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About This Page: This is a discussion on LA Kings Talk within the LetsGoKings.com forums, at Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fan Forum. VS.
Los Angeles Kings (25-33-3) 53 pts
VS.
Phoenix Coyotes (30-25-4) 64 pts
Game Time: 7:30 PM PST | 10:30 PM EST
Location: Staples Center |
The Los Angeles Kings have the league's worst record, and the Phoenix Coyotes are a big reason why.
Phoenix looks to beat Los Angeles for the sixth time in as many meetings this season when the Pacific Division foes close a home-and-home set Monday at Staples Center.
No team has beaten the Kings (25-33-3) more in 2007-08 than the Coyotes (30-25-4), who might not even be in the playoff chase if it weren't for their domination of this series. Phoenix goes into this matchup two points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, while Los Angeles is 13 back and at the bottom of the standings.
The Coyotes clinched the season series with the Kings with a 4-3 win in Phoenix on Saturday. The teams, who will also meet on March 20 and 27, split eight meetings last season.
The Coyotes have scored four goals in each of the last four meetings and have outshot Los Angeles in four of five. Phoenix is 6-for-16 on the power play in the season series, including 2-for-5 on Saturday, while the Kings have gone 3-for-22.
The Kings have let their last five opponents go 7-for-21 with the man advantage and they have the worst penalty-killing unit in the league, allowing teams to score 78.1 percent of the time.
Coach Marc Crawford, however, was not completely displeased by the Kings' effort Saturday because they erased a two-goal deficit in the third period, only to lose on Radim Vrbata's power-play goal with 7:06 to play.
While the Kings have alternated wins and losses in their last six games, the Coyotes are seeking a third straight victory since a four-game losing streak.
They totaled eight goals during that skid before scoring nine over the last two games.
Vrbata has two goals and two assists in the last two games as his career season continues. The sixth-year winger leads Phoenix with 26 goals - he never had more than 18 in any previous season - and his 46 points rank second on the team behind Shane Doan (59).
Doan has six points in his last three games, and has totaled four goals and four assists in five matchups with Los Angeles this season. Jovanovski has nine points in the season series.
Phoenix's Ilya Bryzgalov made 25 saves Saturday and has allowed no more than three goals in 13 straight starts, going 6-3-3.
Los Angeles' Jason LaBarbera has a dismal 3.72 goals-against average in seven appearances this month, but it seems likely he will be back in net Monday. He came off the bench in the third period Saturday after Dan Cloutier had to leave the game due to flu-like symptoms.
The Kings have a home record of 13-16-1, and their last 10 games is a record of 5-4-1.
The Coyotes have a road record of 17-12-2, and their last 10 games is a record of 4-4-2.
The Kings have a few days off and will face the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night at Staples Center.
"In order to win in these types of game when the stakes get a little bit higher, you have to make sure you're ready to battle, ready to compete, finish checks and pay the price in front of the net," Crawford said. "Those are the types of things that win. We got those goals because of those kind of efforts."
"He almost passed out walking out to the rink," Crawford said. "It was tough for Dan. I thought Dan played pretty well."
Michael Cammalleri's quotes on why the Kings can't beat the Yotes:
"You can’t just say that it’s a fluke that they’ve beat us five times. You’ve got to credit them and maybe knock us for it. Obviously it’s not a good thing. We owe them some. We’re not happy they’ve beat us five games. They’ve done the things they needed to do to beat us and we haven’t done enough to beat them. We have to rectify that here.
"I don’t think they do anything in particular that bothers us. They play pretty hard. The games we’ve played against them there’s been some mistakes where we could have gotten more out of the game than we did otherwise. Maybe their attention to detail against us has been better than our attention to detail against them.
It’s good we can get right back at it. We’re happy we get another shot at them here.''
Dustin Brown's quotes on him being a daddy:
"There’s moments that seem no different and moments where it's hard to believe I’m a dad. And there's a little less sleep.''
On going back to the Kings after missing two games for the birth:
"Unfortunately we were on the road. It was tough to leave the day after he was born. It's something I didn’t really want to do but I had to. In Pittsburgh, it was kind of tough to focus, but once you get in the rhythm of being on the road again, it's not too difficult. Obviously, I was excited to come back again. It seemed like I was away forever, even though it was four or five days."
On how they chose the name:
"My wife picked Jacob and I didn’t really like the full name Jacob, so we shortened it to Jake. It was kind of a mixture of her favorite name and my version of it, I guess.''
Again, way too much to copy and paste. Click these links and enjoy! Thanks again to Matthew Kredell for all the info he's getting.
Los Angeles Kings
Rob Blake (Left ankle fracture on 2/2/08) IR
Ladislav Nagy (Sore neck on 1/19/08) IR
Scott Thornton (Upper body injury on 2/9/08) day-to-day
Phoenix Coyotes
Martin Hanzal (Shoulder injury on 2/5/08) IR
***GDT - Phoenix Coyotes @ Los Angeles Kings - 2/18/08*** 
Lars H
