Kings Vs Rangers Game Preview: Panarin Returns To Madison Square Garden

The Kings are coming off a 6-4 loss to the New Jersey Devils. The Kings play their 5th and final game of the road trip against the Rangers. The Kings have gone 2-2 on this road trip but have earned points in 3 of the last 4 games. The Rangers are coming off a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild. The Rangers are likely out of the playoff race, but the Kings need to keep getting points, so this game tonight is once again an important one with playoff implications. Artemi Panarin is also set to make his return to Madison Square Garden for the first time since being traded to LA. 

Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight: 

Artemi Panarin - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe

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

Anton Forsberg

Darcy Kuemper

Here are the projected lines for the Rangers tonight: 

Gabe Perreault - Mika Zibanejad - Alexis Lafreniere

Will Cuylle - Vincent Trocheck - J.T. Miller

Tye Kartye - Noah Laba - Conor Sheary

Taylor Raddysh - Adam Edstrom - Jaroslav Chmelar

Vladislav Gavrikov - Adam Fox

Matthew Robertson - Braden Schneider

Urho Vaakanainen - Will Borgen

Igor Shesterkin

Jonathan Quick

The Kings' head coach, D.J. Smith, stated there could be line changes for tonight's game, so the lines may be different come game time. The Kings have once again scratched Mathieu Joseph and Jacob Moverare, and are still missing Joel Armia (back) and Andrei Kuzmenko (meniscus). The Rangers have scratched Vincent Iorio, Jonny Brodzinski, and Juuso Parssinen and are without Matt Rempe due to an upper-body injury. 

The Kings are likely to start Forsberg in tonight's matchup, and the Rangers are likely to start Shesterkin. Forsberg is coming off a 22-save loss where he allowed 5 goals. Shesterkin is coming off a 46-save win against the Minnesota Wild, where he posted a .958 save percentage. 

The Kings will have to be patient on offense as the Rangers are currently on a 4 game win streak and Shesterkin has been incredible in those games he has started in as in his last 4 games his lowest save percentage is a .885 and his highest is a .958 so while the Rangers are likely a non playoff team this season their goalie is fully capable of stealing games. 

The Kings will have to be strong offensively in today's matchup, especially given the Rangers' strong goaltending. Kempe and Panarin continue to showcase how they are one of the best duos in the NHL. In their back-to-back games against the Islanders and Devils, Kempe and Panarin combined for 6 points. 

The Kings will also have to be strong defensively, as the Rangers forward Gabe Perreault has 7 points in his last 5 games. The Kings have been strong defensively throughout the season, and they will need to stay strong, especially if the Rangers can attack off the rush.

Overall, this game is incredibly important for the Kings in the playoff picture, as they are currently on the outside looking in and could tie the Kraken for the final wildcard spot with a win.