Los Angeles Kings v Philadelphia Flyers (Wells Fargo Center)
Time: 4:00 PM
TV: Fox Sports West
Enemy reading: Broad Street Hockey
Flyers (projected) lineup:
Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek
Lecavalier-B. Schenn-Simmonds
Read-Couturier-McGinn
Rinaldo-Raffl-Hall
Timonen-Coburn
Grossman(nnnnnn)-Streit
MacDonald-L. Schenn
Emery
Injured: Steve Downie; Scratched: Jay Rosehill, Hal Gill, Erik Gustafsson
Kings (projected) lineup:
Gaborik-Kopitar-Williams
Pearson-Toffoli-Carter
King-Stoll-Brown
Clifford-Richards-Lewis
Muzzin-Doughty
Regehr-Voynov
Mitchell-Martinez
Quick
Injured: n/a; Scratched: Matt Greene, Jordan Nolan
Game Notes:
- Some of the Flyers used to be Kings and some of the Kings used to be Flyers! I know, it’s almost incredible. Trades in hockey! Who would have ever known. If you’d like some look-back laughs, check out TSN’s article from the summer of 2011. For a current Philadelphia perspective (ie, some Philly beat reporter’s weird sad Jeff Carter/Mike Richards fan fiction), here you go.
- You may remember the last Kings-Flyers game, just prior to the Olympic break, as one of those games – ie, the Flyers get generally outplayed but won anyway, and we all were real sad about it. The Flyers’ last game was similar, as they beat the Blues 4-1 on Saturday despite posting a sparkling 40.4 FF% at evens.
- I thought Darryl Sutter said some interesting things after today’s morning skate. First of all, he is apparently not aware that 2014 Vinny Lecavalier and 2004 Vinny Lecavalier are different dudes. You always wonder if people, players, coaches, spend too much time dwelling on the past, over-correcting for the big losses they can’t let go of. Methinks Darryl Sutter needs to let go of 2004 and Vinny Lecavalier. (And my apologies for the highlight reel goal that Lecavalier will doubtless score tonight, now that I’ve said that.)
- Dustin Brown remains a game-time decision after hurting himself in the game against the Panthers. He didn’t arrive in Philly until after the rest of the team, staying behind for some testing, but the consensus seems to be that he will likely play tonight.
- The Kings didn’t hold line rushes this morning, so no word on whether the Mike Richards Fourth Line Project will continue apace tonight. I suspect it might not, but hard to argue that either Pearson or Toffoli should be demoted, when they’ve been performing so well every time they’re put in scoring roles. I think the Kings are finally playing the right guys, and the right guys are getting the extra minutes, so I’m not terribly inclined to quibble about which line is labelled which.
- I miss Brayden Schenn. I’m not ashamed of it. Shut up.
- Schenn and the Flyers are doing pretty well these days, winning five straight to land firmly in second place in the Metropolitan Division (this is also your reminder that the Metropolitan Division is garbage). Key to that ascendancy has been Claude Giroux’s second-half offensive explosion, as well as lots of good depth scoring.
- I would make a Steve Mason joke here but I don’t think there are any Steve Mason jokes left to be made. It’s Steve Mason. That’s the joke. Plus, Andrew MacDonald and Luke Schenn might be the worst defensive pairing the Kings have seen all season. Cripes, that’s ugly.
- ~Fun with Numbers~ from Extra Skater. See? I told you Lecavalier sucks.
- Prediction: Kings win 4-2, Jonathan Quick and Keshia Chante get into a twitter fight.