LOS ANGELES – A National Hockey League ice surface is 200 feet long and 85 feet wide, but when the Winnipeg Jets and Los Angeles Kings face off tonight at Crypto.com Arena, space will be at a premium.
It’s a clash between two of the best defensive teams in the league, and just the latest ‘measuring stick’ type of game – if you will – on the Jets schedule.
“This is Washington, Boston, Vegas, keep naming them all, Dallas, these are the big heavy teams,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “It’s going to have that playoff feel to it. Every inch you’re going to have to grind for and you’ll have to battle for.”
The Jets (51-19-4) have won three in a row but have yet to solve the Kings this season. Los Angeles has won both games, the first by a score of 4-1 back in November on their home ice, and then a 2-1 overtime decision at Canada Life Centre in January.
Both goals Winnipeg scored came on the power play, further underlining how good Los Angeles is defensively. The 255 goals the Jets have scored this season are the third most in the league (157 of those at five-on-five, the eighth most in the NHL) but they’ve yet to crack Los Angeles at even strength.
Overall, the Kings have allowed an average of 2.51 goals against per game – the second fewest in the league. Only Winnipeg, at 2.32, is better.
“They’re a very well-structured team,” said Vladislav Namestnikov. “They clog up the middle and in their zone there isn’t much going on as well. We have to find a way to penetrate in their D-zone and get in front of their goalie, and get more shots on net.”
The Jets have yet to crack 20 shots on goal in either meeting with the Kings, putting up 14 and 19 respectively. They know the challenge doesn’t get any easier tonight, but former King Alex Iafallo feels the Jets can find a way.
“They’re having a good year,” said Iafallo. “It’s going to be three periods of an absolute grind. We have to get to the net, get pucks on them early, and try to get offensively going right off the hop.”
Connor Hellebuyck was the first goaltender off the ice and is expected to get the start for the Jets. In front of him, the line rushes looked like this, however Luke Schenn is a game-time decision after he “stiffened up” and left the morning skate early:
Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Ehlers-Lowry-Appleton
Niederreiter-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Gustafsson-Barron-Tanev
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Schenn
Stanley-Miller
The Kings (41-23-9) sit second in the Pacific Division and share another similarity with the Jets – dominance on home ice.
Los Angeles is 27-4-4 in their home building this season, including a run of 12-0-3 that was snapped by a 3-1 setback against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. But the Kings got right back to their winning ways, outscoring the San Jose Sharks 8-1 the next night.
“They don’t care how many they score. If they get one, they go into shutdown mode,” said Arniel. “They’re one of the best analytic teams without the puck in their end of the rink. They do a pretty good job of clogging up the middle of the ice. We saw that in the last game in our building. You have to work for every inch to get inside.”
With all the talk about defence, the Kings can score as well. Adrian Kempe has already secured his third season with at least 30 goals and Kevin Fiala’s 28 tallies are just one short of his total goals from last year and five away from tying his career-high of 33.
“They attack the net. It’s not rocket science, they have one – sometimes two – guys on top of the goalie,” said Arniel. “Just look at their previous 10 games, everything starts around there. It’s not off the rush. It’s D throwing shots from the top, or bad angle shots, but there is always someone at the net front.”
That’s what Arniel felt the Kings succeeded with in the first meeting back in November. There is a priority for Winnipeg to protect that area tonight, while also trying to find a way to generate at the other end.
“You can’t really carry it through the neutral zone. You have to make smart plays there,” said Namestnikov. “We’ve played them before, we’ve done video, we’ll be prepared and ready to go.”
Puck drop is set for 9:30 pm CT.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
