Preview, Game Day #27: Los Angeles Kings @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Time to hit the road, friends. Enjoy these next few weeks of games you can't watch unless you're unemployed!
Los Angeles Kings @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Time: 4:00 Pacific
TV: Fox Sports West, Fox Sports Ohio
Enemy Reading: The Cannon
Los Angeles Kings
Pearson-Kopitar-Gaborik
Lucic-Carter-Toffoli
Andreoff-Shore-Brown
Clifford-Weal-Nolan
McNabb-Doughty
Muzzin-Martinez
Ehrhoff-McBain
Quick
(Enroth)
Scratched: Forbort Injured: King, Lewis, Greene
Columbus Blue Jackets
Johansen-Dubinsky-Atkinson
Hartnell-Wennberg-Foligno
Jenner-Karlsson-Calvert
Campbell-Chaput-Saad
Johnson-Savard
Murray-Bodnarchuk
Tyutin-Prout
Bobrovsky
(McElhinney)
Stats & Such
(Fancy stats courtesy War on Ice)
| Team | Kings | Blue Jackets |
| Record | 17-8-1 | 11-16-1 |
| Points | 35 | 23 |
| Division Rank | 1st | 8th |
| Streak | Won 4 | Won 1 |
| Goals For/Game | 2.62 | 2.36 |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.12 | 2.89 |
| ES Goal % | 50.0 | 45.7 |
| ES Shot % | 55.1 | 49.2 |
| ES PDO | 98.7 | 99.0 |
| ES Corsi % | 57.3 | 47.9 |
| ES Fenwick % | 56.6 | 48.4 |
| ES Scoring Chance % | 55.8 | 50.7 |
| ES High-Danger SC % | 54.3 | 54.2 |
| Power Play % (Rank) | 18.8 (14th) | 17.4 (21st) |
| Penalty Kill % (Rank) | 84.8 (5th) | 81.6 (11th) |
| Starting Goalie (tonight) | Quick | Bobrovsky |
| Goalie Record | 14-7-1 | 11-12-1 |
| Save % | .917 | .913 |
| ES Save % | .924 | .918 |
Notes:
- The home-heavy portion of the Kings schedule has officially come to an end. The Kings have 11 games left to play before the calendar turns over into 2016, but just 1 of those games will be at home (a date with the Sharks on Tuesday 12/22). It's split up between a 6-game Eastern road trip leading into that game, followed by a 4-game swing through the Pacific afterwards. And it begins tonight in Columbus.
- This is the second of two meetings between these two clubs, with the Kings looking for vengeance after dropping a home game to them by a 3-2 final on November 5th (despite outshooting them 33-25). Gregory Campbell scored a goal in that game which turned out to be the game-winner, which is honestly really embarrassing.
- The Kings are of course riding high after a perfect 4-0-0 homestand. It looks like they'll have the same lineup again tonight, which isn't surprising. Trevor Lewis, who originally was supposed to be on this road trip, apparently isn't.
- The Jackets are in the midst of a relatively good stretch; since starting the season 0-8-0 (including 0-7 under former coach Todd Richards, leading to his replacement by John Tortorella), they've put up a much better 11-8-1 record. Without that black hole of suck to start the season, they would be competing for a playoff spot rather easily. The biggest difference in the Jackets' record is undoubtedly goaltending; in those first eight losses they received a league-worst even strength SV% of just .861, but in the 20 games since their EV SV% has been .941 (5th best in the league in that span). That's....a pretty big improvement! For anyone who thinks Torts deserves a ton of credit for turning this team around, their even strength Corsi in the 21 games he's coached is 46.5% (5th worst in the league). In 7 games under Richards, that Corsi % was 52.4%. So, uh, yeah. No.
- Once again we're dealing with a team that we've already covered in Mega Man terms, so if you're looking to find out which Mega Man villain are you, Blue Jackets then click on through to the preview of the last game.
- PREDICTION: Kings win 3-2 in overtime after Ryan Johansen is traded to Los Angeles 3 minutes in, immediately scoring the OT game-winner for his new team.
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