Budsfan
Registered User
- Sep 17, 2006
- 19,218
- 1,365
Monday game preview: Kings at Maple Leafs
The Kings are the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs/2017/10/22/monday-game-preview-kings-at-maple-leafs.html
Drew Doughty, the Norris Trophy winner in 2016, is a mentor for Leafs defeceman Morgan Rielly, at least via video. (Reed Saxon / The Associated Press)
By Kevin McGranSports Reporter
Sun., Oct. 22, 2017
AIR CANADA CENTRE
PUCK DROP: Monday, 7 p.m.
TV: TSN4
RADIO: TSN 1050
KEY PLAYERS
Doughty/Rielly
Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly tries to improve his game by watch video and learning how Drew Doughty, the Norris Trophy winner in 2016, does what he does. Doughty has three goals, three assists in seven games for the Kings this season. Rielly has one goal and six assists in eight games with the Leafs.
NEED TO KNOW
The Kings, at 6-0-1, are the only team remaining without a regulation loss . . . Dustin Brown (five goals) and Anze Kopitar (six goals) have combined for 11 of Los Angeles’s 27 goals . . . Former Leafs forward Brooks Laich has resurfaced with the Kings. He was in the lineup Saturday, his first NHL game since April 9, 2016. Laich played 27 games in the AHL with the Marlies last season, scoring once and adding eight assists . . . The Kings will be without Jeff Carter (ankle). The 32-year-old, who has scored 20-plus goals 11 times in his career, is still looking for his first goal this season . . . The Kings are third in goals for (3.86 a game), and the stingiest in goals allowed (2.00).
UP NEXT
Thursday, vs. Carolina, 7 p.m.
Leafs 'need a real challenge' in the Kings
By Terry Koshan, Toronto Sun
http://www.torontosun.com/2017/10/22/leafs-need-a-real-challenge-in-the-kings
TORONTO - Mike Babcock has a long memory, and certainly can recall what happened almost a year ago when the Los Angeles Kings visited the Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre.
The Kings, who will be the Leafs’ opposition on Monday night at the ACC, beat the Leafs 7-0 last Nov. 8.
“They smacked us around,” Babcock said on Sunday following practice at the MasterCard Centre. “But I also think you need lessons in your life. When everything goes good all the time, that’s not good for you.
“You need a good tightening every once in a while. I thought we got it last night (in a 6-3 loss in Ottawa against the Senators).
“We have the best team in the league coming in, they have not lost yet, they have real good back end, good forwards, playing well, good goaltending, it’s going to be a real challenge for us and that’s what we need. We need a real challenge. We did not handle it really well last night.”
With a record of 6-0-1, the Kings are the lone National Hockey League club in 2017-18 which has not lost in regulation and their plus-13 goal differential is best in the NHL. The Leafs, who start a three-game home stand before heading to California to begin a four-game trip, aren’t far behind at 6-2-0, but the loss in Ottawa stung.
“It’s a good lesson,” defenceman Morgan Rielly said. “To play against a team that’s doing a great job defensively is good. We have to learn how to win those kinds of games because months from now, when we’re trying to make the playoffs, that’s the style that all teams play.”
The Kings won’t have Jeff Carter, who is recovering from surgery to mend a cut on his left leg. Veterans Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown have paced the Kings and are tied for the team scoring lead with 11 points each.
Then there’s Drew Doughty, who ranks among the top defencemen in the game.
“He’s a hell of a player,” Babcock said. “Can stickhandle in a phone booth. Great offensive instincts. He is as loose as they come when it comes to the game, it’s competitive and he wants to win. Makes the big plays at the right moment.”
In 12 career games against the Leafs, Doughty has nine points (two goals and seven assists).
LOOSE LEAFS
Based on practice on Sunday, Dominic Moore appeared to be staying in the lineup as the fourth-line centre ahead of Eric Fehr. Babcock has been alternating the two, but wouldn’t confirm Moore, who played in Ottawa, would be playing against Los Angeles … Until Saturday night, winger Leo Komarov had not been on the ice for a five-on-five goal against this season. Versus the Senators, Komarov was minus-4 … The Marlies’ three-game winning streak ended on Sunday when they were beaten 6-4 by the Charlotte Checkers at the Ricoh Coliseum. Kasperi Kapanen, Nikita Soshnikov, Trevor Moore and Dmytro Timashov scored for the Marlies, who dropped to 5-2-0. Calvin Pickard made 31 saves in the loss.
)
