The Kings and Ducks will square off in the second installment of this season’s Freeway Faceoff on Saturday, with it being the first matchup between coaches Jim Hiller and Greg Cronin.
Cronin guided the Ducks through the prior meeting, which the Kings won 5-2 and also marked the first 5 Freeway grudge match for Ducks rookies Leo Carlsson and Pavel Mintyukov. This time, it’ll be the Kings with a pair of former lottery picks, Brandt Clarke and Alex Turcotte, who will be experiencing the rivalry for the first time.
“It’s new to me and the younger players, but the intensity of the rivalry is strong among our vets and will become more a part of our young guys’ DNA with each passing game,” Cronin said.
Following the November clash, Cronin spoke of the Kings’ unique elements that he didn’t see in other contending clubs, the maturity of their defense’s involvement in the attack and other sound elements in their game. Even after the Kings’ monthlong funk, the promotion of Hiller to replace Todd McLellan and the Kings’ most recent loss, a 4-1 defeat by the Nashville Predators on Thursday, Cronin said he felt the Kings (28-17-10) were one of the top four teams in the West and that Clarke’s addition to their defense corps gave it a more offensive inclination. They’ve won five of seven games since Hiller was promoted and maintained the excellence of their top-ranked penalty kill in the process.
“They are playing the same systems they were playing under Todd McLellan, and his intensity and effort are still visible with this group,” Cronin said. “Every team gets a jump in energy when a new coach arrives, and their 5-2 record reflects that change.”
Both clubs were coming off losses, with the Ducks (20-34-2) having dropped Wednesday’s matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-4 in a bizarre contest that saw them climb out of a four-goal hole only to allow three unanswered scores. In the Kings’ loss to Nashville, they were suffocated at even…
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