After today’s team meeting, Darryl Sutter didn’t tip his hand as to lineup changes — including goalie — but did say, “We’re going to put some guys in who didn’t play” against St. Louis. It’s possible that there will be a couple line-combination as well, and Sutter, it seems, will be looking for much more from his centers than he got last night.
SUTTER: “You look at the matchups. They wanted Backes against Kopitar, and Arnott against Richards, and Berglund against Stoll. That should be all right (for the Kings), when you look at it, but when you look at it at the end of the night, their three guys clearly outplayed our three guys. That’s the difference in the game.”
Asked how Kyle Clifford fared, in his second-line role, Sutter only said, “Hey, we lost. I wasn’t happy with anyone.”
How have the Kings fared in the second of back-to-back games this season? Relatively well, actually. This is the ninth set of back-to-back games the Kings have faced this season (six more remain), and in the previous eight, the Kings have a 2-2-4 record in the second game. The breakdown follows…
Oct. 7-8: Win vs. New York Rangers, loss vs. Buffalo
Oct. 29-30: Overtime loss at Phoenix, loss at Colorado
Nov. 7-8: Loss at San Jose, win vs. Nashville
Nov. 16-17: Win vs. Anaheim, win at Anaheim
Nov. 22-23: Win at St. Louis, overtime loss at Dallas
Dec. 22-23: Win vs. Anaheim, shootout loss at San Jose
Dec. 28-29: Win at Chicago, overtime loss at Winnipeg
Jan. 14-15: Win at Calgary, overtime loss at Edmonton
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