The Los Angeles Kings are on a four-game winning streak and have won nine in a row at home.
But as they have been preparing for a long time to host the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night, the Kings had a strong training session on Monday.
“We practiced three times as a team in about the last month … we had a long road trip, Christmas break, so (this) was an opportunity to get out,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller told lakinginsider. .com. “Practice was like our preseason practices, where we worked hard for 50 minutes, worked hard, went up and down. I hope that will get us back in shape.”
The Kings won 2-1 against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, but they knew it was far from playing on the top shelf during 12-2-2. Los Angeles, however, will look to complete a five-game homestand and build on the third-longest home winning streak in franchise history.
“The way we won those games; some were a full 60 minutes where we felt like we were on it the whole time,” defenseman Mike Anderson said. “A game like (Saturday), maybe you don’t have a lot of play, but we found a way to get it when we needed it and close it out and win. So I think it’s been a long time coming. It’s a mix of everything, but again, that’s guys pulling different paths and the mark of a good team.”
Striker Adrian Kempe has scored in three consecutive games and is on a five-point streak with three goals and three assists.
The Flames arrive in Los Angeles after a 3-2 overtime win over the host Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday, the first leg of a road trip with their mother.
“It’s always nice to get a win, especially in front of my mom,” said Calgary forward Nazem Kadri. “I think it’s an extra boost. It feels like they had a little time of day, so it’s nice to see them having fun.”
Calgary snapped a two-game losing streak to pull even with the Vancouver Canucks for second place in the Western Conference wild cards. However, the Flames have played one more game than the Canucks.
But despite that defeat, the Flames believe that they played well enough to win.
Against Anaheim, they opened the scoring when a point guard bounced off MacKenzie Weegar and into the net. The winning goal was a matter of Anaheim’s Jacob Trouba making an offhanded clearance attempt that ended up connecting with Jonathan Huberdeau in front of an open net for the conversion.
“We found a way to get to the bottom of the stick,” Weegar said. “When you get a couple of bounces — off my pads like that, I don’t even know how that overtime goal came in — those opportunities are good, but we got those opportunities. We worked hard to get those opportunities. The game was good. , so I thought we worked hard on the other side. of those bumps, and we’ll take them when we can.
There was no immediate update on the condition of Flames center Connor Zary, who left the game after a knee strike on Drew Helleson, for which he was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct.
Zary is third on the team in both goals (10) and points (22).
–Field Level Media