The Kings host the Philadelphia Flyers as they look to move into the final Western Wildcard spot with a win.
The Kings play their 4th Metro Division team tonight, hosting the Philadelphia Flyers. The Kings are coming off a 4-1 win on Monday against the New York Rangers. The Kings are currently tied with the Seattle Kraken for the wildcard spot, and the Kraken take on the Predators tonight, so there are lots of important games around the NHL before the Kings-Flyers matchup. The Flyers are coming off a 3-2 overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Projected Kings Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight:
Artemi Panarin - Anze Kopitar - Mathieu Joseph
Trevor Moore - Quinton Byfield - Alex Laferriere
Alex Turcotte - Scott Laughton - Jared Wright
Jeff Malott - Samuel Helenius - Taylor Ward
Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin - Cody Ceci
Darcy Kuemper
Anton Forsberg
Projected Flyers Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Flyers tonight:
Alex Bump - Christian Dvorak - Travis Konecny
Nikita Grebenkin - Trevor Zegras - Owen Tippett
Denver Barkey - Noah Cates - Matvei Michkov
Garnet Hathaway - Sean Couturier - Luke Glendening
Travis Sanheim - Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York - Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler - Emil Andrae
Samuel Ersson
Dan Vladar
Line Changes and Injuries
Adriam Kempe did not practice at the Kings' morning skate today, and he could miss his 2nd straight game after being scratched in warmups in the game against the Rangers. So Mathieu Joseph gets slotted back into the Kings' lineup, but if Kempe were made available, he would slot right onto that top line. Joel Armia has also started skating again, practicing in a non-contact jersey.
Key Factors
The Kings are coming into this game having scored 8 goals in their last 2 games, a massive turnaround from the entire season. The Kings need to continue to be solid, as the Flyers can jump off the rush, so the Kings' defence has to be solid tonight. If the Kings are without Kempe, Artemi Panarin will be looked to as a massive spark in the Kings' offence tonight.
Darcy Kuemper looks to be the starter for the Kings tonight, as his last start was the 4-1 win over the Rangers, where he posted a .955 save percentage. In his last 5 starts, he has had a save percentage over .900 in 4 of those games.
For the Flyers, they look to be starting Samuel Ersson, who is coming off a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals in which he allowed 1 goal and posted a .957 save percentage.
For the Kings, tonight's matchup is not only a very winnable game; if they win and the Kraken lose to the Predators, the Kings would be 2 points ahead with the same number of games played. Overall, I can see the Kings either dominating or in a very close matchup. My prediction for tonight's game is a 4-1 Kings win.