Bruins vs. Kings 2024 PRESEASON PREVIEW: Exhibition in Quebec City!

Just the facts

• The time: 7pm EST
• The place: Center Videotron, Quebec City, Quebec
• Place to watch: Streaming on BostonBruins.com, ESPN+, TVAS-2
• Place to listen: 98.5 The Sports Center

Know your enemy

• The Kings had a productive preseason, only losing to Utah early in training camp.
• LA is experiencing a French Canada residency of sorts this preseason; They face the B's tonight and then the Panthers on Saturday.
• Jack Studnicka was an important support for the Kings in the pre-season, but time will tell whether he will be included in the NHL squad at some point.

Game notes

Bienvenue to Quebec City! Try the cheese curds.

The Bruins and Kings don't typically see each other in preseason, but the NHL has decided to honor the government capital of French Canada with an east-west duel featuring two teams that would certainly appreciate the road trip to get away now from the constant hand-wringing about their squad at home.

Even if it's a preseason game, the B's have to be ready; In fact, the Kings have had a pretty strong run so far, with young talent like Quentin Byfield, Alex Laferriere and Alex Turcotte already meshing well with the Kings' older talent like Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe and Trevor Lewis. Warren Foegele has also fit perfectly into the squad, which is good; You'll need him to stay honest.

If the B's want to stop these Tinseltown tyrants, they'll first have to counter LA's net-front offense; This is usually facilitated by extremely strong play from the forwards in search of rebounds or by drawing the opponent's defense outwards. From the games NaturalStatTrick has tracked, it's clear that they have developed a strategy that works against their Pacific Division opponents.

Grid view

If Boston can deny the Kings those scoring opportunities and block the try points, they could lose a lot of their previous offensive control and shift the game more toward LA's defense and goaltending, which are a little more of a question mark than you might think. Aside from a single shutout against Anaheim, most of LA's wins have come in a single-goal game, and so far only Darcy Kuemper and Carter George, who played half a game against Vegas, have a SV% above .900 Black scored and silver.

Additionally, it wouldn't hurt the B's to try to take advantage of the power play opportunities presented to them; The Kings are good for about three or four minor penalties per game this preseason. After a game as underwhelming as the one they just played against the Flyers, hopefully the B's will show that they are more than thugs and blocked shots; You can overtake an opponent in exactly the same way.

It's going to be a tough game and the news that there are NHL games back in the QC will probably create a really passionate atmosphere, but there's a good win for Boston here if they're confident in their abilities and the Kings there attack where they are weakest.

See you there! Go B's!