After leading the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 and dropping Game 4 in the first round, then leading the St. Luois Blues 3-0 in the second round and finishing off the sweep on home ice, the big question of the day is will the Western Conference Finals be more like the former or the latter.
Although Kings coach Darryl Sutter toyed with the gather media yesterday and wouldn’t divulge if Colin Fraser would be going back into the line-up, it looks like he’ll be centering the fourth line – with Brad Richardson sliding back over to left wing and Kyle Clifford being the odd man out. Over on the Coyotes side, Martin Hanzal will return after his one game suspension following Game 2. Most likely, Marc-Antoine Pouliot will stay in and Paul Bissonnette will exit the Phoenix line-up. However, those will all be game-time decisions, as will the status of defenseman Adrian Aucoin. We’ll give you updates on the rosters from both sides during warm-ups at the arena (via twitter and facebook).
Now, if you want to win a signed Dustin Brown puck or other great prizes, here’s some details for you… we’ve been running two separate First Goal Contests during the playoffs… there’s the traditional MayorsManor contest run exclusively during Kings games, where recently we’ve been giving away a signed puck…and, the other, which is more like a tournament running through the end of the NHL playoffs. In the latter, we’re giving away a jersey or stick signed by the entire LA Kings team (the winner gets to choose their prize, as previously announced here).
For the Western Conference Finals, we’re combining both contests into one post…
Three things to know:
1 – You can enter ONE contest or BOTH by just leaving a single comment below.
2 – If you want to enter the Kings contest ONLY, simply leave a comment below with the LA player you think scores first vs. the Coyotes today. As always, multiple people can guess the same player. So, don’t worry about somebody else taking ‘your player.’ If that player scores first, we’ll pool all the winners together and randomly select one person to receive an autographed Dustin Brown puck.
SAMPLE ENTRY: Justin Williams
3 – If you want to enter BOTH contests, no problem. Just leave a comment below and select one player from each team playing today. We’ll use your Kings guess to enter you in both contests.
SAMPLE ENTRY:
Phoenix (Vermette) at Los Angeles (Voynov)
Make sense? It should seem easy enough.
Good luck!
After you cast your vote, be sure to check out some of the exclusive video interviews we posted last night:
Shane Doan on karma vs the Kings
Ray Whitney on karma vs the Kings
Jordan Nolan on the special guests he has in town this weekend
About John Hoven
Dustin Brown will lead the way, scoring first!
Phx (Vermette) at LAK (Brown)
King
I’m going with the Captain, for first goal. I expect Brown to come out strong and ready to hammer that nail.
Anze Kopitar!
PHX (Korpikoski) at LAK (Williams)
Contest:
Williams (LAK)
Drew Doughty (LAK) —None (PHX)
PHX (Vrbata) at LAK (Kopitar)
LAK PENNER vs PHX (None)
Willie Mitchell
GO KINGS GO!!
Dwight King
Phoenix (Hanzal) at Los Angeles (Kopitar)
Stoll
LA – Richards PHX – Hanzal
Kopi
Mike Richards
penner
Richards
Kings of the hill!
King !
Dustin brown
Phoenix (Whitney) at Los Angeles (Kopitar)
Brown/Doan
Phoenix (Hanzal) at Los Angeles (Williams)
Carter
Brad Doty
mike richards
First goal Williams! Go Kings Go!!
Voynov
Stoll !!!
Stoll !!!!
Vrbata/Doughty
Carter
Doan (Phx) at Kopitar/Kopidor (LAK)
Voynov!
Justin Williams is overdue, sticking with him!
Richards
I’m going with Anze Kopitar
Mike Richards
Martinez
Dustin Brown
King
Doughty
Go Kings!
KOPI
Kopitar…. GKG third time’s a charm!!!
Stoll
Mike Richards
kopi
Carter
Phoenix (Whitney) at Los Angeles (Williams)
Phoenix (doan) at Los Angeles (Brown)
Sticking with The Captain! gkg!
Los Angeles (Doughty)
Carter
PHX(Hanzal) – LAK(Carter)
Kopidor for first goal
Dustin Brown, baby!
Phoenix (Pyatt) at Los Angeles (Lewis!)
Mike Richards
Richards
Phoenix (no one) Los Angeles (Kopitar)
Mitchell…..
Richards
Phoenix (Whitney) at Los Angeles (Brown)
LA Kingers Mitchell
pho Steve Nash
I’m calling another shutout for quick
Kings-Dustin brown
Phoenix-vermette
Mike the magician Richards
Hanzal for phoenix, kopitar for kings
PHX (DOAN) LA (WILLIAMS)
Richards
mitchell
Carter!
kopitar
brown
Phoenix (Whitney) at Los Angeles (Penner)
carter
Phx (Vermette), Los Angeles (King)
Brown Dustin Brown
Justin Williams. Let’s Go Kings!!!
DUSTIN BROWN!!!
King
Dustin Brown!
Justin williams
Phoenix (Vrbata) at Los Angeles (Nolan)
Phoenix (Whitney) at Los Angeles (Brown)
stoll
Kings: Anze Kopitar
Coyotes: No one
Brown is going score the first puck. Go KINGS GO
#LaKings #King scores 1st
#phoenix None
GO KINGS GO
stoll!!
Brown
Brown going to score the first goal…. Go KINGS GO
Dwight King
Penner
Nolan
Brown LAK
Doan Phoenix
Phx – Doan
LA – Richards
KOPISTAR woooohoooo
Phx down
L A doughty
Phoenix (Vermette) at Los Angeles (Brown)
Slava Voynov 🙂
Carter
Jeff Carter
Trevor Lewis