Boston Bruins: 5 Keys to Tuesday's Matchup with the Los Angeles Kings

The Boston Bruins will entertain John Stevens’ debut as the Los Angeles Kings interim head coach when the two clubs converge on TD Garden Tuesday night. The Kings showed Terry Murray to the egress on Monday evening, adding punctuation to their stark underachievement over the first two months of the season.

Los Angeles is in the middle of the Western Conference’s non-playoff pack at 13-12-4 and bears the leanest offense in the league with a mere 2.21 goals per game. It hasn’t helped to have Dustin Penner out of the lineup for three weeks before his return early last week or that offseason acquisition Mike Richards is now out with a concussion.

Of course, Boston is about to move forward with its own key injury, that being Zdeno Chara’s lower-body ailment. With Gregory Campbell also potentially out along with fellow fourth-liner Daniel Paille, the remaining Bruins will need to step up to keep the Kings down.

The most specific areas of focus for this matchup are as follows.

Don’t Wake Up the Giant

Penner has appeared in four games since recovering from his injury, amassing three points and 15 shots on goal in that span. Anze Kopitar, the Kings’ only consistent bright spot, has four assists in his last five outings.

Simon Gagne, by contrast, has been much colder, with zero points in five games this month of December and no goals and two assists in his last 10 outings. Justin Williams and Dustin Brown each have one goal on the month while the rest of LA’s active offense is basically nursing a season-long slump as no other forward has more than two goals on the year.

On a four-game losing streak leading up to Murray’s dismissal, the Kings might have the requisite mental sparkplug to reverse their own fortunes. For their sake, the Bruins are tasked with minimizing LA’s time and space as they try to promptly justify the coaching change.

Defending Against the Defense

The presumptive defensive corps for Tuesday’s contest, fueled by the likes of Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson, has combined to supply the Kings with 13 goals and 27 assists. Not quite as prolific as, say, the Florida Panthers’ blue-line brigade that visited the Garden last week, but considering LA’s offensive struggles, it is certainly noteworthy.

Johnson alone has inserted five of the Kings’ 65 total goals. Another four have come off the tape of rookie Slava Voynov, who has logged 17 appearances on recall from the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs.

Quick Trip

Egregious and often costly lack of support aside, goaltender Jonathan Quick is still putting in respectable performances in the crease. Among all NHL regulars, he holds a position among the top 10 in both key categories with a 2.10 goals-against average and .931 save percentage.

With that being said, through his first 23 starts on the season, with three exceptions, Quick’s fortunes have leaned heavily on his own efficiency. More often than not, he wins or at least musters a point when he confines the opposition to two goals or less, going 9-1-2. When he authorizes a third goal, his record is 2-7-2.

Accordingly, Boston’s best bet for issuing the Kings’ shallow offense a daunting test is to first tuck a couple of biscuits behind Quick.

As it happens, in each of LA’s last seven games, two wins and five losses, the eventual victor has both scored first and led after the first period.

Keeping an Even Field

While the Kings’ power play is hardly the most radiant in the league, currently ranked No. 21 with a 16.8 percent conversion rate, they have reaped a hefty percentage of their goals via the man advantage. Specifically, they have struck for 19 out of 65 tallies, or 29 percent of their total output, with the benefit of an additional player.

Four of Kopitar’s 10 goals this season have come on the power play, as have three of Johnson’s five and three of Brown’s five.

If only for precautionary purposes, the Bruins should just as soon play this one to their advantage with copious five-on-five action.

Making Their Lives Tougher

The Kings have not sculpted many leads, let alone hefty ones. But when they are ahead long enough, they can sure defend their upper hand.

Entering Tuesday night’s action, the Flyers are the only team other than Los Angeles to have a pristine 1.000 winning percentage when leading after the first period. When leading at the second intermission, the Kings are technically undefeated at 10-0-1.

Conversely, LA has mustered only two rallies when trailing after 20 minutes at 2-6-1. The Kings are also one of six teams still without a win when facing a deficit at the start of the closing frame at 0-11-1.

Gee, if you’re the Bruins, which scenario would you rather attain?