The Kings beat the Coyotes twice in the pre-season, but this time it counts. Will both teams be pumped? You bet. Do both teams not particularly like each other? That’s an understatement, just ask any player on each team. The fact that the Kings eliminated the Arizona (then Phoenix) Coyotes in their Western Conference run in 2011-12 still must be stored in their memory banks.
The L.A. Kings got bigger with Milan Lucic, and they’ve had the whole summer off to rest and get focused. They’ve had lots of controversy with players getting in trouble with the law, and that could affect their play a bit.