Following an impressive 5-2 homestand that featured wins over the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins, the Kings find themselves in the thick of the Pacific Division playoff race.
Pacific Division standings
1.15.2022 pic.twitter.com/nRf3YvRxLf— The Mayor | John Hoven (@mayorNHL) January 15, 2022
Because teams have played a disproportionate number of games, the best way to look at the standings is via the points percentage column, as it basically brings everything to a level playing field. With this view, LA sits in third place.
Tonight, coach Todd McLellan will send his team out to face the league’s newest franchise, the Seattle Kraken. In total, the teams will meet four times this season, including in a pair of back-to-back games in Los Angeles at the end of March.
With their recent success, one wouldn’t normally expect McLellan to change the lineup much heading into tonight… except there’s one thing that’s a bit odd.
Two curious taxi squad moves for this short west coast roadie — Austin Strand and Jacob Ingham.
You don't normally change the lineup after a big win, but sure feels like Strand could slide in on D tonight.
— The Mayor | John Hoven (@mayorNHL) January 15, 2022
Carrying extra players at home isn’t particulary necessary considering the team’s AHL club is also in SoCal. Thus, of late, they’ve been arriving at Crypto.com Arena with one extra forward and one extra defenseman – just in case something goes wrong prior to puck drop.
It’s not that easy on the road, so they’re traveling with a few extra bodies on the taxi squad. Even so, this is a West Coast roadie, so guys are just a short flight away. It raises an eyebrow.
Strand was originally signed by the Kings as an unrestricted free agent out of the WHL. In his final junior season with the Seattle Thunderbirds, the 6-foot-3 defender put up 64 points in 69 games.
Following the Kings traveling to Seattle on Friday afternoon, it isn’t too surprising where Strand chose to spend his evening…
https://twitter.com/SeattleTbirds/status/1482201524444958724?t=N9lJnC4tfxOI0fUVCUirkQ&s=19
LA KINGS PROJECTED LINEUP vs. SEATTLE KRAKEN on 1/15
Iafallo – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Turcotte – Kupari – Brown
Lemieux – Lizotte – Kaliyev
Other options: Anderson-Dolan, Fagemo
IR: Andersson, Athanasiou
Protocol: Frk, Grundstrom
Anderson – Doughty
Maatta – Roy
Bjornfot – Durzi
Other options: Moverare, Strand
Petersen (starter)
Quick
Taxi: Ingham
On the Seattle side of things:
Morning skate, #SeaKraken vs Kings, 1/15:
Johansson-McCann-Eberle
Gourde-Jarnkrok-Donskoi
Donato-Wennberg-Blackwell
Sheahan-True-AppletonOleksiak-Soucy
Giordano-Lauzon
Dunn-Larsson
Fleury-Borgen— Mike Benton (@Benton_Mike) January 15, 2022
Chris Driedger leaves the ice first, strong indication he’s starting tonight. #SeaKraken
— Mike Benton (@Benton_Mike) January 15, 2022
Kraken announce Jaden Schwartz will be out the next four to six weeks and will require hand surgery. #SeaKraken
— Ryan S. Clark (@ryan_s_clark) January 6, 2022
KINGS MILESTONES WITHIN REACH
Anze Kopitar – needs 37 points to pass Dave Taylor for third on the Kings all-time scoring list
Dustin Brown — 6 goals away from passing Bernie Nicholls for fifth place in Kings franchise history
Drew Doughty — 7 games away from playing in his 1,000th NHL regular season game
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm PST tonight and the game will be on Bally Sports West.
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Things are starting to make more sense. Going into the season, I honestly thought the Kings would do best among the three California teams with a legit shot at the playoffs, and that’s where they are now. Mayor, you noted a little while ago that Hockey Reference pegged the Kings as having the 3rd most difficult schedule to date, and that still sticks in my mind, what with the Kings having just beaten the Rangers and the red-hot Pens. And playing Seattle for the first time tonight. Perhaps they have weathered the storm as far as the most challenging part of the schedule is concerned?
Good luck to Strand. It seems like he’s caught in the numbers game a bit, and I hope he gets another look.