TANNER PEARSON LIKE AS;LDFKAJSDF;LKAJ SERIOUSLY I CAN’T HANDLE THIS
- Okay, I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I’m sure Colin Fraser and Trevor Lewis and Kyle Clifford will be fine.
- Maybe this will be the game where the reanimated corpse of Mike Richards remembers that, in life, Mike Richards was a hockey player, and then he tries to remember how to play hockey and also maybe learns to love in a heart-warming and cinematic way. Or maybe not. Sorry. I’m super hungry and it’s making me a little loopy.
- Real talk: the Blues’ possession game has regressed even as they continue to ride a sky-high PDO to stay victorious. They’re still one of the best teams in the league, but (and I think I said this in my last Kings-Blues preview?) they’ve been both lucky and good, and only one of those things is reliable.
- Also lol that fans of a team that employs David Backes can’t stop crying about Dustin Brown like come on, dudes, get a grip.
- While Vancouver was, for the most part, the irrational aggressor in that mess of a game, I think it’s fair to say that the Kings’ discipline issues have been a pretty significant theme of this season. Being an incredible five-on-five team is all well and good except when you give up huge swathes of power play time and your penalty kill decides to fall on its face all the time. Somebody needs to read these guys the riot act in a way to which they’ll respond, because clearly whatever message Darryl Sutter’s sent them hasn’t taken hold.
- Matt Greene is concussed (and Kevin Bieksa is an enormous doorknob). Alec Martinez returns to the lineup, which is a nice silver lining.
- A Frattin-Richards-Williams line might be debuting tonight, which intrigues me but doesn’t excite me that much because I’m still busy crying about Tyler Toffoli.
- Although still missing shooting percentage phenom Alex Steen, the Blues are also much healthier than they were the last time they played the Kings. In particular, I’m concerned about the bottom six match-up. Paajarvi-Berglund-Stewart is a pretty skilled third line, and they’ll cause some damage – particularly if the Kings are more focused on shenanigans than winning a hockey game.
- Prediction: 3-2, I guess? David Backes sucks.