This is the third of four meetings this season between the Kings and the Calgary Flames, and follows the Kings’ 4-1 victory in Calgary on Jan. 14 and the Flames’ 2-1 shootout victory in Los Angeles on Jan. 19. This is a battle for a playoff spot. If the Flames win in regulation, they will move ahead of the Kings and into eighth place in the Western Conference. Calgary has a 4-0-3 record in February, even though the Flames have been without a small platoon of injured players, including Mikael Backlund, Curtis Glencross, Lee Stempniak and Derek Smith. Not surprisingly, the Flames have been winning because they haven’t been giving up a lot of goals. The Flames have allowed a total of only 12 regulation goals in their last seven games. Calgary is also 3-0-4 in its last seven road games. A reminder that tonight’s game is a 7 p.m. start, although that will be delayed a bit by the Charlie Simmer pregame ceremony. For the latest on the Flames, check out the coverage from the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, followed by tonight’s probable lineups for the Kings and the Flames…
Calgary Herald’s Flames coverage
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KINGS LINEUP
Dustin Brown-Anze Kopitar-Justin Williams
Dwight King-Mike Richards-Jordan Nolan
Kyle Clifford-Andrei Loktionov-Trevor Lewis
Dustin Penner-Colin Fraser-Brad Richardson
Rob Scuderi-Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell-Jack Johnson
Davis Drewiske-Matt Greene
Jonathan Quick
Jonathan Bernier
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FLAMES LINEUP
Alex Tanguay-Olli Jokinen-Jarome Iginla
Tom Kostopoulos-Michael Cammalleri-Blake Comeau
Lance Bouma-Roman Horak-Krys Kolanos
Paul Byron-Matt Stajan-Tim Jackman
Chris Butler-Jay Bouwmeester
Scott Hannan-Mark Giordano
Cory Sarich-T.J. Brodie
Miikka Kiprusoff
Leland Irving
Kings desperately need a win tonight.
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toemas_sandstrom Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
@mike in LA, Every night…
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
@mike in LA, they need to win all the time..Which they wont because they are not a winning team..
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Hate to say it, but the Kings are essentially on pace for an 85-87 point season. Things are going to have to drastically change for them to make the playoffs this year.
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kill people and put the biscuit in the oven top shelf where momma hides the cookies or what ever that crazy buffalo announcer says
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gene Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
@7milforhickey, Thats funny, thanks
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Steve W Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:53 pm
@7milforhickey, ‘Top shelf and behind the cookie.’ Rick Jeanneret(?) is his name.
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Duncanz Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 7:06 pm
@Steve W, Rick Jeanneret, THE most exciting commentator in hockey hands down!
He’s 70 so he doesn’t do all the games anymore, but he makes Sabres games sound more thrilling than any other team’s in the league!
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5 of our top 9 forwards are rookies or second year players, and none of them are big scoring threats. 6 years in . . .
That said, they are all pros and have to handle their business tonight.
Go Kings Go!
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Kingfan61 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 5:44 am
@Kenny44, Good call Kenny
I saw some other people commenting about Carter being a “center” and that he would not fit b/c of that.
The only real difference is D zone responsibility. It’s easy to transition to the Wing from Center… it happens all the time during a game if you pay attention. Although the way sutter swaps line combos how could you know?
That being said in my experience a playmake is a playmanker; a goal scorer is a goal scorer. However VERY seldomly do people develop into outstanding point producers. I will grant you that it takes 1-2 seasons for a rookie to get acclimated; however the 2nd line is not the place to do it unless you can put up .75 / game minimum. As you can see even a stud like Mike Richards can’t produce the way he has in the past b/c unless its PP he has neither a goal scorer or a play maker with him. At every level I played @ including junior etc I scored 1.25 / points a game every season +/- .25 largely dependent upon my role.
D Brown is a great checking line player; 2 assists in the past 5 games and Kopi’s still stuck with him trying to bang around on the first line. Look @ his career stats he’s a .5 pt / game to a .75 pt /game max guy and its not going to change. He’s playing right to his average this year – no let down – doing exactly what you would expect of him. Which is great for a 3rd line guy or even a low end 2nd line guy; however it is totally unacceptable for a 1st line guy playing with a playmaker and snipe like Kopitar not to avg .8 pts / game as an absolute minimum. D Brown great character guy, great work ethic, great physical play… could be an asset to some team – should be trade bait. Teams trade captains or we wouldn’t have MR.
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I had a dream last night that the Kings traded Brown and MR got the C. It was a good dream.
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goldielocks Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:03 pm
@kingfan91,
It can’t be cause they are still together in my dream. It was 2 days ago though …
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Kingfan61 Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 7:05 pm
What if they traded anyone / everyone except for Kopi, Richards, Quick, Johnson and Doughty for Rick Nash and or Jeff Carter… and still gave Richards the C?
Mike Richards gets to play with Dwight “stone hands” King and Jordan “i’m no Owen” Nolen, 2 tall guys with the hands of in-house pee-wees… but don’t worry Sutter never plays any 3 forwards together more than 3 times in any period; chemistry looked great in the 1-0 loss to Phoenix.
Anything helps…
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The hosers on CBC say CBJ wants 2 players, 2 prospects, and picks for Nash. No harm in asking I guess.
They believe Kings will make a play for Carter.
