Outside of a potential goalie swap, there aren't any lineup changes expected for the Kings on Friday.
Are Los Angeles Kings fans tired of seeing the Arizona Coyotes yet? In what feels like the 10th time already this season, the Kings play the Coyotes again Friday, after beating them 6-3 on Tuesday.
Despite beating the Coyotes by three goals on Saturday, the Kings will be looking for a better performance Friday.
They started slow and struggled to keep momentum at times on Tuesday, but against a young, talented Coyotes team, that will happen.
The Kings will also be hoping for more 5-on-5 production from their top line of Quinton Byfield, Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, who have scored just twice as a line at even strength and given up two the other way.
On the positive side of things for that line, the underlying numbers still look very good, and if we're to believe stats like expected goals, they should start finding the net soon.
We're still waiting for Kempe to really get going and for Byfield to find his scoring and if either of those things happen, the Kings are in a great spot.
It will be interesting to see who Todd McLellan puts in net tonight given this is game one of a back-to-back.
With the Vegas Golden Knights coming to Los Angeles on Saturday, it might make sense to play Pheonix Copley for his second straight start, saving Cam Talbot.
However, McLellan might go with the normal goalie rotation and put Talbot back in, giving Copley the game on Saturday.
I think we'll learn a bit about who the Kings see as the true number one based on the next two games.
If Copley gets two straight, saving Talbot for Vegas, it's fair to assume that Talbot is the number one right now.
If they continue the rotation and give Copley Saturday's game, the team's comments about solving the goaltending issue by committee will be true.
Outside of a potential goalie swap, there aren't any lineup changes expected for the Kings on Friday.
Los Angeles Kings Projected Lines:
Forwards:
Quinton Byfield - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Alex Laferriere
Trevor Moore - Phil Danault - Arthur Kaliyev
Carl Grundstrom - Blake Lizotte - Trevor Lewis
Defense:
Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty
Vladislav Gavrikov - Matt Roy
Andreas Englund - Jordan Spence
Goalies:
Pheonix Copley
Cam Talbot
Projected Arizona Coyotes Lines:
Forwards:
Clayton Keller - Barrett Hayton - Nick Schmaltz
Matias Maccelli - Logan Cooley - Jan Jenik
Zach Sanford - Nick Bjugstad - Lawson Crouse
Alexander Kerfoot - Jack McBain - Liam O'Brien
Defense:
J. J. Moser - Sean Durzi
Travis Dermott - Mathew Dumba
Juuso Valimaki - Troy Stecher
Goalies:
Connor Ingram
Karel Vejmelka