Los Angeles Kings (11-17-2) at Calgary Flames (14-12-4)
Saturday, 8 p.m. MT, Scotiabank Saddledome,
TV; CBC, Sportsnet; Radio: 960 The Fan
THE BIG MATCHUP
Flames LW Matthew Tkachuk vs. Kings D Drew Doughty
It’s another episode of what might be the NHL’s most heated individual feud. It’s pretty clear that Doughty and Tkachuk have both been told to zip it instead of continuing to trade barbs through the media, but there’s certainly no love lost between these two. What’s fun for fans is this rivalry seems to bring the best of out them. Look no further than an Oct. 8 meeting at the Saddledome, when Tkachuk scored twice and added an assist and Doughty capped a three-point performance of his own with the overtime winner … and then got an earful from his mom because of the way he celebrated.
FIVE STORYLINES FOR THE GAME
ON A ROLL
The Flames have won three in a row — a spotless record under interim skipper Geoff Ward — and are currently riding a five-game point spree (4-0-1). There was plenty to celebrate in their 4-3 triumph over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, including Milan Lucic’s first lamp-lighting in the Flaming C. Finally off the schneid, the 31-year-old Lucic is now one snipe shy of hitting the 200-goal plateau at hockey’s highest level.
GO JOHNNY GO
After his first-star nod on Thursday, Johnny Gaudreau was again working on the third line during practice the following afternoon. The struggling superstar snapped out of a 10-game goal-scoring slump with a man-advantage marker against the Sabres and was robbed later on a glorious opportunity to snipe a second. He was promoted mid-game but was reunited Friday with Lucic and Derek Ryan, both usually bottom-six sorts.
KINGS’ COURT
The Kings are currently pulling up the rear in the Western Conference standings — prior to their date with the Edmonton Oilers on Friday, they had mustered just 11 wins — but they have had the Flames’ number this fall. The Kings already have prevailed in a pair of meetings between these Pacific Division foes. Ilya Kovalchuk has piled up four points in those matchups, but it has been nearly a month since he was anything but a healthy scratch.
ADDING EDWARDS
The Flames rounded out their coaching staff Friday, announcing Ray Edwards will join Ward’s crew as an assistant. The 49-year-old Edwards, who had been working as Calgary’s director of player development, will be the eye-in-the-sky. His resume includes a six-season stint as head coach of the Arizona Coyotes’ farm club, back when Brad Treliving was running the AHL affiliate for the Desert Dogs.
THIS N’ THAT
Flames forwards Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk are riding four-game point streaks … The Kings arrived in Edmonton with a woeful 2-10-1 record on the road. They have been out-scored by an ugly 54-26 margin in opposing barns … Saturday doubles as the Calgary Flames FoundationAwareness Game at the Saddledome, a chance to spotlight and celebrate their $3.8 million in donations during the 2018-19 campaign.
FLAMES LINEUP
Forwards
Matthew Tkachuk – Elias Lindholm – Andrew Mangiapane
Mikael Backlund – Sean Monahan – Dillon Dube
Milan Lucic – Derek Ryan – Johnny Gaudreau
Tobias Rieder – Mark Jankowski – Michael Frolik
Defence
Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie
Noah Hanifin – Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington – Rasmus Andersson
Goaltenders
David Rittich
Cam Talbot
KINGS LINEUP
Forwards
Alex Iafallo – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Jeff Carter – Nikolai Prokhorkin – Tyler Toffoli
Adrian Kempe – Blake Lizotte – Austin Wagner
Kyle Clifford – Michael Amadio – Trevor Lewis
Defence
Joakim Ryan – Drew Doughty
Ben Hutton – Matt Roy
Kurtis MacDermid – Sean Walker
Goaltenders
Jack Campbell
Jonathan Quick
INJURIES
Flames — LW Sam Bennett (shoulder), RW Austin Czarnik (lower body), D Juuso Valimaki (knee)
Kings — D Derek Forbort (back), D Alec Martinez (wrist)
SPECIAL TEAMS
Power play (prior to Friday’s action)
Flames: 17.2% (16-for-93, 20th)
Kings: 11.2% (11-for-98, 30th)
Penalty kill (prior to Friday’s action)
Flames: 85.6% (3rd)
Kings: 75.3% (28th)
— Wes Gilbertson
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
