Preview, Game Day #50: Los Angeles Kings @ Arizona Coyotes
If you're still excited for these friggin' Coyotes games please give me the number of your dealer.
Los Angeles Kings @ Arizona Coyotes
Time: 6:00 Pacific
TV: Fox Sports West, Fox Sports Arizona
Enemy Reading: Five for Howling
Los Angeles Kings
Lucic-Kopitar-Gaborik
Pearson-Carter-Toffoli
Brown-Lecavalier-Lewis
King-Shore-Nolan
Doughty-McNabb
Martinez-Muzzin
Ehrhoff-Schenn
Quick
(Enroth)
Scratched: Andreoff, McBain Injured: Clifford
Arizona Coyotes
Rieder-Hanzal-Duclair
Domi-Vermette-Boedker
Martinook-Richardson-Doan
Chipchura-Gordon-Tikhonov
Ekman-Larsson-Murphy
Grossman-Stone
Dahlbeck-Michalek
Domingue
(Lindback)
Injured: Smith, Vitale
Stats & Such
(Fancy stats courtesy War on Ice)
| Team | Kings | Coyotes |
| Record | 30-16-3 | 24-20-5 |
| Points | 63 | 53 |
| Division Rank | 1st | 3rd |
| Streak | Lost 1 | Lost 1 |
| Goals For/Game | 2.63 | 2.67 |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.31 | 2.98 |
| ES Goal % | 50.7 | 49.4 |
| ES Shot % | 54.2 | 46.3 |
| ES PDO | 99.1 | 101.0 |
| ES Corsi % | 56.2 | 47.2 |
| ES Fenwick % | 55.7 | 46.4 |
| ES Scoring Chance % | 55.0 | 47.7 |
| ES High-Danger SC % | 53.4 | 49.8 |
| Power Play % (Rank) | 20.4 (7th) | 17.8 (17th) |
| Penalty Kill % (Rank) | 82.3 (11th) | 76.6 (28th) |
| Starting Goalie (today) | Quick | Domingue |
| Goalie Record | 26-13-2 | 9-5-3 |
| Save % | .919 | .924 |
| ES Save % | .927 | .946 |
Notes:
- Hey, the NHL is back from the All Star Break! If, during the time off, you've forgotten things like "is the Pacific Division still a tire fire" or "what is a puck" or "can I eat the puck" I can help you out with at least one of those questions: check out my latest Pacific Snapshot that went up yesterday!
- Because our god is a hateful god, we get to celebrate the resumption of the NHL schedule with yet another Coyotes game. Everything is darkness and void. If you've mercifully missed the rest of these games, it began with a 4-1 loss in LA on October 9th, a 3-2 loss in LA on November 10th, a 4-3 OT win in Arizona on December 26th, and finally another 3-2 loss in Arizona on January 23rd. Why we have to play these bastards again so soon is beyond me, but yes, that's a 1-3-0 record the Kings have against this quite bad (and quite lucky) team so far this season. The only good news is that after tonight's probable loss, the Kings are at least done with the Desert Dogs for the rest of the year. And thank god for that.
- The Coyotes are getting some otherworldly goaltending from Louis Domingue, as the 23-year-old child was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for January. He's stepped in more than capably for the injured Mike Smith, as you can see from his .924 sv% (an amazing .946 at even strength). You'd think he's due for some regression here, but I thought the same thing before the game a little over a week ago and he stopped 26 of 28 shots. He also pulled his own mask off and let the Kings score on him, so I guess we could see more of that too. Hopefully we do.
- The Kings look to be going back to basics a bit in the forward lines coming out of the All Star Break. We're trying Kopitar with Gaborik & Lucic for the first time in a while as the top line, and we've also put back together the goofy nickname 2nd line to the delight of annoying twitter accounts everywhere. Basically I don't have much to complain about here. Once Clifford is healthy (and it sounds like he's getting real close to returning) I'd like to see him take Nolan's place, but other than that this is pretty damn great. As for the defense pairings, we really have no clue there because Doughty wasn't at the practice yesterday, so basically I'm just guessing.
- PREDICTION: Coyotes 3, Kings 0. That's not a score, that's a number of times the two teams relocate during the game. Coyotes go to Vegas, then to Hamilton, then finally back to Arizona.
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