Carolina Hurricanes at Los Angeles Kings
Carolina had a pretty mixed bag to start the stretch run of games: their first game back was a 3-2 loss to Buffalo where they completely dominated the Sabres from start to finish and the second game was a 4-1 loss to Dallas where they played well enough for that score to be closer. In short, two good games back and zero points to show for it. For a team that was hoping to make a playoff run, this has started horribly. The power play will need to show up for them as they went 0-for-10 in their first two games back with the man advantage (and I don’t think it shows up).
Los Angeles looked pretty good in their first two games back. The first was a 6-4 win against Colorado, a game where the offensive outburst was not expected but certainly welcome. The next night, they traveled to Calgary and shutout a Flames team they had already lost twice to this year. In short, the Kings look like the Cup contenders everyone expects them to be. Of course, puck luck is a bit of this as well, as they were actually outshot in both games (admittedly, just by one each game). One player who has looked like he hasn’t missed a beat since Sochi is Jeff Carter; he was absolutely flying in parts of those two games.
I expect this one to go to Los Angeles. This is Carolina’s third game of the week already with lots of travel and an inconsistent team already. Los Angeles will be playing their third game in four nights but have proven already that this team is coming in hot for the stretch run. The offense worries me enough that I won’t stack them, but I will have Los Angeles players (and Jonathan Quick) in most lineups.
|
Top RW Value |
Top LW Value |
Top C Value |
Top D Value |
Bargain Bin |
|
Jeff Carter |
Jiri Tlusty |
(LAK) |
Drew Doughty |
Trevor Lewis |
