The Los Angeles Kings play their seventh straight game against divisional opponents on Saturday, taking on the Edmonton Oilers for the first time since being eliminated by them last season.
Kings players were clear last season that this is their biggest rivalry game right now. These are two teams who have seen a lot of each other over the last two seasons and two teams that don't like each other.
This is going to be a physical, and likely nasty affair on Saturday.
It's another game where a lot of eyes will shift toward Pierre-Luc Dubois. When Rob Blake acquired Dubois to give the Kings an edge at center ice, this is the matchup most people's minds went to.
The Kings have struggled in the past to deal with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — most teams do — and adding Dubois is supposed to help in that department.
I'd still expect Phil Danault and Anze Kopitar to match up against Edmonton's two-headed monster, leaving Dubois up against Derek Ryan and Edmonton's third line for most of the night.
These are the games that Dubois needs to take over, games where he should have a big advantage over the opposition.
Maybe Todd McLellan surprises us and tasks Dubois with shutting one of Edmotnon's stars down though.
Dubois is one of the few players who can match Draisaitl's physicality and that could free up one of the Kings' top two lines for an easier match-up.
Whatever McLellan decides, this is a good test run for Blake's commitment to depth up the middle.
For the first time in a while, the Kings also look like favorites heading into a game against Edmonton.
The Oilers have struggled a bit this season, being undone by some terrible goaltending.
While the Kings have gotten solid play out of Cam Talbot which has propelled them to the third-best point percentage in the league.
A big focus for the Kings will be their start and their attention to detail.
They've started slow and haven't been very sharp in their two games since returning from the holiday break, something they won't get away with against Edmonton.
It will also be interesting to see how the Kings' penalty kill handles Edmonton's power play.
Edmonton's power play has feasted on the Kings' penalty kill in recent seasons, but this is a new-look Kings kill that sits atop the NHL.
There are no lineup changes expected from Wednesday's game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Projected Los Angeles Kings Lines:
Forwards:
Quinton Byfield - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala - Phil Danault - Trevor Moore
Arthur Kaliyev - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Alex Laferriere
Carl Grundstrom - Blake Lizotte - Trevor Lewis
Defense:
Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty
Vladislav Gavrikov - Matt Roy
Andreas Englund - Jordan Spence
Goalies:
Cam Talbot
David Rittich
Projected Edmonton Oilers Lines:
Forwards:
Nugent-Hopkins-McDavid-Hyman
McLeod-Draisaitl-Foegele
Kane-Ryan-Janmark
Erne-Hamblin-Brown
Defense:
Nurse-Ceci
Ekholm-Bouchard
Kulak-Desharnais
Goalies:
Skinner
Picard