KND’s BIG PREGAME

WELCOME TO THE KINGS NEWS DAILY PREGAME REPORT! BELOW YOU’LL FIND A HODGEPODGE OF KINGS HOCKEY INFO LEADING UP THE BIG GAME…ENJOY!

THE GAME

Who: Vancouver Canucks (2-2-1) vs. LA Kings (1-2-1)
When: 7:30pm Pacific
Where: Staples Center – Los Angeles, CA
TV: Fox Sports West (pregame @7)
Radio: 1150AM

GAME NOTES

• Dustin Penner will be a healthy scratch for the third straight game.
• Kyle Clifford continues to lead the Kings in scoring with 5 points.
• This will be Dustin Brown’s 600th NHL game.
• The Kings go into tonight 0-23 on the power play.
• Willie Mitchell has not skated for 2 days (knee).
• Canucks Goalie Roberto Luongo is expected to start.
• Download tonight’s game notes here…
• Enter Mayors Manors first goal contest here…
• Check out what Kings Bloggers are saying here…
• Check out Kings Blogger predictions here…
• Prepare to laugh at the Royal Half’s preview here…
• Enemy Blogs:
  Canucks Army, Pass It To Bulis,
  Nucks Misconduct,
  Pucked in the Head

EXPECTED KINGS LINEUP

Forwards			Defensemen
Brown (23)	Kopitar (11)	Williams (14)	Scuderi (7)	Doughty (8)
Clifford (13)	Richards (10)	Carter (77)	Martinez (27)	Voynov (26)
King (74)	Stoll (28)	Lewis (22)	Drewiske (44)	Muzzin (73)
Gagne (12)	Fraser (24)	Nolan (71)
Scratches:	Penner (25)	Richardson (15)	Bodnarchuck (47)
Goalies:	Quick (32)	Bernier (45)	Injured:	Greene/Mitchell

 

PREGAME READING

• AP’s Canucks-Kings Preview via Yahoo Sports
• Rant Sports: Los Angeles Kings Must Build Off First Win
• LA Times: Kyle Clifford leading L.A. Kings in scoring
• Canucks.com: Tale of the Tape: Canucks @ Kings
• LA Times: Dustin Penner likely to be scratched again
• Canucks easily motivated by first match-up with Kings
• Colin Fraser bringing the Canucks hate, even on his birthday
• 10 Tidbits from Darryl Sutter at Kings morning skate

PREGAME QUOTES

Darryl Sutter

On tonight’s game against Vancouver: “We haven’t played them yet. It’s tough to talk about a rivalry when you haven’t played a team yet.”

On which teams motivate him most: “Chicago, Colorado, Edmonton, Phoenix, and now Vancouver. Pretty much in that order.”

On the heavy schedule: “You are already in almost like a playoff practice/game mode already, just because of the time that you have. You try to get your players all the re-charge you can, while at the same time keeping them mentally right there.”

On Mitchell: “If he is on injured reserve,” Sutter said, “then he is a non-active player. Once he is off that, then you talk about him. Until then, they’re injured. I’m not a doctor, I’m not a psychologist, not a therapist.”

On Richards: “It’s been an adjustment for some of our guys, in terms of getting up to pace. (Richards) is one of those guys that has to get up to pace.”

On Brown: “Brownie has gotten a little bit better every game. Brownie is a power game. He goes up and down, a power game. Strong on the walls, goes to the net. If he’s not doing that, you guys can see it better than I can. That’s his game.”

On Drewiske: “I think what we want him to do is take up Matt Greene’s minutes in positive way, with quality minutes. Greener gave us penalty killing minutes, and a solid 5-on-5; first minute, last minute. Situations like that. In the three games that (Drewiske) has played, he has done a good job.”

On Clifford: “When he left last spring, he was so happy that we won it, but so disappointed that he didn’t get to play after he got hurt in the Vancouver series. That was his whole purpose when he left; he wanted to put himself in a position to play regular. He did that.”

On Gagne’s 4th line role: “He better get used to it. In this schedule, it’s not what you did, or what you are going to do. It’s what you are doing. That’s a fact.”

Drew Doughty

“Waking up this morning knowing we’re playing Van, everyone is so pumped to get out there and get after them. It’s going to be a physical matchup, which everyone loves. At the same time, you’re getting banged and giving it back. There’s nothing more rewarding than beating a team that’s won the Conference the last couple of years in a row. So we’re really looking forward to hopefully do that tonight. A big win tonight against a big team like them would definitely give us a confidence boost. Then, hopefully we can string a few wins together. We have played them a few times in the playoffs in the last four years. They are definitely a team that we are excited to play. They are a good team, so you kind of learn to hate them. Tonight is going to be a battle and we look forward to it.”

Kyle Clifford

On playing in Ontario: “From a conditioning standpoint, down there they only have three lines so you are on pretty much every other shift. As far as conditioning, that was a good kick start.”

On playing on the 2nd line: “It’s fortunate to play with the two guys I am with now, but all my linemates have helped me. I just go to the net. How many players get rewarded by going to the net? I think that’s the mentality for every player on our team. Just go to the net hard.”

Simon Gagne

On playing 4th line minutes: “It’s not easy. But, at the same time I understand the process of what’s going on here. I was not here (much) of last year, not a big part of the season – especially in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I was just in the last couple of games. So, I understand Darryl wants to keep the lines as they were last year and stuff like that – same lines and same power plays too. I have to be patient on that and the only thing I can do is go out there and play hard. And using my minutes they give me to get back in and prove what I can do again. So, it’s not an easy situation. But, at the same time, I just want to play and go out there and do my best.”

On playing Vancouver: “It’s a little different in my case. I think it’s a little different if you play in the West. I played in the East most of my time, and was maybe facing that team once a year. So, it’s hard to create that level of hating a team. For this team, almost all of our guys have been in the West and played the Canucks (many times). In my case, with last year being my first year here, you start learning the type of game (the Canucks) want to play and it’s the type of game that will get on your nerves a little bit. I’m sure the more and more I play against them, my level will get closer to what Dewey’s talking about.”

Jake Muzzin

On his 1st NHL goal: “It’s a big goal for me. I am happy and excited about it, but I am not really big on holding the puck high, or anything like that. I will probably give to my parents and let them put it somewhere safe in the house.”

On his second stint in the NHL: “I feel a lot more confident this time. I’m a lot more calm on the ice. I’m a lot more experienced after being a pro the last couple of years, compared to coming in right after juniors. I’m more excited to be here and more confident.”

On tonight’s game: “We have been talking about building every game. We had a couple of close losses that we could have easily won. We want to build on the positives in each game and get better each game. Hopefully, tonight we can continue.”

Quotes courtesy of LAKingsInsider.com and MayorsManor.com

PREGAME SKATE PHOTOS

PREGAME AUDIO

Listen to the Mayor John Hoven and former King Ray Ferraro talk about the matchup.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio by: Mayor’s Manor

PREGAME VIDEO

NHL LIVE MONDAY PREVIEW

BARRY MELROSE TALKS KINGS CANUCKS

CANUCKS PREGAME PREVIEW

THIS POST WILL BE UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY…