WCQF Game 4: Vegas Golden Knights (1) at LA Kings (WC1| 10:30 PM | CBC, TVAS, NBCSN, PRIME, ATTSN-RM

[kingsboy11]

BELIEVE

Regular Season Stats:

Vegas Golden Knights(51-24-7, 109pts, 1st in Pacific) @ Los Angeles Kings(45-29-8, 98 pts, Wild Card1)
Staples Center| Los Angeles, CA
TIME: 7:30 pm PT | TV: Prime Ticket/NBCSN/CBC | RADIO: 790 KABC

Previous Meetings:
April 15 VGK 3-2
April 13 VGK 2-1
April 11 VGK 1-0
FEB 27 LAK 4-1
FEB 26 LAK 3-2 (OT)
DEC 28 VGK 3-2 (OT)
NOV 19 VGK 4-2

VGK lead the series 3-0

PP/PK	17th/1st	11th/12th
Faceoffs	17th	24th
Leading Scorers	Anze Kopitar: 35 goals, 57 assists, 92 points	William Karlsson: 43 goals, 35 assists, 78 points

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Possible Lines*

Extras: Andy Andreoff, Johnny Brodzinski, Michael Amadio, Kevin Gravel, Paul Ladue
Injuries: Derek Forbort
Not-Eligible: Sheldon Rempal, Daniel Brickley

JUST SCORE SOME ****ING GOALS

Injuries: David Clarkson, Mikhail Grabovski
Extras: Ryan Reaves, Oscar Lindberg, Luca Sbisa, Tomas Tatar

David Perron came in for Tomas Tatar in game 3.

*Lines are not Final! Lines subject to change*

Playoff Pump Up HF user created videos!:


By @Blikian29


By @Kylo Ren

News/Notes:

*from LA Kings playoff media guide
https://nhl.bamcontent.com/images/assets/binary/297865588/binary-file/file.pdf

• The LA Kings are 12-30 in game 4 of a playoff series. The Kings have only won 1 series when trailing 3 games to 0 (April 30, 2014)
  
• Jake Muzzin and Drew Doughty returned to the lineup Sunday night and provided much needed stability on the blue line. The Kings played their best game in the series, but yet still fell short. Kings started game coming right ouf the gates hitting everything they saw, but as the game went, probably got too comfortable. Cody Eakin tied the game at 1 followed by 2 more goals coming from James Neal and William Karlsson. Kopitar got a late goal to pull it within 1, but it was far too late.
• The Kings were among the best teams in the league when leading after 2 periods losing only twice in regulation and once in overtime with 27 wins.
  
• Marc-Andre Fleury went 29-13-4 this season for the Knights with a 2.24 GAA and .927% save%. He has won 3 Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins and has started in 113 playoff games. In the playoffs he is 62-51 with a 2.65 GAA and a .908 save%
• Jonathan Quick went 33-28-3 this season with a 2.40 GAA and a .921 save% with 5 shutouts. He has won 2 Stanley Cups with a Con Smythe win in 2012. He has appeared in 81 playoff games and has a 2.27 GAA and a .921 save% with 9 shutouts. Quick made 23 saves out of 26 in game 3.

GO KINGS GO!!!



Lines from dailyfaceoff.com​

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[Raccoon Jesus]

On one hand, I get the feeling we get a glimmer of hope tonight and win one just to drag it out. We've been too close in every game, goal wise, to just wilt without a win.

On the other hand,

 

[Rygu]

I wouldn't be surprised if VGK finishes the sweep tonight. LA looks frustrated and probably realize their chances for coming back are quite slim given how they've played the first 3 games, with the exception of Quick.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I wouldn't be surprised if VGK finishes the sweep tonight. LA looks frustrated and probably realize their chances for coming back are quite slim given how they've played the first 3 games, with the exception of Quick.

On the flip side, despite everything, they've all been one goal games. All you need is a bounce. Brown finishing into an empty net multiple times. Toffoli finishing a play he usually does. Kopitar burying that shot in OT.

I agree I wouldn't be surprised if it's over, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see the Kings win one or two with how close it's been on the scoreboard (and in game 3 for the most part).

I'm also a hopeless romantic, hold me.

 

[mouz135]

Cheering for a Knights win all the way to the bank

 

[Kale Hulls]

The NHL was gifted games one and two, but the Kings lost game three by their own merit. I think the NHL is going to get exposed tonight, but then have a strong game 5 to close the series.

 

[The Worst One]

Why Sbisa is not playing? Is he injured?

