LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

The Kings and Blues are the same team.  Terrific defensively.  Struggle offensively.  Fantastic goaltending.  Mid-season coaching changes that turned their seasons around.  Rosters built through the draft.  The comparisons can go on forever.  So here are three reasons to be worried and three reasons to be confident going into tonight... REASONS TO BE WORRIED... 1.   JEFF CARTER .  After his epic pass of the skate to Dustin Penner on the Kings game-winning goal, Carter disappeared of the scoresheet. It’s easy to speculate that his ankle is still bothering him. Hopefully, the week off helped his rehab along a bit more because the Kings will need Carter to contribute in the goal column vs. St. Louis. 2.   GIVEAWAYS . Obviously the statistic varies from arena to arena but the Kings had 58 giveaways to 36 takeaways. There were times in the series where the defense was unable to clear the zone that lead to scoring opportunities for Vancouver. St. Louis is relentless on the forechec

Los Angeles: Upset City? Despite the Canucks capturing their second consecutive President’s Trophy; they play in the worst division in the NHL.  The Northwest Division is the only division in hockey featuring one playoff team.  With Daniel Sedin unlikely to play Game 1, the Canucks potent offense doesn’t look nearly as impressive.  Canucks fans will turn to the final nine games of the season in which Vancouver went 8-1 without Daniel to prove that they’ve got enough depth.  I’d argue that eight of those nine games came against non-playoff opponents.  The only playoff opponent? A 1-0 victory over Los Angeles where Luongo stood on his head and stopped 40 shots. Make no mistake about it: the Kings offense has struggled to score all season long up until the last month of the season.  The Kings believe they have a real shot to upset Vancouver.  And they should be confident that they’ve got a chance to take down the top team in the regular season. The Kings and Canucks battled each othe

Doughty could win or lose this series for the Kings. Most Kings fans would immediately give the advantage to Los Angeles here.  The Kings allowed 2.07 goals per game, 2 nd best in the league but Vancouver wasn’t far behind allowing 2.22 goals, 5 th best. Both teams  showcase two of the brightest young blueliners in the NHL.  The Kings are led by 22-year old Drew Doughty, who burst onto the scene as one of Canada's best defenseman in the 2010 Olympics.  The past two seasons have been filled with inconsistencies and a contract dispute but make no mistake he's still been the Kings most valuable blueliner.  With the departure of Christian Ehrhoff to Buffalo via free agency, 25-year-old Swede Alexander Edler made sure the Canucks didn’t miss a beat and had by far the most productive season of his young career. The Kings and Canucks bluelines are built differently.  The Kings have three puck-moving defenseman featuring Doughty, Slava Voynov, and Alec Martinez.  Each are paire

The Kings can score now. Each team relies on their top-line to lead the way offensively.  The line of Kopitar-Brown-Williams were the Kings' top three point producers this season.  Vancouver's top line of the Sedins and Burrows also led the way for the Canucks.  Both lines have produced at a similar pace this season.  L.A.'s top trio has combined for 69 goals while Vancouver's has combined for 72 goals.  Both lines led their respective teams during their four regular season matchups this season.  For Los Angeles, Anze Kopitar (goal, 3 assists) and Justin Williams (2 goals, 1 assist) led the way.  Vancouver was led by the NHL’s favorite Swedish twins, Daniel (goal, 3 assists) and Henrik Sedin (2 assists).  The Kings offensive struggles have been well-documented.  They were shutout a league-high 10 times this season.  With that said, the Kings have only been shutout once since the acquisition of Jeff Carter (vs. Vancouver 1-0).  The Kings have actually averaged three

Jonathan Quick: Vezina Worthy The Kings choked again!  Ryan Clowe stole the Pacific Division from us!  Jonathan Quick can’t win the big game!  Forget all that… On March 1 st , the Kings were sitting in 10 th place with a 29-23-12 record after winning only five of fourteen games in the month of February but after the acquisition of Jeff Carter; Los Angeles has gone 13-5-3. The Canucks, winners of back-to-back Presidents’ Trophy are looking to make back-to-back Stanley Cup appearances after falling to Boston in the Finals a year ago.  Much has been made of their regular season success in recent years but Vancouver is still in search of that elusive first Stanley Cup. This teams split four regular season games by a total of one goal.  Two games were decided by a goal and another by a shootout .  Goaltending in the series will be huge. GOALTENDING Both Jonathan and Quick and Roberto Luongo have had Vezina-worthy campaigns.  Quick’s numbers have been absolutely spectacular this s