Hard to believe it’s already been more than three months since the last time the Kings played the Boston Bruins. That game got overshadowed a bit by the circumstances around it. The day before, Terry Murray was fired, and the Boston game marked the first of four games with John Stevens behind the bench as interim coach. The Kings lost 3-0, even though they outshot the Bruins 41-22 and played a fairly decent all-around game, and even though the Bruins were without Zdeno Chara. Tuukka Rask was excellent in goal and the Kings went 0-for-5 on the power play. The Kings, at that point, were in the middle of a dismal offensive run, as it marked the ninth consecutive game in which they scored two or fewer goals. Darryl Sutter officially took over eight days later.
SUTTER: “I’m sure these guys are familiar with the last time they played Boston. I’m not. If there’s anything in their mind they can use, then good. It doesn’t matter to me.’’
Of course, Sutter probably had his eye on that game. Depending on exactly how the timing went down, Sutter had already heard from Dean Lombardi about the Kings’ job opening, or at least had an inkling that the call was coming soon…
SUTTER: “I didn’t watch it from an emotional standpoint. I was watching it from a well-structured team standpoint. That’s what they [the Bruins] are.’’
One more note about tonight’s game… Chara will play his 1,000th NHL game. Tim Thomas is expected to start in goal, per The Boston Globe.
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