Los Angeles Kings vs. Colorado Avalanche (Staples Center)
Time: 7:00 Pacific
TV: Fox Sports West
Enemy Reading: Mile High Hockey
Gaborik-Kopitar-Brown
Lucic-Carter-Toffoli
Pearson-Shore-Lewis
Clifford-Andreoff-Nolan
McNabb-Doughty
Muzzin-Martinez
Forbort-Ehrhoff
Quick
(Enroth)
Scratched: Weal, Injured: King, Greene
Rantanen-Duchene-Iginla
Landeskog-MacKinnon-Tanguay
Comeau-Soderberg-Mitchell
McLeod-Grigorenko-Skille
Beauchemin-Johnson
Zadorov-Guenin
Holden-???
Berra
(Varlamov)
Scratched: Rendulic, Gormley, Stuart; Suspended: Barrie; Injured: Winchester
Notes:
- It has come to my attention that I barely mentioned Derek Forbort in Friday night’s recap. I would like to go on the record as saying: he looked good! Playing with Christian Ehrhoff, he didn’t get too many difficult assignments, but his ice time actually increased as the game went on, and he had two shifts in the final five minutes.
- To those of you saying “Everyone’s ice time increases over the course of the game, that’s the way it works”: You know what I meant, smartasses.
- Jonathan Quick was quite good against the Wild as well, as he continues to bounce back from a brutal opening pair of games. His career record against Colorado: 12-4-1.
- From the last preview:
The Kings are rolling out the exact same lines that laid an egg against Vancouver; another disastrous showing is going to raise a lot of questions.
Thankfully, LA found their groove and excelled in a win over Minnesota. Same lines again tonight.
- Colorado’s first line left wing is Mikko Rantanen, this year’s #10 pick and one of five 2015 draftees to make the immediate jump to the NHL. (We wrote about Rantanen here.) The others: McDavid, Eichel, #5 Noah Hanifin, and #46 Daniel Sprong, all of whom already have NHL points. Rantanen does not. No milestones tonight, please!
- Three more scoreless Kings picked up points in the win over the Wild, meaning that we now have EIGHT Kings with points this season! Notably scoreless: Marian Gaborik, every defenseman not named Drew Doughty, Trevor Lewis.
- Gaborik’s career numbers against the Avalanche: 45 games, 21 goals, 16 assists. Brown and Kopitar were both terrific on Friday night, so maybe they can rub off on Gaborik.
- We were mean to Jarome Iginla during the preseason.
- PREDICTION: A defenseman scores a goal and the Kings don’t get in penalty trouble. Because I’m a dreamer.