Fresh off a dominant win over the Detroit Red Wings, the Calgary Flames (4-3-1) will travel down to southern California for their second matchup with the hated Los Angeles Kings (2-5-0).
Lucic turning a corner?
While many eyes will be on the potentially pugilistic play between rivals Drew Doughty and Matthew Tkachuk on Saturday, the Flames' penalty minutes leader, Milan Lucic, has also operated underneath a microscope this season.
Acquired from Edmonton in July for James Neal, another big UFA signing in need of a scenery change, Lucic's early returns have fallen far below the watermark established three hours up the QE2.
At age 32, Neal has defied the odds with a white-hot start that has him currently leading the NHL in goals, with nine in eight games.
Trades, however, involve two teams, both attempting to gain value from a swap of assets. What has Calgary really gleaned from its new entity of truculence? An improvement over Neal's 2018-19 version, maybe?
A case study: Thursday's contest against Detroit. Lucic notched his first point of the season, a nice assist on a Sam Bennett goal which saw the Flames' #17 beat Red Wings defender Alex Biega on the forecheck to gain the puck.
Lucic also began the play which resulted in Derek Ryan picking up his first goal of the season. All said, Lucic recorded the
fourth-highest Game Score of any player in the whole game.
"That was a big play by him on the forecheck. He got there. You know what I mean? Made the turnover and made the play to [Sam Bennett]," said Flames coach Bill Peters on Thursday. "Looch was good. He had a big impact."
For Lucic, he said he hopes Thursday's contest is a sign of what is to come.
"At times, it's been frustrating to start the year because we've been working hard and nothing's really been going our way," said Lucic. "It's good to get one there, and a big goal, to start off the third period."
Ilya Kovalchuk heating up?
Ilya Kovalchuk's three-year, $18.75 million deal with the Kings left many fans scratching their heads when it was announced in July 2018. At the age of 35, Kovalchuk boldly proclaimed his number-one priority for his NHL return was to win a Stanley Cup.
The Kings did not do that in 2018-19, finishing second-last in the NHL with 71 points. They seem on track for a similar finish this year.
Kovalchuk, himself, began his first season in Los Angeles on a good run, with 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) in his first 14 games leading up to Nov. 6, 2018. However, the Kings fired coach John Stevens on Nov. 4 and replaced him with Willie Desjardins, and Kovalchuk struggled mightily after his first game with his new coach.
Over the rest of the season, Kovalchuk recorded just 20 points in 50 games, including a miserable 11-game pointless streak right after Desjardins' arrival. The Russian winger also found himself in the press box on multiple occasions.
Fast-forward to this year, and Kovalchuk has, once again, jumped out to a hot start under a new coach. With six points in seven games, Kovalchuk ranks second on the Kings in scoring, behind captain Anze Kopitar.
With Kovalchuk, the acumen is there. Among active players (min. 500 P), only Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos, and Nicklas Backstrom have higher points-per-game averages than Kovalchuk's 0.965.
But has he earned the trust of his coach? After the Kings' latest loss, a 3-0 shutout decision against Buffalo, Todd McLellan had some sharp words for his $6.25 million winger.
"We’ve got a guy that’s scored 400 NHL goals with a slapper from the hashmarks," said McLellan on Thursday. "He had two of them, and put it over the net. We pay him handsomely to put those in and he’s got to do that."
A work in progress, perhaps.
- With files from Andrew Knoll, George Johnson, and Ryan Dittrick
Flames projected lines:
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Elias Lindholm
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Milan Lucic - Derek Ryan - Sam Bennett
Tobias Rieder - Mark Jankowski - Austin Czarnik
Mark Giordano - T.J. Brodie
Noah Hanifin - Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington - Rasmus Andersson
David Rittich (unconfirmed)
Cam Talbot
Injuries: Andrew Mangiapane (undisclosed)
Scratches: Michael Stone
Kings projected lines:
Alex Iafallo - Anze Kopitar - Dustin Brown
Jeff Carter - Blake Lizotte - Tyler Toffoli
Ilya Kovalchuk - Adrian Kempe - Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford - Michael Amadio - Austin Wagner
Ben Hutton - Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez - Sean Walker
Joakim Ryan - Matt Roy
Jonathan Quick (unconfirmed)
Jack Campbell
Injuries: Derek Forbort
Scratches: Nikolai Prokhorkin, Kurtis MacDermid
Flames @ Kings on Hockey Night in Canada! 8:00 p.m.
