The Los Angeles Kings head to Sunrise on Thursday to take on the Florida Panthers as they search for their first win in six.
On Tuesday, the Kings blew yet another late lead, eventually losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in overtime.
The Kings have made a habit of blowing late leads in recent weeks and will have to be better against a Panthers team that's on a eight game win streak.
If the Kings fail to put together 60 minutes again on Thursday, this one could get ugly.
Of course, the Kings have the talent to go toe-to-toe with any team in the league, but they haven't shown that recently.
There are no lineup changes expected, with Pierre-Luc Dubois returning to the third line being the only swap.
Todd McLellan will be expecting a big response from Dubois after he was demoted to the fourth line, and he needs one after a rough start to life in Los Angeles.
Recently, McLellan benched Arthur Kaliyev who responded well with some of his best performances of the season since being scratched and McLellan will hope for a similar response from Dubois.
This also means that Brandt Clarke will spend another game up in the press box with Jordan Spence remaining in the lineup.
I've got no issue with Spence staying in the lineup, but calling up Clarke to play him in one of a possible four games so far feels like a waste.
Clarke is an elite talent and needs to be playing games, there's no point in him sitting up in the press box.
Cam Talbot is the expected starter tonight.
On the other side of things, the Kings will have to keep a special eye on Sam Reinhart, who's been on an absolute tear this season with 29 goals and 51 points in 40 games.
Sergei Bobrovsky is the expected starter for Florida per THN Florida's David Dwork.
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 Florida Panthers Lines Per THN Florida:
Forwards:
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Ryan Lomberg
Jonah Gadjovich – Kevin Stenlund – Will Lockwood
Defense:
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmirty Kulikov
Goalies:
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz