The Preds return home after a grueling road trip to take on the Los Angeles Kings (again). The two teams played less than two weeks ago in LA, where the Preds hung on for a tight 2-1 regulation win. With the current state of the standings, this is very much a game to keep an eye on.
It’s been a very rough month for the Kings, who have only won three games since returning from the Christmas break. They’ve been playing very well, except for a shaky penalty kill defense; unfortunately for them, they’ve had rotten luck. They’ve struggled to convert shots lately, while at the same time starter Cam Talbot has been floundering.
In spite of his recent woes, Cam Talbot still clocks in at a .911 sv% on the season, with backup David Rittich at a .920. Rittich has also had some trouble during this stretch, but he’s played few enough games that it’s harder to pick apart a few bad bounces from an overall trend.
Offensively, Adrian Kempe (17G/26A), Kevin Fiala (12G/30A), and Anže Kopitar (15G/26A) are the team’s stand-out producers, but the goalscoring lead is currently held by Trevor Moore, who has 21.
Fiala owns the ice while he’s on it 5v5, managing to be impressive both offensively and defensively even compared to the rest of his team, which is already well above league average on both fronts. 22-year-old defender Jordan Spence, who has 14 assists, has also been extremely impressive in terms of the expected goals the team has while he’s on the ice, as have Moore and winger Arthur Kaliyev, while defender Matt Roy joins Fiala in excellent chance limitations.
It’s been a strange and inexplicable stretch for the Kings, who are no doubt looking for an opportunity to snap out of it. Hopefully, they don’t do so tonight.
The game airs at 6:30 Central on TNT and Max (formerly HBO), with the radio call on 102.5 The Game.
Statistics from naturalstattrick.com. Additional background from hockeyviz.com.