The Kings get another crack at the Detroit Red Wings tonight, for the most part, they would like to replicate their effort from four days ago in Detroit. The Kings would like to make two changes, both fairly obvious, one being the way they handled the final five minutes and the other being the way they handled the Filppula-Zetterberg-Hudler line, which factored in three of Detroit’s four goals. Darryl Sutter said that the Kings will need to do a better job in the middle of the ice.
SUTTER: “We can get a little bit better in some of our detail, from an individual standpoint. I think that we didn’t manage their centermen as well as we could, our centermen vs. theirs. Zetterberg’s line had three goals. If you want to win games, you shut down top players.’’
The Red Wings are expected to be shorthanded once again. Goalie Jimmy Howard is expected to return tonight, but not expected to play are Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Todd Bertuzzi, Jonathan Ericsson and Jakub Kindl. Justin Abdelkader, who missed last week’s game because of flu symptoms, will play tonight. Sutter said that having the last line change, as the home coach, won’t change his strategy much compared to the game in Detroit.
SUTTER: “We had, for the most part, Kopitar’s or Richards’ line out there, and Scuderi and Doughty. They’ve been very successful at doing that, if you look at their plus-minus. Other than Drew and Robbie lately, they’ve all done a pretty good job. I don’t think it’s so much from a coaching standpoint, with the (last) change, it’s just the players having a little bit more awareness of who they’re playing against.’’
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