Looking at the LA Kings

by Casey Richey on Oct 15, 2009 1:15 PM CDT in Game Preview

Key wins: 6-4 over San Jose, 2-1 over St. Louis

The Kings come into the game at Joe Louis Arena as one of the biggest surprises of the young season. But maybe we shouldn't be all that surprised after all. They've been building a solid, young team over the past few years and are on the cusp of returning to the playoffs. After opening the season with a loss to the Coyotes, the Kings ripped off four straight wins before running into a hot New York Rangers team that beat LA backup goalie Erik Ersberg. This team has been very impressive thus far and the game should be very interesting to watch.

Category	Stat	NHL Rank	Leading…	Stat	Player
Goals per game	3.50	T-8th	Scorer (Points)	10 (4 G, 6 A)	Anze Kopitar
Goals Against per game	3.17	T-20th	+/-	+5	David Drewiske
Power-play	28.6%	6th	Hits	24	Dustin Brown
Penalty kill	59.1%	29th	PIM	12	Raitis Ivanans
Shots per game	28.3	23rd	Shots	24	Dustin Brown
Shots against per game	28.0	6th	Blocked Shots	18	Matt Greene
Faceoff percentage	43.0%	30th	Faceoffs	43.80%	Michal Handzus
PIM per game	11.30	10th	Wins	4	Jonathan Quick
PP drawn	28.0	8th	GAA	3.00	Jonathan Quick

*Stats and rankings as of 10/15/2009

Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth, and Justin Williams have become a great first line unit and are a true offensive threat. The offense doesn't end there as the Kings have guys like Dustin Brown, Alex Frolov, Jarrett Stoll and Michal Handzus on the other lines. Add in a great scoring defense with Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson and the Kings are a tough, tough matchup for the Red Wings.

Jonathan Quick is starting to show that he is indeed capable of being the starting goalie for the Kings. Detroit could have trouble offensively with Quick in net, Rob Scuderi (familiar to Detroit from the Stanley Cup saves he made), Johnson, and forwards that are ready to help out defensively. The Wings should look to take advantage of the faceoff and penalty kill woes for the Kings while trying to stay out of the box against a good power-play unit.

Players to watch on offense: Anze Kopitar, Jarrett Stoll, Dustin Brown

Players to watch on defense: Jack Johnson, Rob Scuderi.

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Comments

I'm living in LA now

and actually have season tickets to the Kings (been to all their home games this year). I’m still a die hard Red Wings fan, and never miss a game on TV (Vs, Center Ice, NHL Net…) and wear my Wings Jersey when they are in town. Still I cheer the kings on for the other 78 games a year.

This is gonna be a tough matchup. Thankfully the Kings played last night, so they’ll be a bit more worn down. Unfortunatley they used their backup against the Rangers and saved Quick for us…i’m guessing because they think getting points in the West is more important…not because they respect the Wings over the Rangers this year (sadly…)

They key really might be in the faceoff circle, as the Kings just had their first game in the +50% column in that category. Its been a huge struggle for them. The PK #’s are a bit skewed. They let in like 7 of of the first 8, but are back on track now with 10 straight kills leading up to last nights game.

I’m looking for the Red Wings to come out angry after being embarrassed and go up at least 2 goals early to get the Kings players out of it. If we go behind, i’m not terribly concerned as the Kings have been losing leads pretty hardcore in the first few games, tho they held on tough against Stl and the Isles.

Lets go Wings!

by OriginalRecipeIzzy on Oct 15, 2009 2:16 PM CDT reply actions