 

[Kale Hulls]

He's not playing because he's Sbisa.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

The NHL was gifted games one and two, but the Kings lost game three by their own merit. I think the NHL is going to get exposed tonight, but then have a strong game 5 to close the series.

The Golden Knights have been by far the better team in every game, refs or not.

I'm seriously hoping LA bucks that trend tonight.

 

[BattleBorn]

Why Sbisa is not playing? Is he injured?

He's not playing because he's Sbisa.

Sbisa isn't playing because he's injured.

Sbisa is, and has been, a top pairing D-man in Las Vegas. Despite his history, he's a top guy for us with Schmidt and we look forward to his return.

 

[Tofveve]

Nice GDT, but am pulling for Vegas. Well, maybe one win at home would be good for the fans.

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

Kind of hoping that the Kings drag this out for another game. Losing in front of home sucks

 

[William Briscoe]

I used to laugh at myself when I thought a game was rigged or there was a conspiracy theory. I thought, you dummy....you are paranoid.
I thought that. Until the Haula butt end on Kopitar. Or rather the next day when the league didn't even mention it. That's when I realized the fix was in.
Intent to injure vs. a hit where the principal point of contact was a shoulder. Which would you suspend for?
I watched the Andre the Giant HBO documentary and thought about how Vince McMahon wanted the best story to sell to the fans. How about a team born during a local/national tragedy that defied the odds all season? What storybook ending would Gary....er....Vince write?

 

[William Briscoe]

And do you know what is the worst of all this? How Vegas fans are bandwagoners.
I lived in Vegas during the process of this team coming together. Nobody in Vegas really cared. At all. Then the name got announced and the locals laughed. There weren't many Golden Knights trees being sold. Then all the sudden they do well during the season and Vegas is all "we love our team, yay!""what's the blue and red lines for?"

 

[BattleBorn]

And do you know what is the worst of all this? How Vegas fans are bandwagoners.
I lived in Vegas during the process of this team coming together. Nobody in Vegas really cared. At all. Then the name got announced and the locals laughed. There weren't many Golden Knights trees being sold. Then all the sudden they do well during the season and Vegas is all "we love our team, yay!""what's the blue and red lines for?"

Just pretend that the GDT is a blue line, you can't join it until your team wins a game.

See you next season.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Just to show how different this Kings team is from the 2014 Kings who came back from 0-3, this is the Kings roster in game four in that Sharks series:

Gaborik-Kopitar-Williams
Pearson-Carter-Toffoli
King-Stoll-Brown
Clifford-Richards-Lewis

Muzzin-Doughty
Mitchell-Voynov
Martinez-Regehr

Absurd depth on that team.

 

[William Briscoe]

Just pretend that the GDT is a blue line, you can't join it until your team wins a game.

See you next season.

Oh hey it's the little whiner from the Vegas board! "Don't say anything bad about our wittle team or I will wield the only power I have in this world!"
Vegas loses tonight. And though they may won the series, they aren't moving on after that.
Vegas won by one goal in all 3 games to a slow as molasses team. Good luck with that in the next round.

 

[BattleBorn]

Oh hey it's the little whiner from the Vegas board! "Don't say anything bad about our wittle team or I will wield the only power I have in this world!"
Vegas loses tonight. And though they may won the series, they aren't moving on after that.
Vegas won by one goal in all 3 games to a slow as molasses team. Good luck with that in the next round.

I wield power here as well, there was no whining. Vegas might lose tonight, but winning the series is all that matters, and being hurt from your demise at the hand of the Knights will subside over time.

Sorry your team is slow. We're not as bad as you thought we were going to be, and I hope you can appreciate that once this is all over. We'll need Kings fans on our side if/when we take on the Sharks.

 

[Hal 9000]

Game 3 was played pretty much as expected, the physicality was tempered somewhat, and the pace was faster. Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin made their returns and expectations were high. Doughty was extremely antagonistic, but his demeanor seemed to get the better of him as the game progressed. Kopitar and Carter played their best games of the series and Kopitar helped open the scoring with a nice cross crease pass to Iafollo. As the 2nd period closed, Doughty drew a penalty and the Kings seemed to be fending off the Knights attack.
After killing off an early penalty to start the third, all four lines from Vegas were pushing hard and eventually after two shot attepts, Cody Eakin got open in the slot and tied the game at 1-1. The Kings began to look tired. James Neal followed that up with shimmy move around the defender and a quick snap shot through the legs of a mortal looking Jonathon Quick. The Knights pressed again and after a great solo effort, Reilly Smith beat 2 Kings to a puck and centered it to William Karlsson who wasted no time giving Vegas a 3-1 lead. Kopitar rounded out the scoring by deflecting a point shot up high on Fleury but the Kings would run out of time and Vegas took win.

