Posted by Staples Center will host what looks to be a marquee match up between two Pacific giants the San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings. This will be their second to last meeting in the regular season and judging how the Kings have played against the Sharks so far this is going to be a pivotal game for the boys in teal.
Photo courtesy of C. Alexander
Both teams are coming off of devastating losses. Saturday night San Jose’s careless turnovers sealed their fate which lead to four unanswered goals by Detroit. Earlier in the week that same Redwings team stole away a win over LA in the last 17 seconds of the game. This loss and the one suffered last night against the St. Louis Blues has a determined Kings team itching for a win.
Before the Sharks traveled to Los Angeles this afternoon they were put through a vigorous practice held at San Jose Ice. Sprints, sprints, and more sprints were the result of not working hard in practice, not an over flow of frustration from last nights loss as stated by coach McLellan.
The last time these two teams met, which was last week, turned out to be a blood bath. An ugly game played by San Jose and a brilliant one played by the Kings. LA scored early and didn’t let up. The Sharks were down 6-0 until 3 minutes in to the third period when defenseman Douglas Murray scored on the PP. Marleau would continue his point streak adding a goal, but it didn’t matter the damage was done.
The Kings have shown this season that they are a team to be respected and feared. Shocking and silencing their critics they found themselves atop not only the Western Conference but the NHL. Having youth, size, skill, and veteran leadership on their side is deadly against any opponent.
The Kings will be without defenseman Matt Greene as he has had back issues this past week and suffered an injury during his fight against Crombeen in last nights throw down as well. He is scheduled to get an MRI and is expected to miss a few games. This is bad news for the 8th place Kings as they are only 1 point ahead of 9th place Detroit.
Photo courtesy of C. Alexander
Win or no, this is going to be a very physical hard fought game. The Sharks need to come out ready to skate, ready to play, and ready for battle. Keys the to game:
1) Take the crowd out of the game. As of late Staples Center has been selling out and they have a loyal and rowdy crowd.
2) Puck control. Last nights game!!, ‘nuf said…
3) Solid goal tending. In the last 5 games there has only been an average of 23 shots on goal. In the game against LA alone there was only 16 total. Nabby needs to step it up.
The action starts at 7:30 PST
***I will be attending this game and will be doing live Twitter updates. Follow me at: http://twitter.com/Calexander17
Chelsea Alexander
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