Vancouver Canucks @ Los Angeles Kings - 10/29/09 - 7:30PM

johnjm22 · 10-29-2009, 10:23 AM

.

Los Angeles Kings
(8-4-1, 17 pts)

VS.

Vancouver Canucks
(6-6-0, 12 pts)

7:30PM (PST) @ Staples Center Los Angeles, CA

TV Broadcast: FS-W (Home), PPV (Away)
Radio Broadcast: KTLK 1150 AM, XM 205
Online Video Stream: ATDHE, YAHOO

GAME PREIVEW

Season series -- This is the first of four meetings between the teams. In their most recent showdown back on April 9, Roberto Luongo stopped all 20 shots he faced to lead Vancouver to a 1-0 victory at GM Place. Ryan Kesler scored the lone goal.

Last 10 -- Canucks 6-4-0; Kings 6-3-1.

Big Story -- Hockey in Southern California is back in a big way. While the Anaheim Ducks have been a force to be reckoned with in recent seasons, Los Angeles was in rebuilding mode. Those days seem to be over, however, as the Kings added pieces such as Ryan Smyth and Rob Scuderi during the offseason and are off to a terrific start in the new campaign. Nearly one month into the season, Los Angeles finds itself in a first-place tie in the Pacific Division.

Team Scope
Canucks -- Vancouver looked to be in good shape on Tuesday night when it chased Detroit Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood early in the first period. But the Canucks couldn't hang on to a 2-0 lead an ultimately dropped a 5-4 decision at GM place.

"Anytime you go up 2-0 at home, we re good enough defensively we should be able to lock that down," veteran defenseman Mathieu Schneider said. "Once you give them opportunities, they re going to finish."

Kings -- They failed to hang on to their lead in the Pacific Division on Wednesday night, but Los Angeles did manage to pick up a point by forcing overtime. With 17 points, the Kings are now tied for first place with the San Jose Sharks, who edged L.A. in the shootout in a 2-1 decision at HP Pavilion.

Who's Hot -- Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa had three assists on Tuesday night and has 7 points in 12 games, while four others are already in double digits: Henrik Sedin (6-9-15), Mikael Samuelsson (5-6-11), Ryan Kesler (4-7-11) and Christian Ehrhoff (3-7-10). Anze Kopitar has been the best player in all of Southern California, as he has eight points in his last four games for the Kings and 21 overall, tops in the League.

Stat pack -- Henrik Sedin snapped a three-game pointless skid on Sunday with his first goal since twin brother Daniel broke his foot on Oct. 7. He followed that up with a three-point performance in Detroit on Tuesday to give him a team-leading 15 points. … Kings forward Alexander Frolov scored again on Wednesday night, giving him seven points in his last four games. Jonathan Quick made 29 saves against the Sharks and is among the League leaders in wins with eight.

Puck drop -- Given the length of Wednesday's game in San Jose, it will be interesting to see what kind of start the Kings get off to in this one. Certainly, Alain Vigneault will inform his Canucks to attack early and often while Los Angeles attempts to find its legs.

-- Brian Compton, NHL.com

http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?i...vid=sb:preview

INJURIES

LOS ANGELES
Alec Martinez - Lower body (Out until at least late October)
Justin Williams - Lower body (Questionable for Oct. 29 vs. Vancouver)

VANCOUVER
Sami Salo - Knee (IR. Out until at least late November)
Daniel Sedin - Foot (IR. Out until at least mid-November)
Pavol Demitra - Shoulder (IR. Out indefinitely)
Jannik Hansen - Hand (IR. Out until at least late October)
Ryan Johnson - Neck (Questionable for Oct. 29 at Los Angeles)
Roberto Luongo - Rib (Out until at least Nov. 1 vs. Colorado)
Kyle Wellwood - Toe (Questionable for Oct. 29 at Los Angeles)

http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/injuries

RECENT MEETINGS

04/09/09 - LAK @ VAN 1-0 (Canucks)
03/13/09 - LAK @ VAN 4-2 (Canucks)
03/09/09 - VAN @ LAK 3-2 (Kings)
10/30/08 - VAN @ LAK 4-0 (Canucks)

*Kings All Time Record against vs the Canucks: 90-88-32-2

http://kings.nhl.com/club/page.htm?bcid=21076

LEADING SCORERS

Forwards
Kopitar, LA - 21PTS (10 G / 11 A, +4)
H. Sedin, VAN - 15PTS (6 G / 9 A, +3)

Defensemen
Doughty, LA - 12PTS (2 G / 10 A, +3)
Ehrhoff, VAN - 10PTS (3 G / 7 A, +3)

http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

LOS ANGELES
Smyth - Kopitar - Simmonds
Frolov - Handzus - Brown
Parse - Stoll - Purcell
Ivanans - Richardson - Harrold

Scuderi - Doughty
Johnson - O'Donnell
Drewiske - Greene

VANCOUVER
Shirokov - H. Sedin - Samuelsson
Raymond - Kesler - Grabner
Burrows - Bolduc - Bernier
Rypien - Glass - Hordichuk

Mitchell - Edler
Ehrhoff - Schneider
O'Brien - Bieksa

PROBABLE STARTING GOALTENDERS

Quick, LA - 12 GP (8-3-1)
GAA 2.73 / SV% .904

Raycroft, VAN- 2 GP (0-0-0)
GAA 1.13 / SV% .941

http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm

TEAM STATS

GAA
LA – 3.00 (T-16th)
VAN – 2.75 (10TH)

Avg. Goals For
LA – 3.46 (5th)
VAN – 2.83 (18th)

Power Play %
LA – 25.0 (9th)
VAN – 29.1 (3rd)

Penalty Kill %
LA – 73.1 (26th)
VAN – 78.0 (16th)

http://www.nhl.com/ice/teamstats.htm

WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS

http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm...=nav-stn-confy

NHL GAMES TODAY

http://www.nhl.com/ice/schedulebyday...=nav-sch-today

Cutty Sarkn3ss* · 10-29-2009, 10:27 AM

I think this is a winnable game. Hoping for Smyth to get back into the points and have a big night!

