Preview, Game Day #36: Los Angeles Kings @ Edmonton Oilers
On one hand it's a road back-to-back. On the other it's the Oilers. So uh. Who knows?
Los Angeles Kings @ Edmonton Oilers
Time: 6:00 Pacific
TV: Fox Sports West, Sportsnet Oilers
Enemy Reading: Copper and Blue
Los Angeles Kings
Lucic-Kopitar-Toffoli
Pearson-Shore-Gaborik
Lewis-Andreoff-Brown
Mersch-Weal-Nolan
McNabb-Doughty
Muzzin-Martinez
Forbort-McBain
Enroth
(Quick)
Scratched: Ehrhoff Injured: Carter, Clifford, King, Lewis, Greene
Edmonton Oilers
Hall-Draisaitl-Purcell
Pouliot-Nugent Hopkins-Eberle
Hendricks-Letestu-Korpikoski
Gazdic-Lander-Pakarinen
Nurse-Sekera
Schultz-Fayne
Hunt-Gryba
Talbot
(Nilsson)
Scratched: Nikitin Injured: McDavid, Davidson, Ference, Klinkhammer, Klefbom
Stats & Such
(Fancy stats courtesy War on Ice)
| Team | Kings | Oilers |
| Record | 22-11-2 | 15-19-3 |
| Points | 46 | 33 |
| Division Rank | 1st | 6th |
| Streak | Won 2 | Lost 1 |
| Goals For/Game | 2.66 | 2.57 |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.26 | 3.05 |
| ES Goal % | 51.5 | 44.1 |
| ES Shot % | 54.1 | 48.1 |
| ES PDO | 99.3 | 98.7 |
| ES Corsi % | 56.5 | 48.4 |
| ES Fenwick % | 56.0 | 47.8 |
| ES Scoring Chance % | 55.9 | 48.4 |
| ES High-Danger SC % | 53.4 | 45.9 |
| Power Play % (Rank) | 18.4 (17th) | 17.0 (24th) |
| Penalty Kill % (Rank) | 82.7 (7th) | 80.3 (18th) |
| Starting Goalie (tonight) | Enroth | Talbot |
| Goalie Record | 3-2-1 | 5-9-2 |
| Save % | .939 | .904 |
| ES Save % | .944 | .905 |
Notes:
- So last night went pretty well, huh? The Kings beat the ever-loving crap out of the Canucks, to the tune of a 5-0 win. Predictably their coach was talking about moral victories afterwards, because apparently that's just what the Canucks do. I like actual victories better, personally, but you take what you can get when you're the 2015-16 Vancouver Canucks, I guess.
- The Kings did not hold a morning skate today, instead just holding a bunch of meetings in their hotel rooms where I assume they braided each other's hair and had sexy pillow fights. I want footage of this immediately. Anyway, this means I basically have no clue about the lineups. Is Jeff Carter back in tonight? Who knows! Will Jhonas Enroth actually start this second half of a back-to-back? I'm not sure! Is Christian Ehrhoff going to attempt to throw down a rope ladder from the press box and use it to escape? It's very possible!
- Meanwhile, in Edmonton, the Oilers are......and grab onto something here I won't be held liable if you faint......pretty bad. I know, shocking. To be fair to them, most of their advanced stats say they're very slightly better than they were last year (their even strength Corsi is up three whole tenths of a percent wow!!!!) but uh, slightly better crap is still crap, last I checked. If you're going to have to play a team on the second night of a back-to-back, may as well make it a garbage one.
- According to the Oilers' Twitter, Cam Talbot gets the start in net tonight (he's been trash this year so he fits in here) and Nikita Nikitin doesn't play on the blue line, replaced by something called a Hunt. That's it, they just keep calling him Hunt, they never actually use his first name. I could look it up of course but I'm just gonna pretend that's his whole name. He's like Cher, except he very occasionally plays defense for a bad hockey team instead of whatever it is Cher does in 2015.
- I have literally nothing else to say about this game. What do you want from me, I'm tired and it's the friggin' Oilers. They suck and the Kings will I guess win? Or lose on a back-to-back and everyone will freak out, because again, the friggin' Oilers? I dunno. Who cares.
- PREDICTION: Eventually I leave work and go home and my bed is really comfy and I fall asleep immediately and when I wake up this game is over and the Kings probably have won in OT or something, 3-2 why not./
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