Did the Kings earn a point or give a point away in Thursday’s overtime loss to the Sharks in LA?
Your answer to that question largely shapes how you might be feeling heading into tonight’s rematch in San Jose.
At the Kings current injury rate, Todd McLellan will soon need to turn his lineup card over to fully list all of the missing players. Already without Viktor Arvidsson, Brendan Lemiuex, and Mikey Anderson, the hits just keep coming. Friday, McLellan and team left SoCal without top defenseman Drew Doughty. They also recalled Rasmus Kupari to give them options heading into Saturday night.
Unfortunately, Drew Doughty did not fly to San Jose with the Kings for tomorrow night's game. https://t.co/tWMGF8Nvr9
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) March 11, 2022
To be expected, Kings taking an extra body on the road trip… https://t.co/7gvierDz7I
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) March 11, 2022
Additional reinforcements were announced on Saturday morning…
With Doughty not making the trip, LA Kings have recalled Christian Wolanin as an extra defenseman for today's game.
Oh, and also…
Andreas Athanasiou was placed on IR (retroactive to March 10)
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) March 12, 2022
So, now what? McLellan at least has some bodies to help patch things together. Many fans are calling for the immediate recall of Gabe Vilardi from AHL Ontario — something that isn’t happening right now, as we broke down in detail here.
It’s probably not what the Kings will do, yet we offered some food for thought earlier today on twitter:
Just spitballing here…
Iafallo – Kopitar – Kaliyev
Moore – Danault – Kempe
Lias – Byfield – Brown
Grundo – Lizotte – JAD— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) March 12, 2022
In goal, Cal Petersen is expected to start. He’s won eight of the last 10 games he’s started this year. On the flip side — if your glass is half empty — Petersen had one win in five starts vs. the Sharks last season.
LA KINGS PROJECTED LINEUP vs. SAN JOSE SHARKS
Iafallo – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Kaliyev
Andersson – Byfield – Brown
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Anderson-Dolan
Other options: Kupari
IR: Arvidsson, Lemieux
Maatta – Roy
Björnfot – Durzi
Moverare – Spence
Other options: Wolanin
Not available: Doughty
IR: Anderson
Petersen (starter)
Quick
KINGS DAILY QUESTION
Today's #gokingsgo question…
Who would you rather see paired with Moore and Danault tonight?
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) March 12, 2022
VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE
On Thursday, the Sharks went with:
Dahlen – Couture – Meier
Barabanov – Hertl – Balcers
Gadjovich – Reedy – Gregor
Cogliano – Bonino – Viel
Middleton – Burns
Karlsson – Megna
Vlasic – Meloche
Sawchenko
KINGS MILESTONES WITHIN REACH
Anze Kopitar — needs 19 points to pass Dave Taylor for third on the Kings all-time scoring list
Dustin Brown — 4 goals away from passing Bernie Nicholls for fifth place in Kings franchise history
Puck drop is scheduled for 6:30pm PST today and the game will be televised on Bally Sports Network.
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