After one of the more impressive goaltending displays by Connor Hellebuyck allowed the Winnipeg Jets to steal a couple points in Minnesota, the team continued their road trip by heading to sunny California for tonight’s clash against the Los Angeles Kings.
The Los Angeles Kings (11-8-3) recently lost starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper (.903%) to an injury and former Jet David Rittich (.883%) filled in very well in the first three games, only allowing 1 goal against per game. That hot stretch ended in the Kings’ last match though, as Rittich was lit up by San Jose for 7 goals on 21 shots.
The Winnipeg Jets (18-4-0) are half way through their longest road trip of the season and are working their way through injury woes too with defender Dylan Samberg recently sustaining a broken bone on a shot block. The big American defender was putting up numbers suggesting the level of an elite shutdown defenseman and will leave a big hole on the Jets’ 2nd pairing.
Here is how PuckPedia is predicting Los Angeles & Winnipeg to line up their players this evening:
The Jets’ leading scorers this season include Kyle Connor (27), Mark Scheifele (26), Nikolaj Ehlers (23), Josh Morrissey (20), & 7 more players with at least 10 points.
The Kings’ offense has been coming Anze Kopitar (25), Adrian Kempe (21), & 7 more players with at least 10 points.
Lets check out how the two franchises compare head-to-head based on this season’s stats and take a peek at ESPN’s review of the masked men:
Overall I thought the Winnipeg Jets’ effort was pretty good against Minnesota, even though the Wild’s intensity overshadowed that in the first half of the game. I haven’t seen many LA King games this season, but since they are sitting in a tie for 10th….they can’t be that bad. So that means our Peggers will need to roll 4 strong forward lines in order to give the short-staffed defense a bit of a break tonight.
As usual, LA is once again great at suppressing shots & goal scoring chances against, so scoring the opening goal of the contest could make it much easier for Winnipeg to walk away with a win.
Lets hear everyone’s thoughts about how this late game will play out? Who will make a key play or score a big goal? Will Ville Heinola look better or worse in his 2nd game of the year?
Go Winnipeg!!
