Kings Vs Canucks Game Preview: Kings Looking To Move Into 3rd In the Pacific

The Kings are coming off a huge 5-3 win over Seattle, which clinched a playoff berth for the 5th straight season. The Kings are currently riding a 5-game point streak and look to continue that tonight against the Canucks. While the Kings have already clinched a playoff spot with the 2 games left, they can still finish 2nd in the Pacific Division. The Kings take on Vancouver tonight, then travel to Calgary for their last game of the regular season. 

Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight: 

Artemi Panarin - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe

Trevor Moore - Quinton Byfield - Alex Laferriere

Joel Armia - Scott Laughton - Jared Wright

Mathieu Joseph - Samuel Helenius - Taylor Ward

Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty

Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke

Brian Dumoulin - Cody Ceci

Darcy Kuemper

Anton Forsberg

Here are the projected lines for the Canucks tonight:

Drew O’Connor - Marco Rossi - Linus Karlsson

Liam Ohgren - Teddy Blueger - Brock Boeser

Jake DeBrusk - Elias Pettersson - Nils Hoglander

Curtis Douglas - Ty Mueller - Aatu Raty

Zeev Buium - Filip Hronek

Marcus Pettersson - Tom Willander

Elias Pettersson - Kirill Kudryavtsev

Kevin Lankinen

Nikita Tolopilo

The Kings did not hold a morning skate after defeating Seattle 5-3 yesterday. Darcy Kuemper is expected to be the starter tonight after Anton Forsberg started the last 4 games for the Kings. The Kings have scratched Jacob Moverare and are without Jeff Malott (undisclosed), Alex Turcotte (undisclosed), and Andrei Kuzmenko (meniscus).

The Canucks are expected to use the same skaters who played in the 4-3 overtime win against Anaheim. The Canucks have also scratched P.O. Joseph, Max Sasson, Victor Mancini and are without Evander Kane (undisclosed), Filip Chytil (facial fracture), Thatcher Demko (hip surgery), and Derek Forbort (undisclosed). 

While the Kings have clinched a playoff spot, these next 2 games are just as important as they can determine who the Kings play in the first round. As of now, the Kings would face the Colorado Avalanche in the first round, but that could change based on the outcome of the next 2 games.

The Kings are starting Darcy Kuemper tonight, who is looking to bounce back after not starting since April 4th. In his last 3 games, he has not had a save percentage above .900. 

The Kings have been playing their best hockey of the season during this 5-game winning streak, battling back and being strong across all areas of the game. Trevor Moore has been playing well recently, having 5 points in his last 5 games. But that is only one spotlight, as the entire Kings team has been playing very well recently.  

Overall, this game is extremely important for who the Kings face in the first round. Between now and the playoffs, a lot can change, but my prediction for tonight's game is a 5-1 Kings win.