Phoenix Coyotes v Los Angeles Kings Live

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Without any doubts, Anze Kopitar has become a true leader on the ice for the Kings in 2010-11 as the 23-year old center from Slovenia scored 25 goals and 73 points in this year’s NHL campaign. Confident to keep rolling, Jonathan Quick and the Los Angeles Kings will take on the Phoenix Coyotes at Staples Center on Thursday at 2:30 a.m. GMT.

Much like other teams in the playoff race in the Western Conference, the Coyotes also made a run in the past few weeks and dropped just two of their last ten regular season games. With a 42-25-11 record, Phoenix is currently holding on to the fourth place in the West and appears to be dedicated to defend home-ice advantage down the line. Yet, Phoenix’s lack of a go-to guy at the offensive end of the ice could become an issue once the playoffs get underway. In fact, nobody on the Coyote’s roster has scored more than 60 points so far, instead coach Dave Tippett’s squad relied on a solid performance across the board offensively. Facing their rivals from L.A. on Thursday, Phoenix can be expected to play with a lot of energy in order to secure a crucial win.

You can watch all games of the Phoenix Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.

4th March 2011

Without any doubts, the Phoenix Coyotes had an extremely tough time this summer when the previous owner group filed bankruptcy in May. Considering the extensive relocation talks, ownership bids and poor performance on the ice for the past decade, the future does not look all that bright for the Coyotes. In their first game of the 2009-10 season, the team will head to California to take on the equally struggling Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Sunday at 3:30 a.m. GMT.

Very few teams experienced a play-off drought as frustrating as the Los Angeles Kings. In fact, the franchise was unable to make any post-season appearance since the 2001-02 season and consistently ranked among the worst teams of the league. Much like in the past two years, the Kings’ front-office appeared to be dedicated to strengthen their roster through the NHL Entry Draft this summer. More specifically, L.A. pulled of several deals including multiple draft picks which ultimately resulted in a total of ten draft picks, including the fifth overall pick Brayden Schenn. In terms of free agency activity, the Kings limited their acquisitions to a few young players at minimum salary plus veteran defender Rob Scuderi from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

However, Los Angeles’ is not the only franchise facing a conglomerate of unpleasant issues. Truth be told, the Phoenix Coyotes look indeed like they are doomed for another year at the bottom of the league. More specifically, the franchise is stumbling on the edge of bankruptcy and might have to relocate to Hamilton, Ontario, next year. With this being said, it is no surprise that there was not much cash available this summer to become active on the free agent market. Most importantly, the Coyotes were able to acquire the services of 36-year old veteran defender Adrian Aucoin and landed the sixth overall draft pick Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Taking the aforementioned circumstances into consideration, neither team appears to have a clear edge in this match-up. Given the fact that the two sides spent nearly a decade in the draft lottery it is no surprise that both teams have an abundance of young players. Taking a look at the preseason, the Coyotes and Kings already played each other twice and quietly split the series at 1-1. Thus, it appears to be a justified assumption that the game could go either way on Sunday at 3:30 a.m. GMT.

You can watch all games of the Phoenix Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.