The Kings exploded with 4 goals in the 3rd period on their way to a big 5-1 victory over Nashville.
Lost in Jeff Carter’s 3 goal performance were some other more subtle, yet very strong efforts. Namely, Jonathan Bernier posting yet another strong game and the Kings depth forwards providing a much needed boost.
Game Grades
Forward Lines
- 1st line (Brown-Kopitar-Williams), Grade: C. Hard-matched against Hornqvist-Fisher-Wilson. Even though they managed to tilt the ice slightly in their favor, they gave up a ton of quality attempts and generated next to none.
- 2nd Line (Penner-Richards-Carter), Grade: C. It looks like Sutter may have been attempting to exploit a matchup here as the unit spent most of their time against the Gaustad line (also substantial time against the Spaling line). Even in spite of their soft matchups they had a hard time generating very much sustained pressure. Jeff Carter was sensational individually, but as a unit the line was played to a draw. In fact, only 1 of Carter’s three goals came while the 3 were on ice at even strength and that one was Carter’s unassisted goal which he created himself with a neutral zone turnover. Richards was -2 in shot differential and even in chances.
- 3rd Line (Lewis-Stoll-King), Grade: B+. Saw most of their time against the Gaustad and Fisher lines and won the possession battle. They played primarily dump and chase, but when they did gain the zone aggressively they were dominant. They created 7 shots on 5 controlled entries and 4 shots on 10 uncontrolled entries.
- 4th Line (Clifford-Fraser-Nolan), Grade: A. This was the Kings’ best line of the night. They drew a very difficult assignment, matched primarily against the Legwand and Spaling lines. They ended up above water in both possession and scoring chances– Fraser +3 in both attempts and chances. The Kings recorded more chances when Fraser was on the ice than any other forward.
Defensive Pairings
- Muzzin-Doughty, Grade: A. Finished +17(!) in shot attempt differential while matched mainly against the Fisher and Gaustad lines. The Kings managed 5 chances with Doughty on the ice and only gave up 2 in 18:50 of even strength ice time.
- Scuderi-Voynov, Grade: C. They were tasked with stopping the Legwand line and were played to a draw. They gave up a ton of attempts and chances but the Kings were able to generate about just as many. They were a bit sloppy in their breakouts and gave the puck away 6 times.
- Martinez-Ellerby, Grade C. Saw time exclusively against the Predators bottom 6 and failed stay ahead in possession or chances. They allowed more scoring chances than any other defensive pair in spite of logging the fewest minutes and facing the easiest competition.
Power Play
- Grade: B. 2 shots, 1 scoring chance in 3:31 of power play time. They also allowed a scoring chance for Nashvill so they ended even in scoring chances +/- on the PP. Both Kings shots resulted in goals, though, thanks to Pekke Rinne’s awful night. Interestingly, Jake Muzzin lead all Kings in power play time.
Penalty Kill
- Grade: B. In 3:30 of PK time they allowed 2 shots on goal– both of which were scoring chances. Rob Scuderi and Slava Voynov got nearly all of the PK time among defensemen.
Goaltending
- Grade: A. The Predators only managed 19 shots on goal but 10 of those were recorded as scoring chances. Of these 10, Jonathan Bernier stopped 9 of them. His performance was good enough such that he’ll get the start against the Blues tonight.
Overall Team Grade: B.
- The Kings only managed 16 shots on goal yet scored 5 times. This should tell you that this performance was helped along by some awful goaltending.
- The Kings allowed 16 scoring chances which is the most they’ve allowed in a game this season. They lost the overall chance battle 12-16. The main culprit for this disparity was the Kings 3rd defensive pair.
- In spite of allowing more quality opportunities, they Kings were dominant in possession. They out-gained the offensive zone 68-50 and won the attempt battle 44-31.
Numbers
If you’re unfamiliar with shot attempts and scoring chances, check out these links to see why they are important: Corsi – Scoring Chances.
*numbers in parenthesis are scoring chances in all situations.
For Predators attempt and chance data: click here.
How Would you grade the Kings effort against the Predators?
| A | 7 |
| B | 20 |
| C | 9 |
| D | 0 |
| F | 1 |