Time: 10:30pm ET
Place: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
TV: FSD, ESPN+
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket, 1270 AM
Kings Blog: Jewels from the Crown
Well lookie here what we found out West, a hockey team with some bite and skill. After a long losing streak that saw Detroit lose to some of the same teams they will likely be “competing” with for ping pong balls at the end of the season, the Wings decided to just beat the Atlantic Division Boston Bruins followed by two teams in the thick of the early races out West in the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks game was particularly impressive because the Red Wings went down very early in the second period 2-0 then found themselves down 3-2 with less than a minute to go when Dylan Larkin banked home a rebound off of Ryan Miller to send it to overtime where this happened:
That is the kind of fight and perseverance the Red Wings need to continue to show as they progress through this season and beyond. They will need some perseverance of a different kind tonight as they embark on another episode of “Who Will Get a Top 4 Pick” against the Los Angeles Kings.
The Kings have had a similar season to Detroit so far. A few fun games where they scored goals and won, a couple where they played ok but lost and a bunch where they just look, well, like a likely lottery team. Offensively they are lead by the recognizable names of Anze Kopitar (6G/12A), Jeff Carter (5G/2A), Dustin Brown (4G/6A) Drew Doughty (4G/6A) and Tyler Toffoli (4G/5A). If those numbers look bad, it is because they are. LA is tied with Detroit for 26th in the league with 46 goals and is almost as bad as Detroit in goals against (Detroit has 75, LA has 67). Of course that is with LA having played two less games than Detroit but silver linings must be found somewhere. LA also is facing the likely beginning of that long and dark walk down rebuild road.
This should be an interesting one tonight. LA still has some of those rough and tumble players that like to use their strength to muscle their opponent. As we saw the other night with Anaheim, that strategy does not always work against the Red Wings anymore. Here is hoping for more goals, more fun and the continued absence of Anthony Mantha fights.
