Carolina Hurricanes: Three keys to winning Matinee in LA
With the 13-2 Carolina Hurricanes looking to improve on their start to the season, they move into game three of this west coast road trip as they look to make it three wins from three. With big wins doubling up both the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles will provide a different kind of challenge for the team.
Staple Center in Los Angeles is one of the most famous buildings in all sports. Although it’s not for the hockey team located there, Los Angeles still holds two Stanley Cups to its name with runs in 2012 and 2014 making this a storied building to play in. It’s always been a hostile environment and it’s never an easy place to go and play. This will be a very difficult task for Carolina.
Much like their local rival, Los Angeles is a team in transition. Moving from the old guard to the new. Bringing through a lot of kids and trying to move on a lot of their older guys to teams that are looking to make pushes for the Stanley Cup. In the City of Angeles, the Canes task will not get any easier than it was in Orange County when they took on the Ducks. This one might even provide more of a challenge.
Where Anaheim is a team of youth and skill, LA is a team with a lot of know-how, some great skill, and a lot of older guys that know what it takes to beat teams like Carolina who are coming in on long road trips. Especially in a matinee game like this one that starts at 4 PM EST or a normal 1 PM start for a matinee if you’re out on the West Coast.
Start on time
Carolina has an absolutely horrible track record of showing up to matinee games and having a slow start, and then having to fight from behind and relying on their star-studded roster to get them out of trouble. This cannot be the case when they take on the Los Angeles Kings. With the City of Angels already a difficult place to play, they need to show up on time because they can’t afford to be behind.
At 8-6-2, the Carolina Hurricanes are going to take on an opponent that knows how to start games in order to win them. They cannot take this Kings team lightly, or they will quickly see that record improve in the win column. Carolina needs to show up on time, and play well. Not give everything in game 16 of the regular season, but get the two points and move on to San Jose.
With the Canes being involved in a matinee, this sparks fears throughout the Carolina Hurricanes fanbase. They have a notoriously bad record in matinees and are playing what feels like the fifth one of the season for them. If they want to be a successful team, starting when the game starts is the most important thing. Even if you’re beaten, if you start on time, you give yourself a chance to win.
They did not do this against Arizona on Halloween, and it nearly cost them the game. It’s only because the Arizona Coyotes roster is made up of every bad contract in the NHL that the Canes were able to get through that game with two points and escape that trap. It looks like the winless Coyotes were going to beat the perfect record Canes in that one, and this Kings team is three times more deadly than those Yotes.
The top line needs to dominate their matchup
Los Angeles is a very lucky team to have one of the league’s best centers in their organization and added one of the best defensive forwards in hockey to that pool. I do not know what center will be assigned to stop the SAJ line, but one of them will be and that will be where this game gets difficult. If the Kings can constrain the top players on the roster, this gets a lot more difficult.
Not impossible, Carolina has the depth to play a run and gun game in the bottom six with Los Angeles, but far more difficult than it needs to be. Keep getting pucks in deep, get the puck on the net, crash the blue pain, get bodies in front of the goalies’ eyes, and just play sound fundamental hockey. Don’t try anything too fancy if the basics aren’t right like when we saw a certain someone think about his signature move behind the net against the ducks.
Don’t do anything like that if you can avoid it. Forecheck hard, wear this team down. You will generate chances, and the puck will go in if you make the Kings work hard, but this is a very solid team at both ends of the ice, and they’re going to be able to stop you putting them on a highlight reel if you try and mess them around. It’s important to not look ahead.
We’ve seen this line get the winning goal in both games on this road trip so far, so it’s important that they are able to hold the Kings at bay and do everything they can to get the team back into the win column. With that in mind, that’s the important thing here. Winning is what the Canes need to continue. If they get shelled for 60 minutes and win 1-0, that’s just as valuable as blowing the Kings to the moon.
Solid defense wins championships
This LA team is capable of beating the Canes if they take it lightly. That’s mainly due to the elite talent that LA boasts at the center position. In order to keep these players on the Los Angeles forward core at bay, the Carolina Hurricanes have a simple task. Play a good 200-foot game, make sure you reload, box out attackers, block shots, and get in passing lanes.
Carolina’s defense is solid, and it’s going to have to be good when the team goes to play the Kings. This matinee is a difficult game for anyone, but the Kings are going to be at home waiting for the Canes to get in from Orange County and they’re going to be ready to upset the team with the best point percentage in hockey. They’re going to try and play up to their competition.
We know that the Kings love being an underdog. In the history of their franchise, they won a Stanley Cup being the eighth seed in the Western Conference, and reverse swept the San Jose Sharks when that feat has only been accomplished three other times in NHL history. They’re going to be a worthy opponent for Carolina and they love to cause upsets.
All six defensemen will need to be ready to give up the body, cut passing lanes, keep their feet moving, and have active shifts. Don’t get caught pinching unless you’re behind, and don’t force anything that isn’t there. Against teams like LA, you have to not lose before you can win the game. Make sure you take care of the puck and don’t let anything happen in your own net, then you can start to win games.