Game Thread: G30 18-7-4 Kings vs Flames 12/23/22

[PuckinUgly57]

7pm game start tonight to accommodate people on Calgary, need a string bounce back from the loss on Wednesday to the Kraken.

Lots of things to work out, they have regressed the last 8-10 games. It's the little things I've noticed, attention to detail, but one of those mistakes seems to cost them a goal at least 1x a game in this stretch.

Calgary is just about "mid" as the cool kids say these days, very average in just about everything so this is a good game for LA to right the ship. Their PK is 7th, not that is matters anyway with the Kings PP being trash this season, but I think a PP goal will be scored.

Curious who will start, Talbot or Rittich. Talbot looked good against Seattle, but Rittich looked good against SJ. The schedule is about to become heavily compressed after January 1, the Kings will be playing basically every other day through April. No more stretched out games allowing them to stay fresh and uninjured.

Gavrikov was back at practice but his status is unclear, they recalled Moverare (paper move, he never left) so he may still be playing. Makes sense, Kings don't play again until Wednesday 12/27, a few extra days of rest and rehab wouldn't hurt.

Prediction: PLD gets off the shneid (1A in Dec? Ouch...), Kempe and Grundstrom. It's a 3-2 league.

Let's Go Kings!

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Switched over from the Bills Chargers game (fun fact: that crazy Asian Charger fan lady? My son's friend's mom, lives about a mile from us), who's the young pudd with Fox? They're not going Faust Redux on us are they?

 

[CaptHowdy00]

Supposedly he’s just covering for Nick. I hope to god this guy isn’t taking over.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Buster with the rocket, nice. Even better it was on the PP.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Interesting game. Take a lead, let them back in, take a lead, let them back in. The back end is different with Gavrikov out, that is clear. Nothing against Moverare but he isn't Gavrikov*.

The penalties didn't help of course, players get gassed and it jumbles up the rhythm of line combos although I don't know what was up with that double minor to Kempe. That was a terrible call.

Good game by the PLD line, he seemed like that difference maker we've all been waiting to see. Need that more consistently, they were everywhere creating problems. Fiala didn't pull a Fiala which is nice, would like to see him start scoring.

Great game by Buster, you could see the jets when he caught up to and beat Hannifin for the EN goal. Obviously more impressed with his actual goal, very different from what we've seen with his scoring. Had no idea he had a slapshot like that. He racks up points in bunches but then is off the scoresheet for a bit, which is common with high end scorers. Really hoping to eat crow come the end of the season.

All in all not a bad game but a little too close for my liking considering it was the Flames. I don't think they win this game if that was Vegas and they played like this. They need to reset, enjoy the Christmas break and get back to their domination of the early season. I don't mean just goals, I mean the way they came out, punched teams in the throat and basically stunned them into a loss because they were too much to handle.

*it's clear the organization has absolutely zero faith or confidence in Bjornfot. At least the Kings got Moore out of that deal which has been great, but they really shit the bed with that 22OA pick. Hopefully he's moved for a piece come the TDL and they draft another LHD in a later round next year to cover his spot in Ontario.