What haus, Juice? Where? Are you hallucinating again? Don’t tell me you’ve sacrificed Z for Ovie and have Fedorov driving the limo this time, headed for Alaska…
(Insert requisite Palin-Russian joke here.)
Jooce, Put the parfait spoon down and back away from mint choco chip. Sllooowwlllyy
Alright, all right, I deserve that.
Yep, I’m talking about Ovie, Sergei, Alex and Nic right here at the Staples Center, in sunny, breezy, easy Los Ange-sleezy, home of the ravaging wildfires.
Hmm…, I wonder why there are no LA sports teams with that name…trust me it fits.
The Washington Capitals are making their way up the Pacific Rim to hit all the Cali teams this week, and after a lovely little routing of the Ducks last night, the Caps, happy to have Ovie firing on ALL Cylinders, are scheduled to take on the LA Kings tonight.
Ovie is in the Haus, tonight, here in LA-la, and I am stoked! Getting to see the league’s premiere offensive monster and my homeboy No. 91- seriously cool.
I woke today and tried to decide if I would wear my Red Wings jersey to the game I quickly decided not to, I mean if I had a Federov jersey, well that would be different.
Then I found myself thinking about who should win this game. Of course the first thing that came to mind was “Naturally, the Caps”. But as this day wore on, I realized, that was a presumptuous call. And the more I thought about it the more I felt strongly about predicting that there could be an upset win for the Kings…
Stop! Stop trying to take my spoon away from me and Listen.
Calling it
I’m calling the Kings for the upset tonight. OOOh this is fun! When you’re not personally vested in a team, its fun to say things like that. Oh wait- it sucks, because if they do, then my fantasy team tanks (I gots Ovie.).
But here it is again, I think the Kings will take this one. Yep. I know. The Caps are considered the better team -by far. I don’t disagree. Just hear me out….
Cap Guns, the “young” is implied
Caps are offensively explosive and their scorers are on fire, Ovie, Fedorov, Backstrom and Semin have been wicked excellent of late, with Ovie finally clicking, the Washington Capitals are one of the most exciting teams to watch. We can definitely expect a high shooting game. But they have weaknesses.
Other than Mike Green, their D needs to solidify and their goal tending is hot and cold. Theodore is not my favorite goalie and I think he is beatable. He’s 6-3 with a 3.19 GAA. Now to be fair, I’m not taking too much stock in GAA this season because I’ve seem way too many games with 6-5 scores. His SV% is .899, so you make the call. I think that is marginal. Their back up has a better record, 5-1, but I think Jose is getting the nod tonight.
What do I have to do to wake you up, Pop-a-Cap in yo azz?
Caps will come into to LA on the third game of a 5 game road trip and this is their second day in LA- the jet lag will start to hit, and playing at 7:30 our time is 10:30 their time. The third period comes at midnight for these guys.
Complacency with a Capital “C”
Washington hasn’t had a regulation loss since Nov. 1. That said, most teams don’t come into the Staples Center ever expecting to lose the game, some teams may be cocky enough to think it’s a gimmee. The back up goalie usually plays, and 3 and 4th lines get more ice time. Given the number of wins they have going in and the fact that they are on game 3 of a 5 game road trip, if anything will lull the team into complacency, it could be the perception of an easy win against LA.
Kingdom Comeback (Don’t call it)
Nobody expects anything of the Kings. I still hear people saying the Kings are the worst team in the league, when my eyes tell me differently. I’m here to say that the Kings are better than people are giving them credit for. And being underestimated can often give you the element of surprise. One thing I can tell you is this:
They are hungry. They are Burger King Hungry, they are Whopper Hungry, they are two all beef patties, special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun hungry. Wait- wrong sandwich…..? hmmm IDK.
Kings are playing better together than last year and they play a full 60 minutes. They don’t stop fighting and working. They have a better comfort level with each other. You don’t even see guys fall off the bench during a line change anymore… They don’t give up and even their 6-5 looked good the last time I saw them play.
Kopie, Ovie, Ovie, Uma
I’m not stacking Kopitar up against Ovie by any means here, but the Kings are running two solid lines that work their tails off. Their first line: Kopitar, Brown, and O’Sullivan (previously Calder) can compete with many other teams first lines, and their second line of Frolov, Moeller, and Stoll have been consistent, earning most of the goals in the last 3-4 games. True they have the second lowest number of goals this season in the league, but when they score these are the guys getting it done.
And Doughty, Quincey and Boyle are showing solid improvements over last year, and with Doughty I am seeing a maturity level I would not expect from an 18 year old kid.
Solid Goal (tending)
True, the Kings aren’t getting many goals, but more interestingly, they aren’t letting in many goals. The Los Angeles Kings haven’t let more than 4 in per game, yet this season. That is better than many of the leagues best teams can attest. Ersberg with his GAA of 1.95 and a 5-1 season start is a hot goalie right now and he will get the start tonight. Not that it matters since both Kings goalies have better stats than the Caps goalies: LaBarbera has a GAA off 3.01.
Kings will Cap italize on your mistakes.
Just ask Dallas. Brendan Morrow told us that the stars came out flat against the Kings last week, (though frankly given the roller coaster the Stars are on this season, they could use a bit more flat). For argument sake, lets say we agree with Mr. Morrow, The Stars were flat against the Kings. Well the Kings were able to capitalize on the lethargy and pull out the win against a team who is better than their record currently indicates and which should have beat them handily.
And by “handily”, I don’t mean dropping the gloves in last 5 minutes of the game, or by boarding someone into the opposing team’s bench.
Some Sun Sum
In short, this 7-10 Kings team can win a game. The Kings offense isn’t nearly as strong as the Caps, but the defense is more even than the experts would have you believe, with the Kings getting an edge from Doughty and Goaltending. Look for lots of shots, and if Ersberg stands on his head, something like a 3-2 score…And if the Caps can’t fight the jet lag, or if they underestimate the Kings, if the Kings have a really good night, with the new line changes clicking, look for this 3-2 score to be in favor of the boys in Black.
Of course if it ends up being a 6-1 game Caps over Kings, with Ovie getting 3 points, trust me, I will happily eat that crow and vow to never again make another prediction.
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