Nashville at Los Angeles 11/7/09

[LAKINGSNUT]

NASHVILLE PREDATORS (6-7-1)


at


LOS ANGELES KINGS (10-4-2)

GAME MEDIA
TV Broadcast:
Home Team: NONE
Away Team: NONE
Radio Broadcast:
Home Team: KTLK AM 1150
Road Team: WRQQ FM 97.1
XM Radio Channel: XM 205
Online Radio broadcast stream: NHL Game Radio: Predators at Kings
Online Webcast: None Available At Time Of Post


Up next for Kings: Saturday vs. Nashville

Los Angeles is riding high with the league's fourth-highest standing point total.

Update: The Kings are off to their best start since the 1992-93 season with a 10-4-2 record, a league fourth-best 22 points and a second-place standing in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. A win or overtime loss against the Predators would mark the ninth consecutive game the Kings have recorded a point, a feat the team hasn't accomplished since the 1980-81 season.

-- Mark Medina


Predators will try to slow down high-octane Kings
Saturday, 11.07.2009 / 1:24 PM
NHL.com

PREDATORS (6-7-1) at KINGS (10-4-2)

Last 10 -- Nashville 4-5-1; Los Angeles 6-2-2

Season series -- First of four meetings this season. Nashville swept Los Angeles last season, with the Kings gaining their lone point courtesy of a 4-3 overtime loss in the most recent matchup on April 8. Predators defenseman Shea Weber led both sides with three goals. Dan Ellis and Pekka Rinne each won a pair of games in net for Nashville.

Big story -- It's been three weeks since the Kings have failed to pick up at least a point in a game, with their record 6-0-2 after falling 4-1 in Columbus on Oct. 17. Anze Kopitar has surged to the NHL lead in scoring with 26 points, and his 13 goals is just one behind Alex Ovechkin. The Predators won't be facing the same team they repeatedly got the better of last season.

Team Scope:

Predators -- A 6-5 overtime win in Ottawa back on Oct. 22 seemed to wake up the slumbering Nashville offense and sent the team on a stretch of four wins in five games. But the Predators were once again stymied on Thursday in Anaheim, losing 4-0 as goalie Jonas Hiller put on a clinic and stopped 40 shots. Weber and J.P. Dumont both missed the game due to injuries, and the power play turned in an 0-for-5 performance.

"It wasn't as sharp, no question," coach Barry Trotz said. "We couldn't capitalize on our power-play chances. I didn't think we got enough traffic in front on the early power plays. Later on, we tried to do that a little more, but they did a good job defending it."

Kings -- Kopitar scored early and late in a 5-2 win Thursday over defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh. He got Los Angeles going with a goal just 27 seconds into the game, then sparked a four-goal rally in the third. Defenseman Rob Scuderi, who signed with the Kings in the offseason after helping the Penguins win the Cup, was part of a team-wide effort that held Sidney Crosby off the scoresheet.

"There was no special strategy," coach Terry Murray said. "We’re looking at our forecheck game, and a big part of our responsibility is that high third man, is to cover over the center iceman. We ask that against any team that we play, but I think there’s greater awareness when you have the elite player, that Crosby is, out on the ice against you.

"That third guy in the offensive zone, in the middle of the ice, was well taken care of. I thought every one of our forwards, against them, read that the right way."

Who's hot -- Dumont has two goals and nine points in his last five games and leads the Predators in scoring this season with 11 points despite playing in only nine games. They could certainly use his help against the Kings.

Kopitar and linemate Ryan Smith (20 points) have been lighting it up all season, but the emergence of goalie Jonathan Quick, whose 10 wins have him among the League leaders, should not be overlooked.

Injury report -- On the Nashville side, Dumont hurt himself in practice earlier this week. Weber's sore foot could keep him out for a week or two. Martin Erat has been out with a lower-body injury but is nearing his return. Los Angeles currently has a healthy roster.

Stat pack -- Second-year Predators forward Patric Hornqvist was responsible for a quarter of the shots Hiller stopped Thursday, putting 10 pucks on net. Hornqvist leads the team this season with 53 shots.

Puck drop -- Nashville finished 20th in the League last season with 2.52 goals per game and is currently tied with Carolina for the lowest scoring output this season at 1.93 goals per game. It's left Ellis and Rinne with precious little margin for error, and could make for a rough going against the potent Los Angeles offense unless some scorers step it up.


PROBABLE LINES
Los Angeles:
Smyth - Kopitar - Williams
Parse - Stoll - Brown
Frolov - Handzus - Simmonds
Ivanans - Richardson - Purcell

Scuderi - Doughty
Johnson - O'Donnell
Drewiske - Greene

Probable Starter: Jonathan Quick

Nashville:
Sullivan - Arnott - Hornqvist
Smithson - Legwand - Ward
Thuresson - Santorelli - Scatchard
Belak - Goc - Tootoo

Suter - Hamhuis
Klein - Bouillon
Sulzer - Franson

Probable Starter: Pekka Rinne


***Credit: LA Times, Kings fan site, Kings.NHL.com, Predators.NHL.com

[LAKINGSNUT]

NO TV! NO TV! NO TV!

i'm still looking for a webcast of the game, but since there is no TV at all, there may be none available! if anyone knows of a webcast of the game, please post it!

[caps05]

Originally Posted by LAKINGSNUT

NO TV! NO TV! NO TV!

i'm still looking for a webcast of the game, but since there is no TV at all, there may be none available! if anyone knows of a webcast of the game, please post it!

That's screwed up. Usually FSN West carries every game.

[NickDoh]

looks like, or rather SOUNDS like a http://www.progressivetalk1150.com/main.html day....

but yeah, fsn west usually only carries 60something games a year, and picks up upwards of 5 more throughout the season. but usually the other market is at least carrying the game, but there always seems to be one or two like this every year where nobody has it. i think it was a phoenix game last year neither team carried.

but yup, bound to be a great one since theres no tv. probably like 4 fights. etc lol.

[NickDoh]

in between the 1st and 2nd the web stream of am1150 took a dump on me, so i didnt listen to any of it past the first, but judging by the boxscore im glad i missed it!

cant win em all. at least anze got an assist.

[LAKINGSNUT]

this really sucked, but you're right. i'm glad i didn't see this.

[Chaddog13]

Was pissed that this game wasnt televised... Then glad it wasnt...


Keep em coming Kopi!!!

[Mesa Rats]

Didnt like how this game wasnt on tv even though they lost. FSN seems to have pretty weak coverage seeing as they are not televising around 18 games and that is almost a 1/4 of the season. Lakers and Dodgers have every game on tv. its time they step it up and hopefully pick up a local broadcast like when they used to have kcal cover a handful of games every year. I see the ducks have done this and only have a couple games not televised.