Kings vs Hurricanes: Game Day Preview

Get ready for what will be a good one in the latest installment of Kings vs Hurricanes.

Game number 56 of the NHL season takes the Los Angeles Kings to Raleigh, North Carolina to take on the Carolina Hurricanes. It is the Kings’ third game on their season-long seven game road trip.

With only three points separating four teams vying for two spots in the Pacific Division, every game from here until April will feel like a must win for the Kings. Their game against the Hurricanes is no different.

The Kings are trying to rebound after losing to the NHL points leader in theTampa Bay Lightining in a game that some them close 4-1 deficit to lose 4-3. Kings fans are hoping that, against the Hurricanes, the players won’t allow themselves to fall into a hole that they have to dig out of.

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There are three keys for the Kings against the Hurricanes:

Secondary Scoring

Though the Kings lost against the Lightning, their offense was led by bottom six forwards Johnny Brodzinski, Kyle Clifford, Andy Andreoff, and Nick Shore.

The four grinders combined for two goals and four assists on 9 shots on goal. For Brodzinski it was his second game in a row scoring, while Andreoff and Shore also recorded points for the second consecutive game.

Beating the Hurricanes will require the same kind of depth from their lineup, especially if the Kings top six forwards fail to find the net.

Special Teams

The Kings continue to have one of the best penalty killing teams; currently second in the league at an 84.6% kill percentage. In the last three games, though, the Kings have given up a goal while trying to kill a power play. Fortunately for the Kings, the Hurricanes currently sit at 20th on power play percentage.

If the Kings can’t stay out of the box they’ll  need to key in on Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen, who leads the Hurricanes in power play points with14. Teravainen is the forward that drives the power play and is tied for the team lead with 11 assists.

The Kings need to stick to Teravainen if they want to clamp down on the Hurricanes power play.

Faceoffs

Despite playing a strong possession type of game in order to keep the puck the Kings will have to get the puck. That won’t be easy against the Hurricanes, as they are second among league leaders in faceoff win percentage at 53.1 percent.

This was reflected in their game against the Kings early in December. The Hurricanes won 30 faceoffs in the game and that helped them lead the game in shots with 34. The Kings have struggled this year with faceoffs, winning less than 50 percent of their faceoffs so far.

They’ve lost those battles in both road games played so far. Against the Panthers they were able to comeback and win, but against the Lightning their comeback fell short.

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Against the hurricanes they’ll have to find a way to overcome their continuing struggles on faceoffs in order to win.