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Calgary Flames @ LA Kings, 8 PM MT, Staples Center, Los Angeles CA
TV: ESPN+, SN360, CBC - Radio: Sportsnet 960
Calgary Flames 4-3-1 (9 pts) - LA Kings 2-5-0 (4 pts)
The Flames will hit the road for a two game trek through California with the first stop being the Staples Center to take on the LA Kings. Calgary is riding high on a two game winning streak where they seemed to have finally gelled as a team. The Flames have only given up two goals in that streak and have found their offence as well. Calgary hung three on the Flyers on Tuesday and exploded for five goals in a 5-1 victory over the Red Wings Thursday night. Secondary scoring has been the key to the Flames success as Sam Bennett, Derek Ryan and Andrew Mangiapane have been lightning the lamp and taking the load off the Flames top two lines. Speaking of Mangiapane, the Flames haven’t issued an update as to his injury status, leading us to believe he won’t be available. Elias Lindholm is listed as questionable after taking a pretty hard slash to the back of the leg from Darren Helm Thursday night.
LA meanwhile is at a crossroads. They are trying to get younger, while still having older vets on the team and it hasn’t been working so well. LA is 2-5-0 on the young season and they sit at the bottom of the Pacific Division. Goal scoring hasn’t really been an issue (they are 18th overall), but keeping the puck out of the net has been. Both LA goaltenders have horrendous Save% and they’re tops in the league in Goals Allowed. Jonathan Quick is having a very tough go of it so far with a record of 0-3-0 and a Save% of .793. Jack Campbell isn’t much better as he sits at 2-2-0 and has a Save% of .897. It’s not hard to see why things are going sideways right now as LA’s goaltending tandem has seen a combined 199 shots in 7 games and they’ve allowed 31 goals.
LA took the first meeting of the season, a 4-3 OT thriller back on October 8th. Drew Doughty and Matthew Tkachuk had great games (3 points each), but Doughty got the last laugh with the GWG in overtime. The Flames are average (11-10 in their last 21 games in LA) at Staples Center, but have won two straight when visiting the Kings.
Starting Goalies (E=Expected, C=Confirmed)
Flames: Rittich (E)- 4-2-1, 2.55 GAA, .919 Save%
Kings: Quick (E)- 0-3-0, 6.44 GAA, .793 Save%
Team Leaders
Flames: Goals: Lindholm (5) Points: Gaudreau (7) PIM: Lucic (26) Save%: Rittich (.919)
Kings: Goals: Brown (3) Points: Kopitar (8) PIM: Kovalchuk (8) Save%: Campbell (.897)
What’s Happening With The Opposition?
LA Kings Coverage: Jewels From The Crown
The #LAKings make their first roster shuffles of the season by calling up Nikolai Prokhorkin and assigning Carl Grundstrom and Tobias Bjornfot to the Ontario Reign. https://t.co/XHALMmBbGK
— Jewels from the Crown (@JFTC_Kings) October 18, 2019
Last Time Out
Calgary Flames 5 - Detroit Red Wings 1
LA Kings 0 - Buffalo Sabres 3
Players To Watch
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Flames: Matthew Tkachuk (F): 3 points against the Kings on 10/8, 7 points overall in 9 games
Kings: Drew Doughty (D): 3 points against the Flames on 10/8, 5 points overall in 7 games