The LA Kings are hosting the San Jose Sharks as they look to win their 3rd straight game.
The Kings are looking to win their 3rd straight game after beating the Minnesota Wild in back-to-back games. The Kings are fresh off a 4-2 win against the Wild on Monday. The Kings have put together strong performances against the Wild in both games and look to continue that play against the Sharks, who are fresh off a 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Projected Kings Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight:
Taylor Ward - Alex Laferriere - Adrian Kempe
Warren Foegele - Quinton Byfield - Jeff Malott
Kevin Fiala - Alex Turcotte - Andrei Kuzmenko
Samuel Helenius - Andre Lee
Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin - Cody Ceci
Jacob Moverare
Darcy Kuemper
Anton Forsberg
Projected Sharks Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Sharks tonight:
William Eklund - Macklin Celebrini - Igor Chernyshov
Pavol Regenda - Alexander Wennberg - Tyler Toffoli
Jeff Skinner - Ty Dellandrea - Collin Graf
Barclay Goodrow - Zack Ostapchuk - Ryan Reaves
Dmitry Orlov - Timothy Liljegren
Mario Ferraro - Vincent Iorio
Sam Dickinson - Nick Leddy
Yaroslav Askarov
Alex Nedeljkovic
Key Changes and Lines
The Kings will be without Kopitar and Armia after they both got injured in the game against the Wild. Trevor Moore is considered day-to-day and has missed the last 3 games due to an illness. Corey Perry has been scratched tonight and placed on the designated non-roster list due to a family matter. The Kings will dress 11 forwards and 7 defencemen, with Jacob Moverare as the extra defenceman. The Sharks, who played yesterday, did not have a morning skate, and Yaroslav Askarov is likely to get the start tonight after Alex Nedeljkovic played last night.
Key Factors
The Kings are coming into this game after beating the Minnesota Wild twice, and they are looking to continue their winning ways. The Kings played very good games against the Wild, and every player played their absolute best, generating chances from all lines in both games. Kuzmenko had a goal and an assist in the 4-2 win on Monday, as well as the Kings' entire team played 2 complete, solid games, and they look to continue it against the Sharks. The Sharks are on the second game of their back-to-back, and the Kings can take advantage, considering they haven't played since Monday.
This game is very big for both teams, as they each have 45 points at this point in the season and hold the 2 wild-card spots in the west. While the Kings beat a very strong Wild team, they cannot take tonight off against the Sharks, as they have Macklin Celebrini, who is 3rd in the NHL in points and very capable of taking over games.
Overall, if the Kings play as they did against the Wild, they should be able to walk away with a win and close the gap between them and 3rd place in the Pacific. My prediction for tonight's game is a 5-2 win for the Kings.