For Todd McLellan and his Kings squad, there’s no better time than the present to get things going.
One problem — already winless in their first two games this season, LA arrives in Minnesota to face a hungry Wild team. They were pummeled 7-3 in their own season opener Thursday night by the New York Rangers.
Both teams will also be equally motivated by the Kevin Fiala factor. After spending more than three seasons in the State of Hockey, Fiala headed to Hollywood over the summer to join the Kings (and sign a long-term contract).
Your #GoKingsGo question of the day…
How many goals will Kevin Fiala score in his return to the State of Hockey tonight vs #MNwild ?
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) October 15, 2022
Although McLellan brought his team to Minnesota on Friday afternoon, he scheduled an optional morning skate today, making it a bit challenging to accurately predict the roster.
LA Kings Projected Lineup vs Minnesota Wild
Fiala – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Kaliyev / Arvidsson
Iafallo – Byfield – Vilardi
JAD – Lizotte – Kaliyev / Grundstrom
Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Clarke
Petersen
Quick
Healthy scratches: Walker, Grundstrom, Lemieux
NOTE: If Arvidsson is well enough to play, expect him at RW2, Kaliyev at RW4, and Grundstrom out.
Additional Game Notes
Puck drop is set for 5:00pm PST on Saturday and will be televised by Bally Sports.
Over on the Minnesota side of things, here are a few additional items to pass along…
“I’m going to be motivated tonight, for sure.” -Fiala, smiling wide, when reminded how good he was those first several meetings vs. Nashville https://t.co/Jdz5CXj0DY
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 15, 2022
Last season, the Wild scored the fifth-most goals in the league (305 total, 3.7 per game), while allowing 249 (3.0 per game), ranking 16th in NHL action in goals against. They also had 53 power-play goals (12th in the NHL). By contrast, the Kings scored 235 (2.9 per game) and allowed only 232 total goals (2.8 per game).
And here’s what Minnesota used vs NYR on Thursday:
#mnwild forward lines same as Day 1 as camp, D pairs same as a week ago:
Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello
Jost-Eriksson Ek-Foligno
Gaudreau-Steel-Boldy
Dewar-Rossi-DuhaimeGoligoski-Spurgeon
Brodin-Dumba
Middleton-AddisonFleury
Gustavsson— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 13, 2022
LA’s 2022-23 Reverse Retro jersey can be found here.
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Kings Of The Podcast: Ep. 138 – Season Preview with LA GM Rob Blake
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