An opportunity to be seized

(photo courtesy of: www.allposters.com)

The Los Angeles Kings head into an extended weekend with a two-game series at home against two of the current NHL cellar-dwellers: Philadelphia Flyers and Phoenix Coyotes. It would be commendable if they went to sleep on Saturday night with four solid points on the heels of two victories, where exciting on-ice action is balanced with satisfatory end-results.

I am perfectly aware that the Flyers [4-12-2 for 10 points] have shown some signs of life recently, averaging almost four goals per game in their last three contests (including a 7-4 win last night at Anaheim). At the same time, Philly still remains Philly with their motionless d-men, easy to solve offensive patterns and frequently injured key personnel (though Peter Forsberg is back at least for now).

All in all, the tonight's game seems like a perfect opportunity for our bangers (Dustin Brown and Tom Kostopoulous) to squash some life out of the pillar-like Flyer veterans only for quick, finesse scorers like Alex Frolov and Mike Cammalleri to put some numbers on the board. It might not be very pretty, but constant pressure applied also by our defensive corps, especially on the power play, just might get the job done.

Same thing applies to the Saturday night meeting against the howling Coyotes [5-12-0 for 10 points]. A couple of quick goals in the first period should send the game into the right direction, especially given the fact that Phoenix does not seem to have an answer to the dynamics of Anze Kopitar in their defensive zone. It's a good time to take advantage of the injuries of Shane Doan and Mike Comrie, so that two points can be secured. I would not rule out a relatively high-scoring affair, here.

All in all, it would be very difficult to comprehend the current strength of this franchise if we do not end up with at least three points from these two games.