Not sure Los Angeles and Phoenix are what anyone would consider to be classic hockey cities, but a team from one of them will be playing for the Stanley Cup.
The Kings, a team that it would be tough to argue as anything less than the hottest in the playoffs, punched their ticket to the Western Conference Finals by sweeping the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. The Phoenix Coyotes became the other half of the equation when the beat the Predators Monday night to take the series 4 games to 1. How in Nashville is considered part of the Western Conference is beyond me, but that's a discussion for another time and place.
The Kings and Coyotes played each other 6 times during the regular season, with LA coming away with a slight advantage. The Kings record versus the Coyotes was 3-1-2 with three of the games going past regulation. It's very easy to see these teams are quite evenly matched. In fact, Coyotes netminder Mike Smith might be the only goalie playing near the level Kings goalie Jonathan Quick has been so far.
After looking at the postseason statistics for both teams, it would be tough to see this series being anything less than 6 games. The Kings are allowing 1.56 goals per game, the best in the playoffs, and Phoenix is allowing 1.91 which is second best. LA is scoring 3.00 goals for game, tied for 3rd best, Phoenix is scoring 2.64, which 4 best. The Kings are averaging nearly 6 more minor penalty minutes per game, but they also have the best penalty kill percentage. The Coyotes do convert on powerplays 16.1 percent of the time and the Kings are only scoring with an advantage 8.5 percent of the time, 2nd to last of all the teams that made the playoffs.
The keys for LA in this series are simple. They need to be a bit more disciplined than they were when they were facing the Blues, which really shouldn't be an issue. At the same time, they still need to play physical hockey. They can't back down, they need to stay in the same frame of mind they have since game 1 in Vancouver. The biggest thing, and this goes without saying I think, is going to be goaltending. If Quick plays the way he has and Smith keeps up his stinginess, this is going to be a very low scoring series. My prediction (complete with a whole lot of Kings bias thrown in) is Kings in 6. The schedule for the series has yet to be announced.
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Showing posts with label Kings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kings. Show all posts
Monday, May 7, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
The Kings Don't Sing The Blues, They Pound Them
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little shocked with how the Kings are playing lately. I mean, I knew they could play this well, but I certainly didn't expect it. After bouncing the Canucks out of the playoffs in the first round, I figured, OK they might come back down to Earth a bit and have some trouble with the Blues. Nope.
St. Louis was a very good team during the regular season. They were tied with Vancouver for the fewest losses in the league, tied for second in point percentage, and the best in the league when it came to goals against. Mind you the Kings were second in goals against, but still, the Kings didn't exactly tear the net off the posts on the offensive side. However, since the start of the playoffs the Kings goals per game have risen to 2.86 up from 2.29 during the regular season. Couple that with Jonathan Quick who has the highest save percentage in the playoffs so far, and the Kings are downright dangerous. They simply don't look intimidated by anyone right now. Which is definitely a change from the regular season. It's not that they would get consistently bullied, but they just lacked that toughness edge. Well apparently they were just saving up all that aggression for the playoffs, because they look like pretty badass right now.
What did concern me with Monday night's game was the amount of penalties the Kings took. LA found themselves in the sin bin 16 times during Monday's game. Yes the Blues were penalized 14 times, but they were also down 4-0 after the first period. St. Louis should have been throwing their weight around, trying to do anything to get back in the game. LA didn't need to respond the way they did. I'm all for protecting yourself and your teammates, but it seemed a bit excessive. Hopefully they'll bit a bit more disciplined on Thursday when the teams face off in Game 3, the first of the series in LA.
By far what has been the most impressive part of the Kings postseason run so far has been their ability to win on the road. The one game in which they were defeated was in LA by a desperate Canucks squad. One might be inclined to think it's just a coincidence, but think about last year's Stanley Cup Finals. The Canucks and Bruins went to Game 7, neither of which having won a road game. Boston finally wins a game on the road, and it clinches the Cup for them. So yeah, being able to win a one game as the visitor is vital, especially when you're a number 8 seed. The Kings have proven they can do this, which gives me a sense of optimism. Is this series over? Not by a long shot, but the Kings are well on their way to the Western Conference Finals. If they keep scoring goals at the torrid pace they have in the first 2 games of this series and Quick keeps standing on his head, I'm not so sure anyone can beat them right now.
Follow me on Twitter- @TwittinSports Like the blog on Facebook- facebook.com/abloopandablast
St. Louis was a very good team during the regular season. They were tied with Vancouver for the fewest losses in the league, tied for second in point percentage, and the best in the league when it came to goals against. Mind you the Kings were second in goals against, but still, the Kings didn't exactly tear the net off the posts on the offensive side. However, since the start of the playoffs the Kings goals per game have risen to 2.86 up from 2.29 during the regular season. Couple that with Jonathan Quick who has the highest save percentage in the playoffs so far, and the Kings are downright dangerous. They simply don't look intimidated by anyone right now. Which is definitely a change from the regular season. It's not that they would get consistently bullied, but they just lacked that toughness edge. Well apparently they were just saving up all that aggression for the playoffs, because they look like pretty badass right now.
What did concern me with Monday night's game was the amount of penalties the Kings took. LA found themselves in the sin bin 16 times during Monday's game. Yes the Blues were penalized 14 times, but they were also down 4-0 after the first period. St. Louis should have been throwing their weight around, trying to do anything to get back in the game. LA didn't need to respond the way they did. I'm all for protecting yourself and your teammates, but it seemed a bit excessive. Hopefully they'll bit a bit more disciplined on Thursday when the teams face off in Game 3, the first of the series in LA.
By far what has been the most impressive part of the Kings postseason run so far has been their ability to win on the road. The one game in which they were defeated was in LA by a desperate Canucks squad. One might be inclined to think it's just a coincidence, but think about last year's Stanley Cup Finals. The Canucks and Bruins went to Game 7, neither of which having won a road game. Boston finally wins a game on the road, and it clinches the Cup for them. So yeah, being able to win a one game as the visitor is vital, especially when you're a number 8 seed. The Kings have proven they can do this, which gives me a sense of optimism. Is this series over? Not by a long shot, but the Kings are well on their way to the Western Conference Finals. If they keep scoring goals at the torrid pace they have in the first 2 games of this series and Quick keeps standing on his head, I'm not so sure anyone can beat them right now.
Follow me on Twitter- @TwittinSports Like the blog on Facebook- facebook.com/abloopandablast
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