Since we last saw the Anaheim Ducks…
IN: Bruce “BBQ Sauce” Boudreau took over as head coach, after being fired by the Washington Capitals.
OUT: Randy “Resented more than Ryan” Carlyle, whom everyone hates even though he got a Cup.
Here’s a free preview of the articles that will be written tomorrow: if Bruce Boudreau gets his first win with the Ducks, he’s turned the team around and inspired them all in a fresh start. If Terry Murray gets his 500th career win, he is terrific and all critiques of his approach are stupid.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s take a look at how the Kings dealt with the loss of Mike Richards.
*Kopitar’s line matched up against the top line most often (Plekanec and Kostitsyn), and neutralized them for the most part.
*Stoll’s line took on the second line (Desharnais and Cammalleri). The Habs’ second line generated a lot of shots, though Stoll won more than 75% of his draws.
*Andrei Loktionov had the usual grab bag of third line minutes, seeing a little time against everyone.
*The Johnson-Voynov pairing saw a lot of shots against, as any pairing with Johnson does.
What does this all mean? It seems Kopitar will be doing the heavy lifting against the top lines once again, while also expected to lead the charge on the scoresheet. On the other hand, we all know he’s used to it.