MayorsManor First Goal Contest: Game 40 – Kings at Stars

April 9, 2013 By John Hoven

For the third time in 11 games the Kings will meet up with the Stars tonight in Dallas.

However, it’s close to being the end of an era. This will be the second to last meeting between the two clubs while they’re still in the same division. Beginning next year, with realignment, they won’t see each other nearly as much.

Coach Glen Gulutzan will use a few fresh faces too, as they’ve recently traded away captain Brenden Morrow and ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr.

After their last game, most of the Kings players were saying they should have beat the Ducks, rather than lose 4-3 in a shootout. Several guys thought the effort was there, even if the result wasn’t. So, it will be interesting to see how much fire and angst they come out with tonight.

As noted Saturday, Dustin Penner will return to the line-up for LA – who are, of course, fighting for home ice advantage in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Stars are hanging around 10th place in the Western Conference, but are more likely playing for their jobs next season.

Regardless, if you can guess who will score first for the Kings, you could win yourself a nice little prize pack. And entering is easy, just follow these three simple steps…

STEP 1 – Some required reading:

– EXCLUSIVE: Morrow opens up about leaving the Dallas Stars

– Stars’ players take on seven LA Kings in a game of Word Association

– Ray Whitney explains what’s wrong with the NHL

STEP 2 – Click here to check out all the cool stuff Hockey Soda Energy has to offer because they’re putting together a prize pack for the winner. Their full line of Hockey Energy products are designed to improve protein metabolism, reduce fatigue and appetite, plus sharpen perception.

STEP 2 – Place a comment below with the LAST NAME of the LA Kings player you think will score first vs. the Stars (one entry per person). We’ll pool all the correct entries and one person will be randomly selected to receive a free Hockey Soda Energy prize pack featuring a hockey puck and a 6-pack of Hockey Energy Soda (must be 16 years of age or older).

To get you started, here are the line combinations and D-pairings that coach Darryl Sutter is expected to use:

FORWARDS

Dustin Brown – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams

Dustin Penner – Mike Richards – Jeff Carter

Dwight King – Jarret Stoll – Trevor Lewis

Kyle Clifford – Brad Richardson – Jordan Nolan

DEFENSE

Robyn Regehr – Drew Doughty

Rob Scuderi – Slava Voynov

Jake Muzzin – Keaton Ellerby

Healthy Scratches: Colin Fraser, Alec Martinez and Tyler Toffoli

Based upon who was first off the ice at the morning skate, Jonathan Quick will likely get the start in net.

Good luck in the contest!

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About John Hoven

John Hoven is a member of the of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and co-hosts Kings of the Podcast. He is also the founder and editor of MayorsManor.com, which has been named Best Sports Blog in Los Angeles by LA Weekly and Hockey Blog of the Year by Yahoo Sports. Click "ABOUT OUR TEAM" above for a full bio.