It's these games that always get you.
The ones where the team is rolling right along, looking nigh unbeatable, and they run smack dab into some bottom dweller they should sweep aside.
But it doesn't happen. The underdog plays spoiler and all the goodwill and confidence won in the X number of previous wins seems fleeting and ephemeral.
And, yes, the Kings are a team the Flames should beat. They have some nice, young players that can make things interesting (Brown, Kopitar, O'Sullivan, Frolov) but the team as a whole just isn't there yet. The blueline is the major weakness, featuring a bunch of pimple faces and has-beens:
Greene-Doughty
Preissing-O'Donnell
Guathier-Harrold*
Quincey
*(No idea if these are the actual pairings. Maybe Rudy will drop by to clear things up)
Who? Exactly. Gauthier isn't even an NHL caliber defenseman anymore. Matt Greene is facing the tough match-ups. I'd have to say this is one of the most exploitable back-ends in the Western Conference, if not the league.
Oh Labarbera! Will you ever win?
All that said, keep in mind - it's the bottow dwellers that always turn out to be the streak stoppers.
Prediction - Kings 4, Flames 3. Frolov, Kopitar and O'Sully (2) for LA. Boyd (2) and Bertuzzi for Calgary (his superfluous dangles might actually work against these guys).
