Canucks At Kings Preview: Hate, If You Want To Hate

CANUCKS		KINGS
	AT

TIME:	Sat. 1:00 PM PST	TV	Sportsnet Pacific
SEASON SERIES:	1-0-1 Canucks	LAST MEETING	5-2 Canucks, Mar. 2/13
THE ENEMY	Jewels From The Crown	SCORING LEADERS	H. Sedin: 8-20-28 Kopitar: 9-19-28

KINGS	CATEGORY	CANUCKS
17-11-2	SEASON RECORD	15-9-6
36	POINTS	36
4th	CONFERENCE POSITION	5th
Lost 1	STREAK	Won 2
6-4-0	LAST 10	4-4-2
12-3-1	HOME RECORD / ROAD RECORD	7-4-3
2.90 (8)	GOALS PER GAVE AVERAGE	2.67 (14)
2.47 (8)	GOALS AGAINST PER GAME AVERAGE	2.60 (14)
1.25 (6)	5 ON 5 GF / GA	1.12 (9)
19.8 (10)	POWER PLAY %	13.3 (29)
81.2 (15)	PENALTY KILL %	80.7 (16)
51.4 (7)	FACEOFF WINS %	47.2 (27)
938 (2)	HITS	626 (22)
319 (30)	BLOCKED SHOTS	349 (28)
120 (18)	MINOR PENALTIES TAKEN	122 (20)
NHL.COM

NOTE THE EARLY START TIME!

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Count me in as one of the people who thought the Kings would suffer from a Stanley Cup hangover, shortened season or not. But look at the statistics above. Impressive in all the major categories except, like the Canucks, blocked shots. The Kings look good. They are 12-5 in their last 17 games. They could still fall out of the playoff position, don't get me wrong, but so could we.

I am loving all the adversity being thrown the Canucks' way in regards to injury and now Alexander Edler's suspension. It's a real test to the team's character, and over the last 2 games, they seem to be coming together as a group and getting the job done. I am impressed with them. No Edler? No problem. It opens up a spot for someone like Jason Garrison to shine. In fact, this is a reason why I like it when coaches bench slumping star players. It's the whole "put someone's head on a stick" management tactic. Very effective.

The L.A. Kings are not the Phoenix Coyotes though. This is going to be a huge test for the injury-riddled Canucks. The Kings are healthy and deep. Not gonna lie: if the Canucks win this one my mind will be blown.

The Canucks can take back the NW Division if all the stars align Saturday.

PROJECTED ROSTERS

Schneider

Dank - Hank - Burrows

Raymond - Schroeder - Hansen

Higgins (likely) - Lapierre - Ebbett

Gordon - Sestitio - Weise

Bieksa - Hamhuis

Alberts - Garrison

Ballard - Tanev

Unsure of the status of Steve Pinizzotto (illness). He traveled with the team.

FOR THE KINGS

Quick

Williams - Kopitar - Brown

Penner - Richards - Carter

Lewis - Stoll - King

Nolan - Fraser - Clifford

Muzzin - Doughty

Scuderi - Voynov

Martinez - Ellerby

TRENDS

• Canucks are 6-2 in their last 8 Saturday games.
• Canucks are 2-5 in their last 7 after allowing 2 goals or less in their previous game.
• Kings are 6-1 in their last 7 vs. Northwest.
• Kings are 4-1 in their last 5 in the fourth game of a 4-in-6 situation.
• Kings are 25-9 in their last 34 home games.
• Kings are 8-3 in their last 11 games playing on 1 days rest.
• 63% of the pros at Covers.com pick the Kings to take this one. I agree.

SCORE-PREDICTING WIZARDS UPDATE

Several smart people picked a 2-1 Canucks score last game including Twin Terror, who has taken over the lead. A few picked Schroeder to score the winner. Nobody got the big 3-pointer though. Those a fucking rare, aren't they?

Twin Terror: 10

Bobby Canuck: 9

patrik e: 7

andrew21nz: 6

raincity: 6

FormerHab: 5

gmonk33: 5

Meat Mayos: 4

Nathaniel Perlow: 4

marcness52: 3

PeaceJo: 3

westy99: 3

acg515: 2

ChuckinNux: 2

DeathdogIGBL: 2

EvianBubble: 2

Geordie Nuck: 2

ktownfan: 2

Pheenster: 2

Sean Zandberg: 2

seedvt: 2

Tengeresz: 2

vancitydan: 2

YorkAveOrca: 2

beardstache: 1

BW79: 1

dshaps: 1

Kent Basky: 1

KYCanuck: 1

missy: 1

NS_Cix: 1

nucksandpucks: 1

radepalma: 1

Sandwich76: 1

Smoboy41: 1

Tangent: 1

Thursday: 1

Twitchy2010: 1

Vancouverguy: 1

VIDEO

Sestito (The Godfather) makes Nolan bleed:

Look for the Kings to expose Schneider in this fashion:

The title of this game preview post has been brought to you by Dodge Caravan and Soundgarden:

GO CANUCKS GO! DIG IN. RISE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY. Oh, and fuck you, Shanahan.

THE FOLLOWING IMAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY NM VISITOR AND KINGS FAN ho5le: