Kings vs Red Wings Preview and Prediction
The Detroit Red Wings host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night looking to get back on the winning track after losing two straight games and tumbling to 12th place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Red Wings are now 20-17-10 on the season with 50 points.
The Kings have won 2 straight games and are now sitting in sixth place in the Western Conference standings with a record of 29-14-5 and 63 points.
Over their past ten games, Detroit is 4-5-1 and Los Angeles is the same 4-5-1.
This is the final game the two teams will play head to head during the regular season. Detroit in the realignment is now in the Eastern Conference and the teams only meet twice this season. In the first game, last week in Los Angeles, the Red Wings won 3-1.
While Los Angeles is securing holding onto third in the Pacific division, the Red Wings are in a free fall in the Atlantic division.
Detroit trails Washington by two points for the second wild card place in the Eastern Conference as of Friday night, but also trails the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils by one point each.
Following a losing streak of five games, the Kings have posted a record of 4-1-1 over their past six games overall. Los Angeles also won two consecutive games for the first time since they had a three game winning streak at the Christmas break.
The Kings latest win was on Thursday at St. Louis 4-1. The game was physical against one of the top teams in the West. Jonathan Quick had 28 saves in goal for the Kings, including stopping 16 shots during the third period.
Detroit has only won two games in its past seven overall and have continued to suffer from injuries to their regular line players.
Seven of their regulars did not play when Detroit lost 1-0 against the New York Rangers Thursday night.
However, some good news was received by the Red Wings as Jimmy Howard played well in net. Howard stopped 47 of the 48 shots he faced but still lost.
The game on Saturday against Los Angeles opens a homestand of five games for Detroit. It is the first home game the team has had since December 23.
Tomas Tatar a Detroit forward will play tonight after missing the New York game on Thursday to attend his father’s funeral.
Trevor Lewis did not score a single goal in his first 38 games played this season for Los Angeles. However, he had two in the third period on Thursday to spark Los Angeles to its win over St. Louis.
Matt Greene a defenseman for the Kings is out injured. For Detroit, Joakim Andersson is day to day, Pavel Datsyuk, Darren Helm, Jonathan Ericsson, Jonas Gustavsson, Stephen Weiss and Daniel Alfredsson are all currently on injured reserve and will not play for the Red Wings.
With Detroit back on home ice and Los Angeles coming off a hard fought win in St. Louis, I like the Red Wings in a tough game 3-1.
