The Olympic break is over, and the Kings start off facing the Vegas Golden Knights, and we see Artemi Panarin make his Kings debut.
Joel Armia, Drew Doughty, Adrian Kempe, and Darcy Kuemper have all returned to the Kings organization as they get set to host the Vegas Golden Knights. Joel Armia returned with a Bronze medal, and Drew Doughty and Darcy Kuemper returned with a Silver Medal. Before the Olympic break, the Kings traded for Artemi Panarin, but because of the timing of the trade, he did not play any games for the Kings before the break. For the first time, we will see him today.
Kings Projected Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight:
Quinton Byfield - Anze Kopitar - Trevor Moore
Artemi Panarin - Alex Laferriere - Adrian Kempe
Warren Foegele - Alex Turcotte - Andrei Kuzmenko
Joel Armia - Samuel Helenius - Corey Perry
Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin - Cody Ceci
Anton Forsberg
Darcy Kuemper
Golden Knights projected Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Golden Knights tonight:
Ivan Barbashev - Tomas Hertl - Keegan Kolesar
Reilly Smith - Tanner Laczynski - Pavel Dorofeyev
Brandon Saad - Colton Sissons - Alexander Holtz
Cole Reinhardt - Kai Uchacz - Braeden Bowman
Jeremy Lauzon - Rasmus Andersson
Brayden McNabb - Dylan Coghlan
Ben Hutton - Kaedan Korczak
Adin Hill
Akira Schmid
Injuries and Line Changes
With the Kings having all their players who went to the Olympics return to the lineup, they have the advantage because Vegas is missing 5 of its best players. Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Shea Theodore, Mark Stone, and Mitch Marner are all scratched for tonight's game. The Kings have scratched Jeff Malott, Jacob Moverare, Taylor Ward and will be without Kevin Fiala after he was injured in the Olympics.
Key Factors
With the Golden Knights missing 5 of their top players, the Kings need to take advantage and get a game closer to a playoff spot. The Kings are currently 3 points back of the Anaheim Ducks for the final wildcard spot. With a win tonight, they would be within 1 point of a playoff spot. The Kings' second line will be the one to watch, as they could have a potential dynamic duo in Adrian Kempe and Artemi Panarin.