GAME DAY PREVIEW- Game 12: Canucks @ Los Angeles

VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs LOS ANGELES KINGS

7:30PM PST STAPLES CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA

TV: SPORTSNET ONE, SPORTSNET 360. RADIO: SN650.

OPPOSITION BLOG: JEWELS FROM THE CROWN

Whaddup, LA? It us, that team you have no business losing to! Snark aside, this game has all the makings of an entertaining one tonight. 3 weeks ago the Canucks laid an absolute pasting on the team that has a better goaltender than everyone for a few more years still, an 8-2 laugher that led to Drew Doughty’s somewhat misplaced and okay, I’ll say it, disrespectful and delusional comments about the Canucks. I am pretty sure we’re gonna see the some ugliness tonight, so I would suggest the lads all have their heads on a swivel as the Kings look for payback beyond the scoreboard.

To get us ready for tonight, our good friend Robyn from Jewels From The Crown answered 5 questions we had heading into tonight’s contest:

1. So, we’re seeing these two teams play for the first time since the 8-2 thrashing and Drew Doughty’s comments. What do you expect we’ll see from the Kings tonight in terms of a response?

Honestly, it’s hard to say. I know a giant shrug is a copout but the way this team is playing is so confusing. One minute, they’re hot and confident and look like Stanley Cup contenders. Then they struggle against bad teams. So, who knows, really, though I do suspect that this may play out similar to the Calgary Flames games did.

2. Have they thought about appealing to the league so they could play more games against the Calgary Flames?

The fans would like that, but I’m not sure if my heart can take it. They say stress is bad for you, don’t they?

3. Obviously when things aren’t going well, it’s easy to pinpoint the bad stuff, but is there someone on the Kings right now who stands out as a positive?

Um……………….. Um…………………………… Blake Lizotte. Pint-sized center who wasn’t expected to make the team, he played his way onto the opening night roster and has the heart of a bulldog in a chihuahua’s body.

4. The Kings aren’t going to fire Todd McLellan, but should things continue at this pace there has to be some kind of change, right? Any guesses as to what you think they should do to try and right the ship?

The plan is to get a top-5 pick. Why fire your head coach when you’re exactly on the path to get a high draft pick? I have no idea what they can do to try and right the ship. After losing to Chicago, McLellan had a really weird quote about how some of the guys aren’t ready to play in the NHL, but honestly, most of the team is established veterans.

5. The Kings have made a couple call ups recently, so can you fill us inon Nikolai Prokhorkin and Carl Grundstrom?

Prokhorkin. All I know about him is you pronounce his name Pro-hork-in. I think. And that he’s Russian. Grundstrom, my sweet, sweet Swedish son has hands of gold. He’s great at establishing a Net Front Presence (I like to capitalize hockey cliches) and really just staying in the prime scoring zones. He’s really not afraid to make that area in front of the goalie his home and camp out there for an extended period of time. It’s hard to say much about him, though. He only played 15 games last year and so far this season, he was a healthy scratch for all but one game before he was sent down to Ontario because it was better than letting him rot away in the press box. McLellan has a fetish for toughness (apparently so does this team’s front office, sigh) and Grundstrom is a lover scorer, not a hitter or a fighter.

Thanks as always to Robyn for being available, and we hope that she and everyone else down there stays safe with the terrible fires plaguing the area.

LINEUPS:

Via nhl.com:

Canucks projected lineup

J.T. Miller -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser

Tanner Pearson -- Bo Horvat -- Jake Virtanen

Micheal Ferland -- Brandon Sutter -- Josh Leivo

Tim Schaller -- Jay Beagle -- Loui Eriksson

Alexander Edler -- Tyler Myers

Quinn Hughes -- Christopher Tanev

Jordie Benn -- Troy Stecher

Jacob Markstrom

Thatcher Demko

Scratched: Ashton Sautner, Adam Gaudette

Injured: Tyler Motte (lower body), Antoine Roussel (knee)

Kings projected lineup

Carl Grundstrom -- Anze Kopitar -- Jeff Carter

Alex Iafallo -- Adrian Kempe -- Dustin Brown

Kyle Clifford -- Blake Lizotte -- Austin Wagner

Ilya Kovalchuk -- Michael Amadio -- Nikolai Prokhorkin

Ben Hutton -- Drew Doughty

Alec Martinez -- Sean Walker

Kurtis MacDermid -- Matt Roy

Jonathan Quick

Jack Campbell

Scratched: Joakim Ryan, Trevor Lewis, Tyler Toffoli

Injured: Derek Forbort (back)

No surprise that there’s no change in goal for the Canucks aside from Markstrom starting, and we should see Demko Friday against Anaheim or Saturday when they head up the coast to San Jose.

GAME DAY CHATTER:

If you’ve been on Twitter any amount of time, you may be familiar with Bruce Ng aka @transcendwebs and his awesome Halloween pumpkins. This year’s version just frickin’ nailed it. Nicely done, Bruce.

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN:

Brand new CHILDREN OF BODOM for you today. The Finnish band’s new album ‘Hexed’ is out now on Nuclear Blast Records.