Calgary Flames look to climb back up into Elite-Eight via Los Angeles Kings –NHL Preview
Los Angeles proved to the league that they really are Kings of their territory as they’ve seen teams come and go out of the playoff super eight, but they have stayed put throughout. Flames fly from Anaheim to LA on Monday to faceoff with the Kings at the
infamous Staples Centre.
Currently standing tied at 86 points with Chicago for fifth place, they have the chance of either letting Calgary climb back up the tight Western Conference rope to create a four team tie while throwing out state-rivals, Anaheim Ducks, or they could wash
out Flames, making it even harder for them with eight game left.
Calgary’s in 10th place under Dallas Stars with 84 points and two points tomorrow can make all the difference.
In their fourth and final meeting together this season, it’s likely that LA will try to dominate them for the third time, instead of giving Calgary undue favour. They are 5-3-2 in their last 10 competitions, surprisingly less then Calgary’s 5-4-1.
Both are coming out of hard fought OT losses, and coincidently both lost to Anaheim Ducks.
Calgary hasn’t been able to win in Anaheim since 2004. Something that frustrates them even more is that they’ll have to go up against them again on the 30th of this month.
Flames’ goalie, Miikka Kiprusoff, had an awful start against Anaheim on Sunday. He was only able to save two of five attempts and was pulled out in the first six minutes by coach, Brent Sutter.
Henrik Karlsson took his place and did well for his team.
"There's not much to think about. You just go in and do your best and try to take the next puck every time," backup goalie, Karlsson, said. "Of course, it's a little bit tougher when you get thrown in like that. I felt pretty confident right away. It's just
really disappointing."
Flames’ captain, Iginla, is playing well, with two goals and assists in three games, he’ll need to take charge and guide his team against Los Angeles Kings.
Kings’ centre, Anze Kopitar, isn’t doing that bad as he’s got 10 points, consisting of five goals and five assists in his previous nine matches.
Injuries
The biggest problems Calgary Flames faces right now are their injuries. Key players like David Moss and Adam Pardy are out of the season, indefinitely, with ankle and shoulder related injuries, respectively.
While Fredrik Modin is on a day-to-day basis and Brendan Morrison has an uncertain knee.
Kings remained healthy all season, but were recently troubled when forward, Kyle Clifford, was knocked out with a head hit and Scott Parse’s old hip trouble arose.
Both are not expected to be back anytime soon.
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