Game Thread: Los Angeles Kings at Nashville Predators 12/28/13 | 8:00pm

[Cobiemonster]

vs.

at

Game Time: 8:00pm EST/5:00pm PST - FS-West​

KINGS (25-9-4) at PREDATORS (16-18-4)

TV: FS-W, FS-TN

Last 10: Los Angeles 8-2-0; Nashville 3-6-1

Season series: This is the final game, with the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators having split the first two, each winning on the road. David Legwand scored with 3:56 to go to give the Predators their win Nov. 2 in L.A.

Big story: Goaltender Martin Jones will look to bounce back from his first NHL loss, 5-2 to the Dallas Stars on Monday. Jones had won his first eight starts in place of Ben Scrivens, who was taking the place of injured Jonathan Quick.

Quick is traveling with the Kings on this four-game road trip and practiced Friday. General manager Dean Lombardi told ESPN that Quick is on schedule to return from his groin injury in the first week of January.

Since Quick last played Nov. 12, Los Angeles is 14-3-3 and has climbed from ninth place in the Western Conference to third.

Team Scope:

Kings: Captain Dustin Brown practiced Friday and is likely to return to the lineup after sitting out Monday with an illness he said caused him to lose 13 pounds in 24 hours.

"Today was tough, but I think today was tough for everyone, just because with three days off, it's hard coming off that," Brown told LA Kings Insider. "I'm hoping to just get a meal in. I'm going to force a meal down tonight, because I need to. Hopefully that'll give me energy, plus sleep. I've been sleeping pretty solid, too, just because I have no energy. I think the food's the most important thing tonight."

Coach Darryl Sutter joked while looking at the bright side.

"That's good if guys lose weight after Christmas. That's not a bad thing," he said.

Predators: Nashville also has spent a long time without its No. 1 goaltender, Pekka Rinne, who has been out since Oct. 22 due to an infection in his hip. The Predators have gone 11-13-3 without him.

Carter Hutton gave up four goals in a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Friday, and the Predators have allowed 21 goals during a five-game winless streak (0-4-1).

"We've got to score some timely goals. We've got to play good defense and we need everybody [to contribute]," coach Barry Trotz said, according to The Sports Xchange. "Our 5-on-5 and special teams are obviously going to have to be huge, but there isn't any room for error right now."

Who's hot: Jones is 8-1-0 with a 1.31 goals-against average and .953 save percentage. Forward Justin Williams has three points in the past two games. Defenseman Drew Doughty has five in the past seven. Forward Trevor Lewis had an assist Monday, his first point in 29 games. … Predators forward Craig Smith has four goals and an assist in the past four games. Defenseman Ryan Ellis has three assists in his past four games.

Injury report: Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell (upper body) is out but also joined the team on the trip. … The Predators have no injuries other than Rinne.

Los Angeles Kings at Nashville Predators - 12/28/2013

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

Let's start this Saturday picking up 2 more points, gotta keep pressure on the Ducks, who are trying to pull way for the with the Pacific division, Fucke'm

GO KINGS GO

 

[Cobiemonster]

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Let's start this Saturday picking up 2 more points, gotta keep pressure on the Ducks, who are trying to pull way for the with the Pacific division, Fucke'm

GO KINGS GO

The Ducks aren't a legitimate contender, I wouldn't worry about it.

They had that mini skid a few weeks back which allowed the Kings to catch up to them (1 point, correct?). It'll happen again and that's when LA will throttle them. Lots of good play, but a tremendous amount of puck luck too this season. Eventually that wears off.

Besides, I don't care if Anaheim wins the Pacific, they will be a one rounder and out again anyway.

 

[Cobiemonster]

Los Angeles Projected Lines

Dwight King – Anze Kopitar – Jeff Carter
Dustin Brown – Jarret Stoll – Justin Williams
Trevor Lewis – Mike Richards – Tyler Toffoli
Kyle Clifford – Jordan Nolan

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell – Slava Voynov
Matt Greene – Alec Martinez
Robyn Regehr

Ben Scrivens
Martin Jones

Nashville Projected Lines

Colin Wilson – Mike Fisher – Patric Hornqvist
Nick Spaling – David Legwand – Craig Smith
Gabriel Bourque – Matt Cullen – Viktor Stalberg
Eric Nystrom – Paul Gaustad – Matt Hendricks

Roman Josi – Shea Weber
Mattias Ekholm – Kevin Klein
Seth Jones – Ryan Ellis
Victor Bartley

Marek Mazenec
Carter Hutton

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

Dressing 7 defensemen? Kind of odd. Maybe Sutter isn't sure just how ready Willie Mitchell is. Or maybe a couple forwards are under the weather or a little banged up.

Ox

 

[Cobiemonster]

Go Kings Go!!!

 

[Cobiemonster]

Cliffy dropping the gloves!

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

Ah come on Kings

 

[Cobiemonster]

Hornqvist makes it 1-0 Preds - let's rebound Kings - Go Kings Go!!!

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Saw that coming, the blind pass across the ice leading to a turnover usually ends up in the net.

Regroup time, Kings have held a territorial advantage and need a goal.

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

Kings playing horrible in their own zone. Just a matter of time before Nashville netted one with all the turnovers. Lazy clearouts and horrible passing. Got some rust working after 3 days off I guess while the Predators knocked off their rust last night in Dallas.

Ox

 

[Cobiemonster]

Preds lead the Kings 1-0 after one period - Kings need to be better in the second period and get back in this game - Go Kings Go!!!

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

Is there a league stat on blocked shots for and against teams? I know they track blocked shots by players and it wouldn't be a stretch to be able to compute it. I swear the Kings get an inordinate amount of their shots blocked by defenders. Probably no more than most teams but it sure seems like they could very well be the league leader in getting shots blocked and/or deflected.

Ox

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Is there a league stat on blocked shots for and against teams? I know they track blocked shots by players and it wouldn't be a stretch to be able to compute it. I swear the Kings get an inordinate amount of their shots blocked by defenders. Probably no more than most teams but it sure seems like they could very well be the league leader in getting shots blocked and/or deflected.

Ox

Sure seems that way, doesn't it?

This is the opposite of what you're asking but NHL.com has Montreal ranked 1st and surprise surprise, the Kings are ranked 29th. That necessarily isn't a bad thing though, the Kings are the 5th best team defensively in SA so that tells me the Kings don't block a lot of shots because they don't give up a lot of shots.

In regards to this game, the Predators rank 11th in Blocked Shots.

 

[Cobiemonster]

Kings need to kill this penalty here

 

[Cobiemonster]

Kings getting a power play - let's tie this up - Go Kings Go!!!

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

Got it killed now they have to get their power play straightened out and tie this thing up.

Ox

 

[Cobiemonster]

Kopiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Tie game!!! Go Kings Go!!!

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

Kings getting themselves in penalty trouble. Cannot keep giving teams power plays. Even offensively challenged teams like Nashville.

Ox