Pre-Game Skate: Bruins vs. Kings
Matchup: Los Angeles Kings at Boston Bruins, 7 p.m. (NESN; 98.5 FM)
Records: Boston 23-21-8, 54 points; Los Angeles 31-19-3, 65 points
Past History: It was a bitter defeat for the Bruins in the first meeting of the season. The Kings rallied from 3-1 down after two periods to force overtime as Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown scored in the third, then those two scored the only goals in the shootout for a 4-3 Kings win. All-time, the Bruins are 78-33-13-2 against the Kings and 44-12-6-1 at home against the Kings.
Bruins Connections: Stay-at-home defenseman Sean O’Donnell went back home to wear his career started last year, returning to LA, where he made his NHL debut in 1995. O’Donnell played his first six seasons there, but also spent three years in Boston from 2001-04, putting up 5-47-52 totals with 275 penalty minutes in 232 games. Former Bruin netminder Bill Ranford now serves as the Kings goaltending coach, while Mike O’Connell, who played defense for the Bruins from 1980-86 and later served as assistant general manager, interim head coach and GM for the club, is now in the Kings front office in charge of pro development and special assignments.
New England Ties: Goalie Jonathan Quick hails from Hamden, Conn. and has been a workhorse for the Kings this season. He’s second only to Martin Brodeur with 48 games started in goal, with a 29-16-3 record, 2.56 GAA and .907 save percentage. Defenseman Peter Harrold is from Ohio, but did play his college hockey at Boston College. The Kings front office is led by general manager Dean Lombardi, who was born in Holyoke, Mass. and grew up in Ludlow, Mass., while O’Connell still resides in Cohasset, Mass.
Injury Update: The Kings are missing defenseman Davis Drewiske (shoulder), right wing Justin Williams (ankle) and center Andrei Loktionov (shoulder) on injured reserve, while defenseman Jack Johnson is questionable with an arm injury. The Bruins got Marc Savard (knee) and Byron Bitz (undisclosed) back last night against Buffalo, and could have Steve Begin (undisclosed) return today. Marco Sturm (leg) is close as well, but not expected to play in this one. Andrew Ference (groin) remains on injured reserve.
Fight Card: There was a pair of fights in the first meeting in LA, as Adam McQuaid battled fellow rookie Brandon Segal and Shawn Thornton and Raitis Ivanans clashed in a heavyweight matchup. Ivanans also has a history with Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. They battled when Ivanans was first called up to the NHL by Montreal in 2005. After an even scrap, Chara, then still with Ottawa, delivered a brutal cheap shot, hitting Ivanans with a late punch when Ivanans was on the ground and the linesmen had already stepped in. That punch broke Ivanans’ orbital bone and nearly derailed his NHL career. They haven’t fought again since, but Ivanans would surely love a chance for a little payback. The Kings have just 24 fighting majors this year, led by Ivanans’ 10, while O’Donnell, Matt Greene and Wayne Simmonds each have four. The Bruins have 29 fighting majors this year, led by Thornton’s 13.
Matchup to Watch: Blake Wheeler vs. Drew Doughty. This is a clash of two of second-year players who have seen their career paths head in slightly different directions this season. Both were strong as rookies, but Wheeler had the bigger impact with 21-24-45 totals and a plus-36 rating, second-best in the NHL. This year, he’s at 12-17-29 through 52 games, but is a minus-8. He came alive early in January with four goals in three games, but has just one goal and two assists in nine games since. That goal and one of the assists came against the Kings though, and the Bruins need a similar effort in this one from Wheeler, who is back with his linemates from last year, David Krejci and Michael Ryder. Wheeler plays the left side on that line, which will put him in the crosshairs of the right-shooting Doughty. The second-year blueliner was solid as a rookie with 6-21-27 totals, but was also a minus-17. This year, he’s second on the Kings with 10-31-41 totals and is a robust plus-16 through 53 games. He’s also got a goal and an assist in two games against Boston.
Three Keys for the B’s:
1. Unleash Lucic – The Bruins need an emotional spark and someone to set a physical tone to help them get back on track. In the past, Milan Lucic has supplied that physical presence and intimidation. Injuries have limited Lucic’s play this year, but he’s been back for 10 games now and should be ready to start dishing out the punishment again. He does have 64 hits in 20 games and scored his first goal since his return last night. He’s also had some success against LA, with 1-2-3 totals in three games, including a Gordie Howe hat trick against the Kings as a rookie – his first career goal and assist. Another trifecta like that is just what the Bruins need.
2. Keep Kopitar in check – Anze Kopitar leads the Kings with 22-31-53 totals in 53 games, and after slumping for a while (2-4-6 totals in 17 games) following a red-hot start (14-19-33 in first 24 games), Kopitar is again filling up the scoresheet (6-8-14 in his last 12 games). He also has three goals in three games against the Bruins, including the game-tying goal at 12:54 of the third in the first meeting this year. He also added a shootout goal that night.
3. Make the refs earn their paychecks – The Bruins have had their problems with officials of late, what with Dan O’Rourke knocking over Dennis Wideman to give Ottawa a breakaway goal and Dean Morton and Tom Kowal giving Lucic a high-sticking penalty against Columbus when a Blue Jacket was actually cut by his own teammate’s stick. Those miscues fall on the zebras, but Boston’s lack of power-play chances (168, 29th in NHL) isn’t caused by a conspiracy by the officials; it shows a lack of willingness by the Bruins to pay the price in the dirty areas and get in aggressively on the forecheck to force opponents to commit penalties. With Marc Savard back, the power play (2 for 20 in the 10-game skid) should be more effective, but that won’t matter if they don’t start drawing more penalties. So hopefully the Bruins will make the refs raise their hands a few times in this one.
The Lowdown: The Bruins put together a much better effort against Buffalo, but still could come away with any points as they dropped to 1-8-1 in their last 10 games. They also dropped down to 12th place in the East. Only four teams in the entire NHL have less points than the Bruins, though in a sign of just how crazy the point system is in the NHL with points handed out for overtime and shootout losses, the Bruins are also just two points out of sixth place. It won’t be easy to get those points against the Kings, who have won four straight and six of their last seven. LA has developed into an especially tough road team. The Kings are 17-10-1 away from the Staples Center this year, and come in riding a five-game road winning streak. They haven’t won six in a row on the road since 1974-75 when they set a franchise record with eight straight road wins. The Bruins need to end that streak while ending their own five-game losing streak to pull out of their downward spiral and try to start climbing back into the playoff race.
Tags: Kings
