The Los Angeles Kings are back after another three-day break to take on the Colorado Avalanche at home.
After Wednesday's game, both Phil Danault and Todd McLellan highlighted the downsides of long layoffs between games and they'll have to find a way to combat that on Sunday.
The word "rhythm" came up a few times, so look for the Kings to try and find their rhythm early against the Avalanche.
On the other end, the Avalanche are coming off a shootout loss against the Anaheim Ducks Saturday night, so the Kings should have an energy advantage in this game.
Again, this isn't always an advantage, as the Avalanche might be more in sync than the Kings.
These are two of the highest-scoring teams in the league, sitting second and fourth in goals per game right now. The Avalanche are led by Cale Makar's 34 points, which leads all defensemen.
It is worth noting that Makar didn't play in the final minutes or overtime in Colorado's game Saturday. There've been no reports on his availability for tonight's game.
While the Kings are led by Adrian Kempe's 20 points.
We're also on milestone watch, with Anze Kopitar still one assist away from passing Marcel Dionne for the all-time franchise lead.
After a strong performance in Wednesday's loss, I expect Cam Talbot to start between the pipes for Los Angeles.
Ivan Prosvetov started on Saturday for the Avalanche, so expect Alexander Georgiev in net for Colorado.
Projected Los Angeles Kings Lines:
Forwards:
Quinton Byfield - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala - Phil Danault - Trevor Moore
Alex Laferriere - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Carl Grundstrom
Arthur Kaliyev - Trevor Lewis - Jaret Anderson-Dolan
Defense:
Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty
Vladislav Gavrikov - Matt Roy
Andreas Englund - Jordan Spence
Goalies:
Cam Talbot
Phoenix Copley
Projected Colorado Avalanche Lines:
Forwards:
Valeri Nichushkin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Jonathan Drouin — Ryan Johansen — Tomas Tatar
Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Logan O’Connor
Andrew Cogliano — Fredrik Olofsson — Joel Kiviranta
Defense:
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Bowen Byram — Josh Manson
Jack Johnson — Caleb Jones
Goalies:
Alexandar Georgiev
Ivan Prosvetov