Versus Pittsburgh:
First game of season
Last year: 2-0-0
The Los Angeles Kings are a strange team. They can beat the Dallas Stars 3-0, being the first team to beat the Stars at home in regulation time, but dump a 4-2 game to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Earlier they beat Dallas 2-0 at home but coughed up a gift 5-2 victory to the Florida Panthers. Injuries have no doubt played a role but top centre Jason Allison is now back and so too is hard playing winger Adam Deadmarsh. With those two back in harness the Kings have a reconstructed first line.
The Kings had consecutive shutouts this past week, their third and fourth clean sheets of the season. Up until now their goaltending has been leaky but perhaps they've managed to find a hot goaltender. Jamie Storr had the shutout in Dallas. Los Angeles is a big hard skating team which can play it rough in their own end. They're going to have to.
In the Pittsburgh Penguins they are playing a one trick pony. But what a trick. The Penguins power play is a thing of beauty. On Thursday it got loose in San Jose and Mario Lemieux had two power play goals. On the road they've scored 38 goals and 20 of them have been with a man advantage. The Penguins score on 32% of their power play opportunities, best in the NHL. Mario is 9-23-32 with the odd man, or better than 60% of his season's total. Now the Rat watched Pittsburgh's game in San Jose, and Mario had more room to roam than a Bedouin in the Sahara. Shouldn't someone be man-on-man with him, especially while killing a penalty? Pittsburgh has shown themselves to be a streaky team this season. They had a four-game winning streak but with the loss to the Sharks have now lost six straight. While five-on-five, the Penguins had almost no push up the ice. It ain't going to get any easier.
Los Angeles have poor stats and not a great record. An early terrible schedule and key injuries have contributed to their poor record. However they have shown themselves capable of playing a disciplined game - two shutouts in a row on the road and two on the season against Dallas indicates when they apply themselves they can keep good teams in check.
Pittsburgh isn't a very good team. They are a power play in search of a team. The Kings will play them tough and scoop the two points.
Take the KINGS on the MONEYLINE !!!
the Rat can be reached via email @ rsbookiekiller@hotmail.com
First game of season
Last year: 2-0-0
The Los Angeles Kings are a strange team. They can beat the Dallas Stars 3-0, being the first team to beat the Stars at home in regulation time, but dump a 4-2 game to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Earlier they beat Dallas 2-0 at home but coughed up a gift 5-2 victory to the Florida Panthers. Injuries have no doubt played a role but top centre Jason Allison is now back and so too is hard playing winger Adam Deadmarsh. With those two back in harness the Kings have a reconstructed first line.
The Kings had consecutive shutouts this past week, their third and fourth clean sheets of the season. Up until now their goaltending has been leaky but perhaps they've managed to find a hot goaltender. Jamie Storr had the shutout in Dallas. Los Angeles is a big hard skating team which can play it rough in their own end. They're going to have to.
In the Pittsburgh Penguins they are playing a one trick pony. But what a trick. The Penguins power play is a thing of beauty. On Thursday it got loose in San Jose and Mario Lemieux had two power play goals. On the road they've scored 38 goals and 20 of them have been with a man advantage. The Penguins score on 32% of their power play opportunities, best in the NHL. Mario is 9-23-32 with the odd man, or better than 60% of his season's total. Now the Rat watched Pittsburgh's game in San Jose, and Mario had more room to roam than a Bedouin in the Sahara. Shouldn't someone be man-on-man with him, especially while killing a penalty? Pittsburgh has shown themselves to be a streaky team this season. They had a four-game winning streak but with the loss to the Sharks have now lost six straight. While five-on-five, the Penguins had almost no push up the ice. It ain't going to get any easier.
Los Angeles have poor stats and not a great record. An early terrible schedule and key injuries have contributed to their poor record. However they have shown themselves capable of playing a disciplined game - two shutouts in a row on the road and two on the season against Dallas indicates when they apply themselves they can keep good teams in check.
Pittsburgh isn't a very good team. They are a power play in search of a team. The Kings will play them tough and scoop the two points.
Take the KINGS on the MONEYLINE !!!
the Rat can be reached via email @ rsbookiekiller@hotmail.com
