Los Angeles Kings v Nashville Predators (Bridgestone Arena)
Time: 5:00 PM
TV: Fox Sports West
Enemy reading: On the Forecheck; read their game preview here.
Predators (projected) lineup:
Wilson-Fisher-Hornqvist
Bourque-Cullen-Smith
Stalberg-Legwand-Forsberg
Nystrom-Gaustad-Hendricks
Jones-Weber
Ekholm-Klein
Bartley-Ellis
Rinne
Injured: Roman Josi; Scratched: Nick Spaling, Rich Clune
Kings (projected) lineup:
Brown-Kopitar-Williams
Carcillo-Richards-Carter
King-Stoll-Frattin
Clifford-Lewis-Nolan
Regehr-Doughty
Mitchell-Voynov
Martinez-Greene
Quick
Injured: None; Scratched: Jake Muzzin, Keaton Ellerby, Colin Fraser
Game notes:
- You might be saying: “Hey Eric, you don’t write the previews, you write the recaps. What gives?” To which I say: shut up, I’m trying to write a preview.
- Because these posts are usually written by our Canadian correspondent, I’d like to take this opportunity to post a picture of young Nashville defenseman Seth Jones singing our national anthem with a gold medal around his neck. USA! USA! USA!
- Jones is off to a good start in his first year in the NHL; he’s already playing 23 minutes a game (that’s top-40 in the entire league), skating with Shea Weber, and scoring goals like this power play blast. He’s had his rough games (see: last week against Toronto), but overall, not bad for the 2013 4th overall pick.
- Speaking of Toronto, LA’s former “Nashville goalie” Jonathan Bernier shut out the Predators in that game. His career save percentage against Nashville is .941. Jonathan Quick ‘s is .883. No better time than now to turn that around.
- As for Nashville’s scoring: it’s the usual story, lots of skaters chipping in. Patric Hornqvist and Mike Fisher are the threats on the top line, but Craig Smith has been playing well and is one to watch.
- Our buddy Rich Clune will not be available for the Preds tonight, as his grandfather has recently passed away. Best wishes to him.
- Barry Trotz likes the Corsi and values fourth-line center Paul Gaustad. Our fourth-line center will be Trevor Lewis, who was demoted in favor of Jarret Stoll. Colin Fraser remains on the bench, as does Jake Muzzin and Keaton Ellerby, because Alec Martinez hasn’t been as awful as a few of our other d-men.
- Last year, Nashville mustered 28 shots in Quick’s two starts against Los Angeles. They won both games. This edition of “Hockey sucks sometimes” was brought to you by RANDOM STUPID LUCK.
- Slava Voynov played a season-high 25:47 on Tuesday, and after plenty of shots, picked up his first goal. Dean Lombardi discussed his current growing pains with Lisa Dillman of the LA Times.
- The top line and top pairing both got deserved F’s on Tuesday; I’m willing to bet that’s a first since we started doing grades. Even if you think those grades are harsh, our stars have to play better if the Kings want to win.
- This is the first of eight consecutive games against the West for Los Angeles. Kings Insider Jon Rosen and Grantland’s Sean McIndoe (AKA Down Goes Brown) explain why that’s really too bad.
- The Kings are underachieving heavily, if you measure by PDO (which takes into account the Kings’ awful shot percentage and below-average save percentage). Why does this always seem to happen to LA? Bad luck, or something more? We’ll look into that in the coming days.
- Prediction: Nashville gets 14 shots again… but it doesn’t work out. LA wins 2-0.
