Los Angeles Kings v San Jose Sharks (HP Pavilion)
Time: 5.00 PM
TV: TSN, NBC Sports Network
Enemy reading: Fear the Fin
Previous series coverage: Preview | Game 1 coverage | Game 2 recap | Game 3 recap | Game 4 coverage | Game 5 recap
Sharks (projected) lineup:
Marleau-Couture-Pavelski
Galiardi-Thornton-Burns
Sheppard-Gomez-Wingels
Kearns-Desjardins-Burish
Vlasic-Braun
Irwin-Boyle
Hannan-Stuart
Niemi
Injured: Burish; Scratched: Kennedy?, Demers, Havlat, Hamilton, Oleksuk, Pelech, Stalberg, Acolatse, Demelo, Petrecki, Tennyson
Kings (projected) lineup:
Clifford-Kopitar-Williams
Penner-Richards-Carter
Brown-Lewis-King
Richardson-Fraser-Toffoli
Regehr-Doughty
Scuderi-Voynov
Muzzin-Greene
Quick
Injured: Mitchell, Stoll (THANKS, RAFFI); Scratched: Martinez, Ellerby, Nolan, the Manchester Monarchs
Game notes:
- The Sharks will be able to get whatever matchups they want tonight, which is usually Thorton vs. the smaller Richards. The difference in game 5? The Sharks got the matchup they wanted, but Penner-Richards-Carter came out ahead in shots and chances. Penner’s size and physicality were once again a welcome addition to that line.The Kings will need him to be a marauding bear on the forecheck again tonight. I think he can do it.
- The Kings didn’t #FreeAlecMartinez but they did activate their defense, which gave them more of that element they’d been missing. Even Regehr was pinching. I needed to be pinched. More of that, please.
- With their season on the brink, it sounds like the Sharks are set to rush Adam Burish back to the lineup. Burish broke his hand in the final game against Vancouver, and was expected to miss this series. Now McLellan wants him to be a “disturber.” Translation: Burish sucks at getting the puck out of his zone, but he does hit a lot. I wonder if Sutter will go with a more physical fourth line to counter.
- Either way, let’s have Matt Greene keep Burish disturbed. He can flatten him once, and then back up the steamroller and do it again. Man, I missed watching that.
- The Kings dealt with the loss of their top two PK defensemen all year; when faceoff/PK specialist Jarret Stoll also went down, the job got tougher. Kopitar has shouldered a heavier burden of d-zone faceoffs in his absence, and was magnificent last game. Another A effort from the PK tonight could go a long way to ending the Sharks’ season. Let’s do this.
- “You don’t get nothing for three.” –Darryl Sutter, Jonathan Quick, and all the Kings who have absorbed the Sutterisms so well you can’t tell who’s being quoted anymore. It’s true, though. Right? Two strong, desperate teams make for the best hockey.
- Prediction: Kings win, and TJ Galiardi can’t mumble a quote because he’s flatter than snake roadkill. Go Kings.