Last chance probably won’t change much

An earlier post addressed home-ice advantage, and how much of an advantage it really is. From a coach’s perspective, there is one clear advantage. Home coaches are allowed the final change, meaning that, pre-faceoff, the opposing team sends out its five players before the home team. That can allow the home coach to get matchups it prefers, but in this series, it doesn’t figure to be a huge factor. The Kings’ focus, in any arena, is usually to match up its defensemen (and, for the benefit of Mark Purdy, that’s Willie Mitchell with Drew Doughty, Rob Scuderi with Jack Johnson and Alec Martinez with Matt Greene). After today’s morning skate, Terry Murray downplayed the idea that he would get into a matchup battle with the San Jose Sharks…

MURRAY: “When you’re on the road, you’re looking to get your matchups. You’re trying to change a little bit on the fly, more from the back end than your forward lines. We’re a team, right now, that plays four lines. We feel we have to, and want to. There’s good energy. Our fourth line is giving us a lot. But the matchup that we primarily go to is when we match up our blue-line corps.”