This was a rough game to sit through. For some context, the San Jose Sharks generated more scoring chances last night than both the Kings and Predators combined.
Adding to the frustration was the fact that the Kings dominated the action yet couldn’t translate that into a win. Credit Nashville’s defense with playing well in their zone, clogging lanes and blocking a ton of shots. Still, considering the Kings’ copious amount of zone time, they should should have been able to figure out a way to make Pekka Rinne’s job harder.
As a result of the Kings’ offensive struggles, it appears as though Sutter is letting the dog out. Dustin Penner is set to play tomorrow against his former team– the Anaheim Ducks.
Positives
- The Richards-Carter line had their best game of the season. Up to this point Richards had been great in his defensive zone coverage but often seemed indecisive in the attacking zone. Last night, Richards and Co. faced mainly Nashville’s top 6 and were dominant in creating chances, unfortunately for them they didn’t get any goals. If they can continue playing like this though, goals will come in bunches.
- Simon Gagne had a stellar game and saw a lot of time late playing up with the second line. When he was on ice the Preds only managed three shot attempts and 0 scoring chances.
- Rob Scuderi has now played two great games in a row. He lead Kings defensemen in scoring chance differential (+3) and didn’t allow a single scoring chance against. This was while facing the Preds top competition. In addition, he lead all Kings in SH time against and didn’t allow a scoring scoring chance there either.
- The Kings defense in general was very strong as they only allowed the Predators 3 scoring chances in regulation. In fact, the Preds got more scoring chances in the last 2 minutes of overtime than they did the entire first 63 minutes of the game combined.
- Colin Fraser outplayed the Preds 4th line. He was a +6 in shot attempts. Even though he didn’t generate very many chances, the Kings were able to keep the action in Nashville’s end.
- Slava Voynov was a close 2nd in even strength ice time just behind Doughty. He was matched exclusively against the top 6. This is a good sign that the Kings second pairing is earning more and more trust from Darryl Sutter, which will go a long way toward lightening the load off the Kings top pair.
Negatives
- The Kings top line had an awful game. They were unable to generate very many chances and were played to a draw in possession in spite of seeing most of their time against Nashville’s third line.
- Just like last game, if you look at the score and see that Jonathan Quick only allowed a single goal, you might think he played great. Unfortunately, this one should have been an easy shutout considering that Nashville only managed 14 shots on goal and 7 scoring chances. The sole Nashville goal came from outside the scoring chance area.
- Although the Kings did manage a goal on the power play, they only managed 3 scoring chances in 9:28 of power play time. The power play is still not clicking.
- Jarret Stoll had a subpar game. He merely treaded water in possession and couldn’t generate any chances while allowing 3. Some of this can be forgiven when you consider he spent most of the game in a shutdown role against Nashville’s top line.
For more on the game check out Niesy’s recap.
Numbers
If you’re unfamiliar with shot attempts and scoring chances check out these links to see why they are important: Corsi – Scoring Chances.
Tables are sortable.
Kings Lines – Predators Lines (note: I considered the Legwand line the 2nd line and the Spaling line the 3rd)
For in-game scoring chance and shot attempt updates: Follow @RobertJftC