Arizona Coyotes @ Los Angeles Kings (Staples Center)
Time: 7:30 PM
TV: Fox Sports West
Enemy Reading: Five for Howling
Game Lineups:
Arizona Coyotes
Rieder–Arcobello–Doan
Korpikoski–Chipchura–Cunningham
Erat–Gagner–Moss
McGinn–Vitale–Crombeen
Ekman-Larsson–Stone
Dahlbeck–Moore
Gormley–Murphy
Smith
(Domingue)
Injured: Boedker, Hanzal; Scratched: Campbell
Los Angeles Kings
Gaborik–Kopitar–Brown
Lewis–Carter –Toffoli
King–Shore–Williams
Clifford–Andreoff–Nolan
Regehr–Doughty
Muzzin–Greene
McNabb–Sekera
Quick
(Jones)
Injured: Stoll, Martinez, Pearson; Scratched: McBain; Suspended: Voynov
Game Notes:
- Huh, weird, last year’s 69th game was against the Coyotes as well. I assume this is meaningless.
- By the way, last year, Jake Muzzin was benched for this 69th game partially because he… (drumroll)… redirected the game-winning goal into his own net in the previous contest! This time, Darryl Sutter has wisely chosen NOT to bench Muzzin… although that might be different if Alec Martinez was healthy.
- Sutter’s also made some changes to the lines, though he’s sticking with a sensible fourth line of Clifford-Andreoff-Nolan. Sensible because it allows Nick Shore to play on a line with some offensive potential.
- He’s outlined his intent to keep Kopitar-Gaborik and Carter-Toffoli together, by the way. That is GOOD. The quote, via LA Kings Insider:
We’ve got guys who haven’t scored in 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 games, whatever it is, and some of them have had zero scoring opportunities for the last five as individuals. So, you know what? We’ll leave Jeff and Tyler together and leave Kopi and Gabby together and let everybody else see where they can play.
- I love that he mentioned all six numbers in the 10 to 15 range instead of just saying “10 to 15.”
- Arizona is, of course, exceedingly beatable. The Coyotes are 1-8-1 in their last ten games and are 13th in the West, two points ahead of Edmonton. Their goal differential is 98 goals worse than LA’s. And considering a bad stretch run could give them a 1 in 3 chance at Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel, who knows how motivated they are.
- Mike Smith has a .898 save percentage this year. And that’s AFTER a recent three-game stretch in which he stopped 107 of 112 shots. Considering it’s either him or some dude named Louis Domingue, though…
- (Domingue has a .929 save percentage in four games this season.)
- PREDICTION: Two points, and nothing less.