After losing to the Ducks in a game where they surprisingly didn’t play like poop, the Flyers are looking to turn things around tonight in L.A.
Let’s get this out of the way — Mike Richards and Jeff Carter used to play for the Flyers and now they play for the Kings and of course they won a Stanley Cup the second they left Philadelphia. Good? OK. Now on to the game.
The Kings have been pretty bad lately. Surprisingly bad. They’ve only won one of their last eight games and are coming off a 4-1 loss to the Penguins last Thursday.
There have been a good number of recent articles about the Kings and their offensive woes, and for good reason. They currently rank 29th in goals per game, only behind the lowly Buffalo Sabres, and have scored only two goals in their last five games. To put that into perspective, consider that in that same time period, Alex Ovechkin himself has scored more than two times that. Eesh.
None of the above, however, should make you — or the Flyers — think that this game is going to be easy.
The Kings are pretty much an advanced stats nerd’s dream. They absolutely dominate possession, ranking first in the league in even strength Corsi percentage at 56.4%. Not a single player on their team has an individual Corsi percentage below 50%, which is just incredible. It’s not just that their team is good, it’s that every player on their team is good.
With numbers like that, I’m seriously afraid that they might get the goals coming tonight against the possession-challenged Flyers. I sure hope not.
No word on the starting goaltenders yet, but believe it or not, the Flyers might want to hope they are facing Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Quick. Quick has been less than his usual stellar self this season, and rookie Martin Jones has been an absolute beast.
Game starts at 4 p.m. because America is freaking huge. Kings suck. Go Flyers.
