Gameday Soundtrack: Relocate the Gas Pedal

The Kings went into Chicago on a six-game win streak with a decent chance to compete well against the Blackhawks on Sunday. They took that opportunity to test a new strategy: not trying at all. It didn’t work well, for some reason. We didn’t post a full written recap for it, but here’s the short version:

It was a gross way to end an otherwise successful road trip. Now the Kings are back in Los Angeles for a four-game homestand before Christmas.

The Kings’ first game back at Staples Center should theoretically be their easiest. What better way to rebound after falling flat on their faces against the top team in the NHL than to face the third worst team?

The Edmonton Oilers are festering at 28th in the league and dead last in the Pacific Division. They went on a decent run halfway through November and into December, winning seven of 11 games, but they’ve lost to Boston, Vancouver, and Anaheim in their last three. They still haven’t broken 30 points in the standings and sit 18 points outside of a wild card spot in Western Conference.

In the game the Oilers played at Staples in October, The King’s Fenwick for percentage was 75.4 percent at 5v5 close. When Jake Muzzin was on the ice, LA had possession 91 percent of the time.

The Oilers are bad, and watching their games generally makes people feel bad.

What allowed the Oilers to sneak out of LA with a point the last time these teams met was goaltending. That’s once again a somewhat complicated factor. The Oilers signed Iyla Bryzgalov in early November, and the Kings will see him in net. Last time, Oilers goaltender Richard Bachman stopped 47 of 48 shots to hang on until overtime but still lost 2-1 in the shootout.

Goaltending is a little bit of a toss-up on the LA side, too. Neither Ben Scrivens nor Martin Jones have ever faced the Oilers. Jones, the likely starter for tonight, is undefeated in his five starts so far this season. He has a 0.99 goals-against average and .967 save percentage. The Kings should figure out how to put together more than one goal, but if they don’t and let Edmonton’s players hang around all night again, everyone could experience unwanted déjà vu.

…Yuck. That better not be the case. The Kings have almost double the points the Oilers do. Roll over them. Do it, and feel great about it.