The Kings host the Calgary Flames tonight as they look to extend their point gap over the Oilers.
The Kings face off against the Calgary Flames tonight as they look to bounce back after a 3-2 overtime loss against the Seattle Kraken. The Flames are coming off a 4-3 loss against the Detroit Red Wings. Both teams are looking to avoid losing 2 straight tonight.
Projected Kings Lines:
Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight:
Alex Laferriere - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala - Quinton Byfield - Joel Armia
Warren Foegele - Phillip Danault - Trevor Moore
Jeff Malott - Alex Turcotte - Corey Perry
Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin - Cody Ceci
Darcy Kuemper
Anton Forsberg
Projected Flames Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Flames tonight:
Jonathan Huberdeau - Morgan Frost - Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich - Nazem Kadri - Joel Farabee
Connor Zary - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman
Ryan Lomberg - John Beecher - Adam Klapka
Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson
Yan Kuznetsov - MacKenzie Weegar
Joel Hanley - Hunter Brzustewicz
Dustin Wolf
Devin Cooley
Injuries and Line Changes
The Kings look to be using the same players who played in the Kraken game, as the only players scratched for tonight's game are Samuel Helenius, Jacob Moverare, and Andrei Kuzmenko. They are also starting Darcy Kuemper tonight after Forsberg started in the Seattle game. For the Flames, they are missing Martin Pospisil, Samuel Honzek, and Jake Bean due to injury. Dryden Hunt and Brayden Pachal are scratched for tonight's game as well. The Flames have also elected to start Dustin Wolf tonight.
Key Factors
One big key factor in tonight's game is the goaltending matchup between Kuemper and Wolf. Kuemper, in 21 games, has 10 wins, 2 shutouts, a 2.23 goals against, and a .914 save percentage. Wolf in 24 games has 9 wins, 2 shutouts, a 2.95 goals against, and a .897 save percentage. So Kuemper has the edge in stats but Wolf is very capable of stealing games for the Flames.
The Kings have to make sure they can contain Rasmus Andersson tonight as he is 2nd on the Flames in points. The other player is Nazem Kadri who leads the Flames in points with 28. The Kings will once again look to their depth pieces in tonight's matchup.
While the Flames may be lower in the standings this season, they are a team that steals games with their goaltending, so the Kings will be looking not only at their depth but also at their top guys.
One guy they need to step up is Quinton Byfield, who has been pointless in his last 5 games, averaging nearly 20 minutes per game. If the Kings can get their depth players to apply pressure, it can allow their stars to capitalize.
I predict the Kings will struggle at times during this game, but overall will end up with the victory. I have the Kings winning 3-1.