Shellz · 10-29-2009, 10:31 AM

Lets add another one of their players to IR.

Time to destroy at home.

SLang · 10-29-2009, 10:41 AM

Kings passed a big test last night in SJ. Not with flying colors, mind you, but they did get a point, on the road, against a very tough Sharks team, and got that point in a tight-checking 1-1 game.

Tonight's test: beat an injury-depleted Vancouver, like they should, even on the 2nd of back-to-back games. I was at the Vancouver / Blackhawks game last week that the Canucks won....the only real reason they won was Luongo....and we all know his status.

I'm not predicting jack. I'm just expecting.

TonySCV · 10-29-2009, 10:42 AM

Gotta win this one. 3 of 4 points would be sweeeeeet!

Shellz · 10-29-2009, 11:16 AM

Looks like the Kings claimed Randy Jones

http://twitter.com/TSNBobMckenzie

BehindEnemyLines · 10-29-2009, 11:33 AM

Lets light em up! No Luongo!

KingSundin · 10-29-2009, 12:37 PM

justin williams playin?

kingsfan25 · 10-29-2009, 12:59 PM

Apparently, Raycroft's played well this season when called upon.

Still, Kings need to capitalize here, regardless of the back-to-back situation.

MattBennett · 10-29-2009, 01:26 PM

starting goalies: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/6328/sta...ctober-29-2009
canucks' lines: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lin...ks-team-lineup
kings' lines: http://www.dailyfaceoff.com/team-lin...gs-team-lineup

rapots · 10-29-2009, 01:51 PM

I see nucks fans are pretty optimistic for this one mainly due to our back to back situation. Some of their scratches will return tonight, yeah right. I still would be highly dissapointed if we don't make another 2 pts.
Kings win 4-1

SLang · 10-29-2009, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucky7

justin williams playin?

Yeah, what's the deal? I am going to go against the grain and say I would like to see him slotted back in with Kopitar/Smyth, and see Simmonds back in his spot. I think overall it was working better.

JDM · 10-29-2009, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SLang

Yeah, what's the deal? I am going to go against the grain and say I would like to see him slotted back in with Kopitar/Smyth, and see Simmonds back in his spot. I think overall it was working better.

No, Hammond just said no Williams.

NSX · 10-29-2009, 02:49 PM

Hopefully the boys are confident tonight, especially now that Luongo is out of the lineup.

I say a very close Kings victory 3-2

RAZZIE King · 10-29-2009, 03:28 PM

If it's Raycroft, I call 6-1 Kings.

Ollie Weeks · 10-29-2009, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingLudwig

If it's Raycroft, I call 6-1 Kings.

I remember you. You were the one who jinxed Quick last night.

JDM · 10-29-2009, 03:35 PM

short pregame: http://lakingsnews.com/2009/10/29/pr...-less-canucks/

Hopefully Kopitar can pick up the scoring again tonight.

johnjm22 · 10-29-2009, 04:15 PM

The game will be streamed on Yahoo tonight. Link posted in GDT.

CycloneLaunch · 10-29-2009, 05:14 PM

Remember when Brown smoked that Canuck (Matt Cooke?) a few seasons back, that was awesome.

Kings 5 Canucks 2

Kopi 2g 2a

**kingsholygrail** · 10-29-2009, 05:18 PM

What's the tie-breaker that has the Sharks put ahead of the Kings in the standings? Yeah I know it's meaningless right now. lol

Kings need to take advantage of that huge IR list for the Canucks and get back on top in the Pacific.

Beauty, eh? · 10-29-2009, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CycloneLaunch

Remember when Brown smoked that Canuck (Matt Cooke?) a few seasons back, that was awesome.

Kings 5 Canucks 2

Kopi 2g 2a

"How's your head, Cookie?"

CycloneLaunch · 10-29-2009, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingsholygrail

What's the tie-breaker that has the Sharks put ahead of the Kings in the standings? Yeah I know it's meaningless right now. lol

Kings need to take advantage of that huge IR list for the Canucks and get back on top in the Pacific.

On nhl.com we're listed top of the division

JDM · 10-29-2009, 05:25 PM

We should win the tiebreaker. Same wins. Season series is even. We have scored more goals.

**jimmy1100** · 10-29-2009, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CycloneLaunch

On nhl.com we're listed top of the division

Yeah. I believe we're in 1st. Tiebreaker is wins (even at 8) then either goals for or head to head. Either way, we would win the tiebreaker (+1 GF or 3 pts in 2 gms versus 2 pts in 2 gms).

EDIT: JDM beat me to it...by 5 minutes...time to stop posting from work in between phone calls...

mbar · 10-29-2009, 05:42 PM

My first game in person this season.

Can

Not

Wait