The Chicago Blackhawks took care of business at home in games 1 and 2 in the Western Conference Finals. The next two will take place in L.A., where the Kings will look to get back in the series.
The Los Angeles Kings has won 14 consecutive games at home, and should look different than what fans have seen early in this series. The difference may very well be the rough stuff.
As Colin Fraser of the Kings showed in game 2, L.A. has no problem mucking it up with the opponent’s best players. Of course, what tough guy actually goes after another tough guy? Good thing Fraser is great at riding the coattails of some of the league’s best players.
If you think Chicago in 2010 and L.A. last season won because of Fraser and his ginger ways, you would be wrong.
Some of Los Angeles’ best can shoot the puck and knock your teeth out in stride. With some home cooking on tap until Friday, the Kings could very well recover and get back to their ground and pound game that has worked so well recently.
In games 1 and 2, the Kings tried to play a puck possession game with less grit. Based on the results and being down 0-2 in the series, coach Daryl Sutter would be wise to not get cute and tell his players to get back to the basics.
L.A. has a little motivation to get back to the grind. Blackhawks forwards Bryan Bickell and Andrew Shaw were apart of questionable plays. Bickell had two hits that included knee-to-knee contact. Intentional or not, you avoid those types of hits because of the major injury ramifications. Shawzer played “whack-a-King” like a moron during the 1st period of game 2. He got away with it, but it would be tough to imagine the players from L.A. have.
Fraser, Dustin “Pancake” Penner, Dwight King, and the captain of L.A. (and questionable hits) Dustin Brown are a handful to watch if you are looking for some hard hits against Chicago.
Games 3 and 4 are Tuesday, June 4 and Thursday, June 6.
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