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goldielocks Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:05 pm
@Kenny44,
I thought CBJ is trying to sell Carter to LAK.
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:09 pm
@goldielocks, They said Kings have interest, talked about reuniting him with Richards, and then explained his no-trade as not being vested yet.
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Gmo Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:12 pm
@Kenny44,
Give them Penner , Richardson, Hickey, other prospect and a pick. Doubt they would go for it
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40YearKingsFan Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:31 pm
@Kenny44, How bout Penner, blah blah blah. It just doesn’t work money wise unless we give them Stoll and I wish we didn’t have to. Sorry.
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:49 pm
@40YearKingsFan, I think DL fired his big deal bullets to get Richards. We’d have to give up too much to get Nash, because it’s going to take JJ, one more roster player (or two if one is Bernier), Toffoli, Hickey, and two draft picks.
Maybe the price comes down after CBJ’s east coast trip and Philly and NYR say no.
Whatever happened to the days when you could get Selanne for Tverdovsky and Sean Pronger?
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neil Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:36 pm
@Kenny44, Bernier and Martinez…etc..go for it!!!
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Hmmm … sounds like some teams are pulling from Nash trade including the Rangers.
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jacky boy Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:28 pm
@goldielocks, Its a two team race bw LA and Philly. Obviously DL will be the loser. As he was w Gaborik. As he was w Hossa. As he was w Kovalchuk. As he was w B Richards… No need to follow the Kings bc they are always going to be losers. Stick w the Lakers and you ahall be rewarded with the likes of Shaq Kobe and now prob Howard
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
@jacky boy, WTH, man? You sound like that guy who tells his friend’s wife about how much hotter his old girlfriend was. Don’t be that guy. If you take the time to come, please try to be constructive in your criticism. Otherwise, enjoy the last 2 minutes of the Lakers’ games.
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Steve W Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
@jacky boy, B. Richards wanted his grandfather to watch his games at a reasonable time, that’s why he didn’t come to the Kings!
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Steve W Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
@Steve W, Who lives in Eastern Canada.
Sutter better do drastic line changes for tonight. If he sticks with the same lines as last Thursday’s game expect a Kings offense to struggle tonight. It is time for Kings players to own up to their mistakes and missed opportunities. Watching this Kings team this season has been very demoralizing. Lots of potential and no execution. If DL does not bring quality center and forwards during the off season Quick will not resign with the Kings. It is simply as that! If Quick was not playing the way he is this season the Kings would have bee botton dwellers
like Columbus.
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40YearKingsFan Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:22 pm
@Cesar A,
Expect the Kings offense to struggle? I expect that every game nowadays. I like your optimism! I’m at the point where I don’t think the line combos even matter. Either they’re going to work their way out of this funk, or they’re not. But,,,,, I’m going to be rooting for them either way. It’s the curse of being a Kings fan!
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My son and I should be on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. They filmed a group of us cheering on the Kings in front of Staples. GKG!!!!
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Gmo Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:21 pm
@DesertKing,
Exciting
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40YearKingsFan Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:23 pm
@DesertKing, That’s cool! Hope they put you guys on!
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DesertKing Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:28 pm
@40YearKingsFan,
Gotta represent!
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Definition of insanity: Doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result. I love the Kings, but gotta say watching this team’s scoring woes has been incredibly frustrating. From the coaching staff switching line combos, hiring a new coach, bringing in players from Manchester, so on and so forth–It. Is. Not. Working. Then we get soul crushing post game interviews saying the same thing ad nausiem “We gotta find a way to score more goals, we gotta find a way to win close games”. How profound…
I don’t blame the owners for being stingy. I commend them for having the guts to get Mike Richards, and then to make a play for Brad Richards. I really think that was uncharacteristically gutsy and speaks volumes about their desire to be a contender.
The problem lies with the chemistry of the core nucleus of the team. Defensively, having DD and JJ (young rising talents) coupled with Scuderi and Mitchell (solid responsible vets) is fantastic. Greene, Martinez, Voynov–I’m content with all of them. Offensively, honest to God the only players I would not put on the trading block are Richards, Kopi, and Clifford. In my opinion, Brown, Stoll, Williams, Gagne, Richardson, Lewis, King/Nolan (they are fine- big boys but not playmakers/finishers) Penner (dont even get me started)–I’m willing to trade em all. Get great picks, prospects. Throw in Bernier, get a finisher. Get a younger Dustin Brown, throw him on the 3rd line with Cliffy. Call up Toffoli. I don’t know, all I know is bottom line: the core nucleus needs a shake up.
Thanks for giving me a forum to post my vent. I hope someone out there agrees with me.
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Kings x Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:32 pm
@kingfan91, I’ve been saying the problem lies in the chemistry all along. Glad someone else sees it too. The flip side is that we dont have the right players for the system to be effective.
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jacky boy Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:33 pm
@kingfan91, i agree but the only way we can resond is to stop continuosly selling out Staples
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kingfan91 Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
@jacky boy, Operation Bailey Boycott!
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JD Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
@kingfan91, We might get something for brown and Williams, don’t think we’d get much of anything for the rest. And I would not trade bernier
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we are deep…we have a former 20 goal scorer on our 4th line!!!!
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petemagoop Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 7:07 pm
@neil, lol
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Duncanz Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 7:14 pm
@neil, … and in Manchester …
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GKG! Get a win here!
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