The Need to Knows
- Time: 7:30 pm PT / 10:30 pm ET
- The Place: Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA
- Where to Watch: KHN, KONG, FDSNW (LA market), ESPN+ (other U.S. markets)
- Where to Listen: Kraken Audio Network on KJR 93.3
Know Your Enemy
As the Kraken continue further on their 5-game road trip, they find themselves facing a much more formidable foe than they did in the Canucks or the Sharks. The LA Kings have once again found themselves with a ticket to the playoffs. With 76 games played so far and 97 points, they’re currently chasing down the Vegas Golden Knights in a quest to be the best in the Pacific Division. Now, most teams are vying for the best odds possible in the playoffs. Home ice advantage can go a long way. Yet, I think the Kings have some added motivation to get that number 1 seed in the Pacific in that if the playoffs were to start tonight, they’d find themselves facing the Oilers in the first round for the fourth year in a row. Considering the Oilers beat them in each of those three playoff series (and in one less game each time), it’s starting to almost feel like the Western Conference’s version of the Maple Leafs losing in 7 to the Bruins (though not nearly as funny). If the pattern holds, the Kings would just get swept by the Oilers. Do they really want to tempt that fate?
Beyond the usual players for the Kings, such as Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar, one of the Kings’ trade deadline acquisitions has been heating up. The Kings acquired Andrei Kuzmenko from the Philadelphia Flyers (who had only been on the team long enough for a quick cup of coffee after being acquired by Philly in a trade with the Calgary Flames), and after a few non-productive outings with his new team, he now has 11 points in his last 9 games. Kuzmenko is doing exactly what deadline players should do for a playoff team, which is provide an extra jolt on the way to the finish line.
Game Preview
Five games left. Just five more. For the absolute diehards that love this team through thick and thin, that statement might be depressing. For the people who are ready for the team to shut the book on a season that certainly didn’t live up to expectations, this might be sounding a bit like relief. Perhaps it’s both at the same time. Two things can always be true at once.
Going into tonight’s contest, the Kraken sit with the 6th best odds at drafting the number 1 pick. They’ve risen a bit higher on the chart after winning games against the Canucks (whose playoff hopes are starting to truly die out with that extra nail in the coffin) and against the Sharks (who are the worst team in the league for a reason). Playing spoiler is one of the few remaining motivators for a team at this time of year, and while they can’t spoil the Kings from making the playoffs, they could definitely help seal their fate of having to face the Oilers again.
Something that’s been enjoyable to watch over these past few games is Jared McCann’s continued tenacity. He put up back-to-back 3-point games, but he’s also in general had 13 points in his past 9 games. He also recently put his name in the history books as one of a handful of NHL’ers to post 4 seasons of 20 or more goals in a franchise’s first 4 seasons of existence. Now, it might not be as impressive as beating the man for most goals scored in the NHL, but to be on a list that Wayne Gretzky belongs to is still finding yourself in elite hockey company regardless. I wrote a piece all the way back during the inaugural season about McCann and how one of the things that had defined his hockey career up to that point was constant movement. He had one season with the Canucks, two and a half seasons with the Panthers, two and a half seasons with the Penguins, and then was traded to the Maple Leafs days before the expansion draft as bait for the Kraken to take all by the time he was 25 years old. His four seasons with the Kraken are the longest he’s ever been able to play for one franchise. The loyalty that the Kraken organization has shown him has been repaid in dividends as he remains one of the pillars of this team. While the Kraken already showed at the deadline that there will be little sentimentality as they look to become contenders sooner rather than later, I would be shocked if he hasn’t continued to earn himself a spot as a core part of the vision of this team moving forward.