GAME DAY | Kings – Canadiens: Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy
Jordan Lambe
Pre-game Notes and Quotes
Max Pacioretty on the team’s recent struggle: “We have so many excuses where we can say the puck’s just not going in, but sometimes you’ve just got to look in the mirror. We definitely moved the puck well on the power play in the third period, but we can’t keep calling it bad luck. We’ve got to figure it out,”
Anze Kopitar on the Kings’ loss to the Senators on Monday night: “Four out of the five goals, if not all of them, came from our mistakes, and you just can’t do that, you can’t trade chances like that, not against a team like that where they have so many forwards with a lot of skill. It hurt us tonight.”
Nathan Beaulieu had this to say about his newest defense partner: “I know playing with P.K. [Subban] is going to be more demanding minutes and tougher minutes, but I’ve been prepared for moments like this, and I feel like I’m in good enough shape and my head’s in the right spot to play more minutes, so if I’m going to get more ice time, I just have to take advantage of it.”
The Kings were riding a six game winning streak, but since that streak has been broken they have lost two in a row (both while on their current road trip).
The Canadiens have really been struggling to cope without Carey Price and Brendan Gallagher, as they have won only a single game in their past six (and two in their past eight).
The Canadiens are currently in a three way tie for fifth in the league in goals against, with 73 in their first 32 games. The Kings’ defensive game has been unbelievable so far this season, as they have allowed a mere 66 goals against in their first 30 games and are in 2ed in the league.
The Canadiens remain in second place in the NHL in the goals for category, with 101 over their first 32 games. The Kings’ offense on the other hand hasn’t been as good (they are known more for their defensive game), but they remain in a tie for 20th in the NHL with a total of 78 goals over their first 30 games this season.
Matchup
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC. | December 17, 7:30 PM ET | TV: FS-W,RDS,CITYM
2015-16 statistics
KINGS
CANADIENS
40 (6th)
Points (League rank)
43 (3rd)
19-9-2
Record
20-9-3
11-5-0
Home
11-5-2
8-4-2
Road
9-4-1
7-1-2
Last 10
4-5-1
2.53
G/G
3.12
2.17
GA/G
2.25
18.2
PP%
20.0
84.6
PK%
86.7
57.3
CF%*
53.8
59.9
CF60*
56.9
44.7
CA60*
48.8
*Advanced statistics: Score adjusted, even strength. CF%: Corsi for percentage of total CF60: Corsi For/60 minutes CA60: Corsi Against/60 minutes (via War on Ice)
Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Forwards
Pearson – Kopitar – Gaborik
Lucic – Carter – Toffoli
Mersch – Shore – Brown
Andreoff – Weal – Nolan
Alec Martinez is one of those players who tend to go unnoticed throughout the season. While the Kings have huge offensive threats on the back end with Muzzin and Doughty, Martinez’s play usually gets overshadowed. Martinez has never been a huge point producer, or even a 0.5 Point per game player (he is averaging 0.3 PPG over his career), but his peripheral stats definitely make him worthy of a roster spot. Martinez has been averaging 2.03 hits, 2.23 blocked shots, 1.77 shots on goal and 21:15 TOI per game this season. Not to mention he also sports a very respectable +6 in the +/- category and has 4 power play points. If your league uses these extended statistics, than your roster could definitely use the services of the 28 year old. He could also be a sneaky option in daily leagues as he has produced all but 2 of his 11 points on the road this season and should come at cheap salary.
Top scorers for the Kings on the road this season are:
Jeff Carter (with 15 points in 14 games).
Jake Muzzin (with 10 points in 14 games)
Anze Koitar, Milan Lucic, Alec Martinez and Tyler Toffoli (all with 9 points in 14 games)
Top scorers for the Canadiens at home this season are:
Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty (both with 14 points in 18 games)
David Desharnais, Alex Galchenyuk, P. K. Subban, Dale Weise and Brendan Gallagher (with 11 points in 18, 18, 18, 18 and 12 games respectively)
Player stats retrieved from War on Ice, NHL.com player profiles and Yahoo Sports player profiles.
