The wait is finally over: Kings hockey is back. The NHL season officially started yesterday. The Kings are looking to start their 2026-27 NHL season on the right path as they take on the team that eliminated them in the playoffs last season, the Colorado Avalanche. The Kings will face the Avalanche at 10:00 PM EST. 

Here are the projected lines for the Kings:

Artemi Panarin - Quinton Byfield - Adrian Kempe

Mats Zuccarello - Alex Turcotte - Alex Laferriere

Trevor Moore - Erik Haula - Scott Laughton

Andre Lee - Samuel Helenius - Joel Armia 

Brian Dumoulin - Drew Doughty

Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke

Mikey Anderson - Cody Ceci

Darcy Kuemper

Anton Forsberg

Here are the projected lines for the Avalanche: 

Artturi Lehkonen - Nathan MacKinnon - Martin Necas

Gabriel Landeskog - Brock Nelson - Nazem Kadri

Jaden Schwartz - Fedor Svechkov - T.J. Hughes

Parker Kelly - Nicolas Roy

Devon Toews - Cale Makar

Brett Kulak - Sam Malinski

Josh Manson - Brent Burns

Noah Juulsen

Mackenzie Blackwood

Scott Wedgewood

The Kings will be without Kevin Fiala due to his leg surgery. The Kings have also scratched Corey Perry and Erik Gustafsson in tonight's matchup. The Avalanche will dress 11 forwards and 7 defensemen tonight. The Avalanche will also be without Logan O’Connor (lower body) and Zachary L’Heureux (lower body). 

The projected starting goaltenders tonight are Darcy Kuemper for the Kings and Mackenzie Blackwood for the Avalanche. This will also be the first regular-season game with Peter Laviolette as their head coach. This is game 1 of 84, so the Kings are looking to start the 2026-27 NHL season with a win. 

The Kings' defence will need to be cautious against this Avalanche team, which averaged 3.63 goals per game and allowed the fewest goals in the NHL at 2.40 per game. While the Kings' defence ranked 7th in the NHL last season, their offence needed a big spark. 

In Game 1, expect the Kings to play better on offence and run a new scheme under new head coach Peter Laviolette.