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Preview, Game Day #15: Arizona Coyotes @ Los Angeles Kings

Arizona Coyotes @ Los Angeles Kings

Time: 7:30 Pacific

TV: Fox Sports West, Fox Sports Arizona

Enemy Reading: Five For Howling

Los Angeles Kings

Pearson-Kopitar-Brown
Lucic-Carter-Toffoli
Gaborik-Andreoff-Lewis
Clifford-Shore-Nolan

McNabb-Doughty
Muzzin-Martinez
Forbort-McBain

Quick
(Enroth)

Scratched: Ehrhoff, Weal, Greene Injured: King

Arizona Coyotes
Rieder-Hanzal-Duclair
Domi-Jeffrey-Boedker
Martinook-Richardson-Doan
Chipchura-Gordon-Downie

Ekman-Larsson-Stone
Dahlbeck-Michalek
Elliott-Murphy

Smith
(Lindback)

Injured: Grossman, Vitale, Vermette (?)

Stats & Such
(Small sample size warning. Fancy stats courtesy War on Ice)

Team Coyotes Kings
Record 7-6-1 9-5-0
Points 15 18
Division Rank 3rd 1st
Streak Won 1 Won 1
Goals For/Game 2.79 2.50
Goals Against/Game 2.93 2.07
ES Goal % 49.0 48.6
ES Shot % 47.1 53.1
ES PDO 100.6 98.9
ES Corsi % 48.5 55.9
ES Fenwick % 46.6 55.2
ES Scoring Chance % 50.1 55.1
ES High-Danger SC % 50.9 52.5
Power Play % (Rank) 12.1 (29th) 20.0 (11th)
Penalty Kill % (Rank) 83.3 (10th) 84.9 (7th)
Starting Goalie (tonight) Smith Quick
Goalie Record 5-4-1 7-5-0
Save % .900 .917
ES Save % .911 .926

Notes:

  • Hi folks. Quicker preview than usual today, because: A) my job was a madhouse all morning & B) then I got further sidetracked by idiots on the internet (of which there are many). So let’s get moving!
  • The Kings are coming off a destruction of the Florida Panthers on Saturday, and that unfortunately means we continue on with a sub-optimal use of our players. Ehrhoff and his +4.34 Corsi rel at evens has no business being on the bench, but them’s the breaks I guess. Also, Gaborik and Andreoff. That continues to be a thing. Yeah.
  • Meanwhile, the Coyotes are playing a back-to-back, after they beat the Ducks last night in overtime. Anders Lindback has been great for the Yotes of late, stopping 33 of 36 to help them win (he has a .928 sv% on the year so far). Luckily for the Kings, it looks like they’ll be facing Mike Smith, who, uh, hasn’t been so great. As I discussed yesterday, he has an .853 sv% at even strength since October 20th, which is, uh…..awful? Tremendously bad? Stupendously, amazingly poor? All of those things. Hopefully he keeps that up against the Kings instead of what he did back on October 9th, when he stopped 40 of 41 shots and basically beat LA single-handily.
  • (that’s what you were missing, sharks fans. mike smith. go trade for him)
  • It looks like Antoine Vermette might play tonight; he’s been out for six of the past seven games with a lower-body injury, but skated today and is being called a game-time decision.
  • On a similar note, I’ve moved Matt Greene from “injured” to “scratched” because it doesn’t actually sound like he’s unable to play at this point, just from what I’ve read. I could be wrong though. Can you imagine, someone being wrong online?
  • No Mega Man villain feature today. We’ll get the Coyotes next time around. I know, I’m sorry, please stop your panicked tears, it will be okay.
  • PREDICTION: Kings win 8-0. Mike Smith quits hockey halfway through the 2nd period. His sniper is never found.

Talking Points