MA Fleury may have had his best game of the series and looked fully in control from the outset. The line of Smith, Karlsson and Marchessault also played their best game of the series, with Smith making rushes and forechecking all game, while Karlsson finally looked comfortable with the rough play. Neal and Haula were a physical presence, and James Neal with the 2nd goal proved why he is the leader of this team. Colin Miller also deserves a shout out for his play in this game.

Tonight's game should look much like game 3, although with the Kings trying to stave off elimination, they will likely want to move away from the heavy hitting and attempt to rush the Knights in an effort to open a big lead. LA will get a lot of pucks to the net and try to cash in on some garbage. Doughty will have to show some better dicipline and Muzzin will need to be better also. The Kings have no chance to intimidate the Knights and will be forced to trade chances in the hopes that Quick is better than Fleury. I would suspect this will play into Vegas's hand and expect the highest scoring game of the series.

Knights to watch;

Nate Schmidt - I expect more open ice and Schmidt likes open ice, expect some rushes from the back end.
David Perron - Perron was good in his first game back, if he winds up back on the second line...watch out
Riley Smith- Smith looked possessd last game, look for more of the same

 

[William Briscoe]

I wield power here as well, there was no whining. Vegas might lose tonight, but winning the series is all that matters, and being hurt from your demise at the hand of the Knights will subside over time.

Sorry your team is slow. We're not as bad as you thought we were going to be, and I hope you can appreciate that once this is all over. We'll need Kings fans on our side if/when we take on the Sharks.

Then wield it. Don't threaten, tough guy.
Your team IS NOT that good. Vegas did not blowout this series. They did not stake their claim as a contender. A few bounces and misses....otherwise, it's a series. And don't give me "the regular season record". Talk to Vancouver about that and where it got them.
I don't care if LA loses and is out. They have things to rebuild and have no shot at the cup. What I can't stand is the suspension of Doughty and non suspension of Haula. Straight up influenced this series. And yet you Vegas fans act as if it's all justified. You defend your whiny coach who played the media. It's pathetic.

 

[member 151739]

And do you know what is the worst of all this? How Vegas fans are bandwagoners.
I lived in Vegas during the process of this team coming together. Nobody in Vegas really cared. At all. Then the name got announced and the locals laughed. There weren't many Golden Knights trees being sold. Then all the sudden they do well during the season and Vegas is all "we love our team, yay!""what's the blue and red lines for?"

I'm from Las Vegas, and you're lying. Good luck next year.

 

[BattleBorn]

Then wield it. Don't threaten, tough guy.
Your team IS NOT that good. Vegas did not blowout this series. They did not stake their claim as a contender. A few bounces and misses....otherwise, it's a series. And don't give me "the regular season record". Talk to Vancouver about that and where it got them.
I don't care if LA loses and is out. They have things to rebuild and have no shot at the cup. What I can't stand is the suspension of Doughty and non suspension of Haula. Straight up influenced this series. And yet you Vegas fans act as if it's all justified. You defend your whiny coach who played the media. It's pathetic.

I'm not starting a battle here. We were 2-1-1 in the regular season and so were you, which is okay. We're 3-0 in the series so far, which I think is pretty good.

You can take the Haula thing however you'd like, but Doughty is getting a game in today's NHL, and you'd support it if the roles were reversed, so stop playing that card.

Good luck with the rebuild.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Would love to see this one go to OT

 

[Hal 9000]

Then wield it. Don't threaten, tough guy.
Your team IS NOT that good. Vegas did not blowout this series. They did not stake their claim as a contender. A few bounces and misses....otherwise, it's a series. And don't give me "the regular season record". Talk to Vancouver about that and where it got them.
I don't care if LA loses and is out. They have things to rebuild and have no shot at the cup. What I can't stand is the suspension of Doughty and non suspension of Haula. Straight up influenced this series. And yet you Vegas fans act as if it's all justified. You defend your whiny coach who played the media. It's pathetic.

Haula gave Kopitar a hammerfist to the jaw - that' about it. Kopitar wouldn't let him up, well, that' what he gets.
What impresses me the most about Vegas and must frustrate the he'l out of Kings fans, is that the Knights are not intimidated and not afraid to give it back. LA's best chance, like always is to physically beat down their opponent, but not this time.

BTW, Gallant is outcoaching Stevens by a mile.

 

[SabresSharks]

As a Sharks' fan, the longer this series goes the better. That would imply I'm cheering for LAK tonight, and the next game, and the game after that.

I'm emotionally drained just thinking about it. Drained and confused.