Lines and notes ahead of the Los Angeles Kings' final preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
It's the first midday game of the season in Los Angeles. With the Kings taking on the Vegas Golden Knights at 1:00 PM at Crypto.com Arena.
It's also the first game against the Golden Knights since the Hayden Hodgson hit on Mark Stone and the subsequent postgame comments.
With Hodgson not in the lineup — actually, none of the Kings roster from that game will feature Saturday — I don't expect any carryover emotions from that game.
However, this is a divisional game and the last game of preseason for both teams so there should be a good pace to this one.
I'm also expecting Saturday's lineup to closely mirror opening nights lineup on Wednesday.
Here's how the Kings rolled their lines at practice Friday.
Forwards:
Quinton Byfield - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore - Phil Danault - Viktor Arvidsson
Kevin Fiala - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Carl Grundstrom
Jaret Anderson-Dolan - Blake Lizotte - Trevor Lewis
Defense:
Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty
Vladislav Gavrikov - Matt Roy
Andreas Englund - Jordan Spence
Goalies:
Cam Talbot
Pheonix Copley
It's possible that Tobias Bjornfot will slide into the third pair alongside Jordan Spence for Saturday's game, but Englund was taking rushes with Spence Friday.
After the Kings sent Alex Turcotte, Alex Laferriere and Brandt Clarke to the Ontario Reign yesterday, that third-pair left defense spot is really the last roster battle left.
Technically, they still have to decide between Pheonix Copley and David Rittich as Cam Talbot's backup, but I'm guessing that isn't much of a battle in the staff's eyes. I'm guessing Copley stays up.
Here's a look at Vegas' projected starting lineup per THN's Las Vegas team site:
Forwards:
Jonathan Marchessault - Jack Eichel - Ivan Barbashev
Paul Cotter - Chandler Stephenson - Mark Stone
Michael Amadio - Brett Howden - Pavel Dorofeyev
William Carrier - Nicolas Roy - Keegan Kolesar
Defensemen:
Nicolas Hague - Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb - Shea Theodore
Ben Hutton - Brayden Pachal
Goalies:
Logan Thompson