Freeway Face-Off: Round 4

Graphic: NHL

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks(21-16-9) host their crosstown rivals the Los Angeles Kings(24-16-5) tonight. The Ducks are 1-0-2 against the Kings so far this season. The game starts at 7:00 PM PT and will be on Prime Ticket locally and AM 830.

Fans are encouraged to show up early for warmups with “#831” signs. There will also be someone passing signs out as well near the glass.

Anaheim Outlook:

The Ducks are facing the Kings for their second time in the past week. Anaheim #BeatLA last Saturday 4-2. Andrew Cogliano was suspended two games for his hit on Adrian Kemp in that contest and will return tonight ironically against the Kings. Rickard Rakell leads the team with 16 goals and Ondrej Kase has 12.

Check out our recent podcast at the bottom of this article as we discussed the Cogliano suspension at length.

Keys To The Game

The Ducks need the same kind of start they had against the Kings last week when they were able to get an early 2-0 lead and then a 3-0 lead later in the game. Anaheim will want to be physical in this game but will look to avoid any kind of head contact since the spotlight appears to be on them.

Anaheim’s Projected Lineup:

Offense
Rickard Rakell – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie – Adam Henrique – Ondrej Kase
Jared Boll – Chris Wagner – J.T. Brown

Defense
Cam Fowler  – Kevin Bieksa
Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson
Francois Beauchemin – Brandon Montour

In Net
John Gibson, 15-13-5, GAA 2.64, SV% .922 (Unconfirmed)

Los Angeles Outlook:

The Kings played the Pittsburgh Penguins last night and lost 3-1. Dustin Brown was given a five minute major and a game misconduct on this boarding play last night. It will be interesting if the Department of NHL Player Safety reviews the play and suspends him. Anze Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli lead the team with 18 goals on the season, Brown has 15.

Keys To The Game

The Kings are going to continue to play physical against the Kings and why shouldn’t they when they can take headshots without being penalized. Los Angeles can’t afford to get down early in this contest especially since they just played last night. The Kings are going to need to a strong start if they want to avoid their sixth loss in a row.

Los Angeles Projected Lineup:

Offense
Tanner Pearson – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Marian Gaborik – Adrian Kempe – Tyler Toffoli
Kyle Clifford – Nick Shore – Trevor Lewis
Andy Andreoff – Torrey Mitchell – Jussi Jokinen

Defense
Derek Forbort – Drew Doughty
Kurtis MacDermid – Alec Martinez
Oscar Fantenberg – Christian Folin

In Net
Jonathan Quick, 19-15-2, GAA 2.35, SV% .924 (Unconfirmed)

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January 19th, 2018