Preview: Calgary Flames @ LA Kings 10/11/17 (4/82): Chance For California Sweep

Calgary Flames @ LA Kings, 8:30 PM MT, Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA

The Flames and Kings will renew their rivalry tonight as Calgary makes their way to Los Angeles for a Pacific Division showdown. Last season the Flames and Kings series saw Calgary take 3 of the 5 contests, but it was the last few that were the most noteworthy. Matthew Tkachuk laid out Drew Doughty with a cheap elbow and that set the tone for their final meetings of the season. Tkachuk took his medicine and Calgary lost 4-1 in their second to last head to head with LA in a scrum filled mess. So besides being a division game, there’s probably still some animosity left over and does anyone REALLY expect Matthew Tkachuk to keep his nose clean?

The Flames are sitting in a good spot early in the 2017-18 season. Calgary is 2-1-0 by way of beating the Winnipeg Jets and performing an exorcism in Anaheim on Monday night. Their lone loss was the 3-0 opening night contest against the Oilers, but they’ve played much better since then. Mike Smith has been outstanding between the pipes, facing a combined 116 shots in 3 games. The Flames have been shuffling their lines and moving pieces around, but they’ve gotten quality shifts from young players like Curtis Lazar and Sam Bennett, while the likes of Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau and Mikael Backlund continue to be Calgary’s best options on offence.

The Kings come into this contest having won both of the games they’ve played so far this season, beating the Flyers 2-0 and the Sharks 4-1. Jonathan Quick has faced 60 shots in those 2 games and has been basically unbeatable. Having a healthy goaltender right out of the gate could be huge for the Kings as Quick missed almost 5 full months last season due to injury.

These two teams will get a good look at each other as they will meet 4 times this season, but they won’t see each other after this contest until January 4th.

What’s Happening With The Opposition?

Last Time Out

Calgary Flames 2 Anaheim Ducks 0

THE CURSE HAS BEEN LIFTED! The Flames walked into Anaheim staring down a 29 game losing streak at Honda Center. Mike Smith and crew didn’t care about the past and they dispatched the Ducks and that losing streak with a 2-0 win. Here’s our recap and the sweet, sweet highlights from NHL.com

LA Kings 4 San Jose Sharks 1

The Kings improved to 2-0-0 with a 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night. Jonathan Quick stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced while Anze Kopitar had a 3 point night, scoring twice and getting a helper. Jewels From The Crown has the recap and NHL.com has the highlights.

Players To Watch

Calgary Flames

Matthew Tkachuk (F). Matthew Tkachuk and the Kings have history as we mentioned above. It will be interesting to see where that goes in this contest. In all 3 Flames games this season Matthew Tkachuk has found himself in his usual scrums in front of the net. He got under the Ducks skin on Monday night and drew multiple penalties in that contest. The Kings made it clear they weren’t happy with him last season, will that carry over to tonight?

LA Kings

Jonathan Quick (G). Quick only played in one game against Calgary last season (2 goals on 7 shots), but in his last 10 starts against the Flames prior to 2016-17 he was 4-3-3. Despite that average record, Quick’s highest GAA was in 2014-15 when he posted a goals against of 2.55 against the Flames. He’s been sharp this season so far and when he’s on, he’s tough to beat.

by Mark Parkinson