Following last night’s dominant victory over San Jose, LA is set to get right back into action when they visit the defending Stanley Cup Champions tonight in Las Vegas. It will be the second half of a back-to-back (with travel) for both teams, so game management will be the tallest task — especially if fatigue starts to set in.
LA coach Todd McLellan can expect to see a big push from the home team, as they arrive back in Sin City after a dismal performance in Anaheim on Wednesday night. The Golden Knights fell 5-2 to the Ducks, after giving up four goals in the first period. To go even further, the last time LA visited Vegas, they outplayed them for a full 60 minutes on a nationally televised game. Big picture, a veteran team like Vegas is sure to be ready to go tonight, providing another tough task for LA.
Kings Roster News
Moverare did not travel with the team to Vegas. He'll be returned to AHL Ontario.
Sitting on 28 days of his 30 day max, which triggers waivers.
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) December 28, 2023
As far as McLellan’s group is concerned, they’re just looking to stay hot, coming in as winners in four of their last five. With a healthy D-Core back in the lineup, as Vladislav Gavrikov drew back in last night, things are again starting to settle back to normal.
Cam Talbot is likely to get the nod tonight after giving way to David Rittich against the Sharks. The strong play of Rittich takes some key pressure off Talbot, who was maybe playing more than expected to begin the year. Both goaltenders have showed up well for McLellan most nights, helping to make this Kings team dangerous against just about any opponent.
This is a true battle for first place in the Pacific Division. Looking at just the point totals, the standings show: Vancouver (49 points), Vegas (47), LA (44). However, because of the disparity in games played, the better column to look at is Points Percentage. The Kings are sitting at .710, better than Vancouver (.700) and Vegas (.653) — also second-best in the entire NHL, behind only the New York Rangers.
Tonight also marks the third and final regular season matchup between LA and Vegas.
Stats Worth Knowing
— This season, the Kings are 1-2-2 in the second game of back-to-backs.
— Drew Doughty sits one point away (4G, 15A) from becoming the first defenseman in league history to record 20 points against the Golden Knights.
— Rookie Alex Laferriere has recorded three points (2G, 1A) in his last four games, giving him five goals and three assists for eight points in 30 games played this season. Laferriere is the fifth different Kings rookie skater in the last 20 years to score at least five goals within their first 30 games of their career in a single season.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Golden Knights
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Moore
Laferriere – Dubois – Kaliyev
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Lewis
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Talbot (starter)
Rittich
Likely scratches: Anderson-Dolan, Bjornfot
Injured: Arvidsson (LTIR), Copley (LTIR)
Pregame listening:
NHL RADIO REPLAY: Mayor’s Minutes – Talking Fiala, Dubois, Moore, and Kings Trades
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised by Bally Sports.
Across the Ice
Vegas is coming off a 5-2 loss in Anaheim last night.
Here’s how they lined up for that one:
Golden Knights lineup tonight in Anaheim:
Barbashev—Eichel—Stone
Dorofeyev—Stephenson—Marchessault
Cotter—Karlsson—Amadio
Howden—Roy—KolesarMartinez—Pietrangelo
McNabb—Hutton
Hague—WhitecloudThompson
— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) December 28, 2023
Where do they go from here? There’s quite a bit of intrigue surrounding what the Golden Knights will do in goal vs. the Kings. Logan Thompson returned from being out with an injury last night, but wasn’t very good. Will he start again on consecutive nights or do they give the crease to Jiri Patera? After coming in to relieve Thompson in Carolina, Patera had the next two starts against Florida and Tampa Bay on VGK’s recent road trip. He lost both starts and was said to play pretty poorly.
On This Day in Kings History
On December 28, 1993, Wayne Gretzky batted in his 781st career goal in a 6-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks. Rob Blake recorded four assists, and Gary Shuchuk scored the game-winning goal for the @LAKings with 55 seconds remaining in regulation.#LAKings #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/Bz4cVoDz6O
— The Kingstorian (@Kingstorian) December 28, 2023
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Friday’s 10 Tidbits of LA Kings News, NHL Notes, and Other Nonsense
Game day graphic created by ALoImages
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