Now things get interesting. The Kings have accomplished what they set out to do by securing home-ice advantage for round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now with two more games remaining on the regular season schedule, Los Angeles will look to get plenty of rest and remain healthy before a grueling series kicks off against Edmonton next weekend.
Focus will also shift to the status of Quinton Byfield, who exited last night’s tilt against Edmonton with an upper-body injury. Unfortunately, he was on the receiving end of a dangerous and unacceptable play by Darnell Nurse after a whistle was blown. The Oilers defenseman gave a cross check to the head area of Byfield resulting in a major penalty and is now facing supplemental discipline from the league office.
We are not expecting Byfield to play tonight in Seattle. Anything official likely won’t come until about 90 minutes before puck drop, when coach Jim Hiller is scheduled to meet with the media. He’s already declared the obvious, noting goaltender David Rittich will get the start in net. He’s found success against Seattle in his career, putting up a .923 save percentage and 1.97 goals against average, along with a record of 3-1-0.
As for the rest of the lineup, we’ve learned through various sources that defensemen Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson are not expected to play vs. the Kraken. Doughty’s situation has been well documented, as he continues to rest whenever possible — all designed to be at his best for the playoffs. Anderson is said to not be anything serious, so there isn’t much to read into there. Perhaps it’s tied to a blocked shot he attempted last night; one that appeared to hobble him momentarily. Either way, both players should be good to go come Game 83 on Sunday.
Look for Kyle Burroughs and Caleb Jones to slide into the lineup in their place, with the latter recalled from AHL Ontario on an emergency basis earlier today.
Up front, Akil Thomas and Trevor Lewis are available to replace Byfield among LA’s forward group — and it wouldn’t be that surprising to see both slot in somehow. As these next two games are somewhat meaningless for the Kings, Hiller will have a number of different options available to select from while trying to find the balance between resting guys and keeping everybody sharp for the playoffs.
With all of the uncertainly on personnel, the lineup below is a guestimate at this time.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Kraken
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Fiala – Thomas – Laferriere
Malott – Helenius – Turcotte
Gavrikov – Spence
Moverare – Clarke
Jones – Burroughs
Rittich (starter)
Kuemper
Likely scratches: (F) Byfield, Lewis and (D) Anderson, Doughty, Edmundson
Injured: Jeannot (out for extended time period)
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm Pacific Time and will be televised locally by FanDuel Sports Network. Additionally, a Kings radio feed is available on the ESPN LA app (which is the new home for Kings radio this season, they’ve moved off of the iHeart platform).
More on the ongoing TV situation here.
Across the Ice
Seattle is coming off a 4-3 victory over St. Louis on Saturday. Here is how they lined up for that contest:
Schwartz – Stephenson – Eberle
Tolvanen – Beniers – Kakko
Winterton – McCann – Burakovsky
Kartye – Wright – Eyssimont
Dunn – Larsson
Evans – Montour
Oleksiak – Fleury
Grubauer
On This Day in Kings History
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