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Columbus Blue Jackets (12 pts) vs. Los Angeles Kings (19 pts) Game Preview

jason newland
·2 min read

The Jackets are on the dreaded West Coast road trip that historically equals little to no success, but they must overcome that and get points in Southern California this weekend. They have to get back on track after dropping their last three games.

The Jackets will play tonight at Crypto.Com Arena for the 35th time in their history. In the 34 previous games, they've only been able to win 10 games. Not good.

The LA Kings come into this game having lost their game to the Vancouver Canucks, but they're 6-3-1 in the last 10 games. The Kings are 8th in the NHL in scoring, so the Jackets must slow them down the best they can. The CBJ are 12th in the league in goals against, so if they limit their chances and score themselves, they should have a shot in this game.

Their power play is 23rd in the league, while the CBJ PK is 13th, so the special teams should actually be a pretty good matchup. The Jackets PP is 24th, while the Kings PK is 17th.

The Kings are currently 2nd in the Pacific, 4th in the West, and 7th in the league.

Series History vs. The Kings

  • Columbus is 10-21-1-2 on the road vs. the Kings, and 27-32-1-7 in all meetings.

  • The Jackets are 1-3-2 in the last 6 against LA and 0-2-1 in the last three.

  • The home team is 10-2-3 in the last 15 games of the series.

Who To Watch For The Kings

  • Alex Laferriere leads the team with 8 goals.

  • Anze Kopitar leads the Kings with 15 points.

  • Darcy Kuemper is 4-1 with a .896 save %. He lost his last start on Thursday.

  • David Rittich is 4-3 with a .884 save %.

CBJ Player Notes vs. The Kings

  • Sean Monahan has 22 points in 34 career games against LA. He's 1 assist from 300 for his career.

  • James van Riemsdyk has 18 points in 23 games.

  • Kevin Labanc has 14 points in 29 games vs. the Kings.

Injuries

  • Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (12 Games)

  • Gavin Brindley (broken finger) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 3; (12 Games)

  • Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (9 Games)

  • Kent Johnson (upper body); (8 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 55

How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on FanDuel Sports Network. Steve Mears will be on the play-by-play. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 The Fan with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play.

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