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Projected Lineups: LA Kings at Tampa Bay Lightning; More Changes as Pressure is Mounting

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Sunshine is good for the soul. Maybe it can be a cure for other things, as well.

The Kings of the Road are no more. Right now, LA is mired in a five-game losing streak and the pressure is mounting as they arrive in Tampa Bay for the first of two games in Florida this week.

Their most recent defeat on Sunday was particularly heartbreaking for coach Todd McLellan and crew because of the nature of the loss. Once again, the Kings had a lead in the third period, only to let it slip away. With the game appearing to be heading to overtime — where the Kings would be guaranteed of at least a point — a last-minute go-ahead goal ended any remaining optimism on the night.

What’s been hurting LA as of late isn’t a lack of structure or effort. Unfortunately, it’s one of those stretches where nearly every individual mistake seems to end up in the back of the net. Costly turnovers and bad changes have both led to goals against. As the losses continue to pile up, the pressure continues to mount.

As the Kings prepare to take on a highly skilled Lightning club, there are signs of optimism to point to. For example, LA’s power play was finally able to break through on Sunday. Despite struggling in recent weeks, some good momentum was gained in Washington. McLellan and the coaching staff will now look to carry that into the rest of the road trip.

The defensive pairs have been in complete shuffle mode as of late. For the first time this season, Matt Roy and Vladislav Gavrikov were split up for more than a shift or two. Rookie Brandt Clarke made his season debut on the second pairing. Jordan Spence was the odd man out on Sunday, which also allowed Clarke to get some time on the second power-play unit. McLellan is set to revert back to his usual defensive pairs tonight.

Last year, in the Kings lone visit to Amalie Arena, the Lightning skated to a 5-2 victory. Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Phil Danault had the goals that night. Could history be enough to get the former back into the lineup?

For the analytics crowd, courtesy of Hockey Stats Cards:

Beyond Carl Grundstrom’s performance starting to dip over the past month (after a strong start to the 2023-24 campaign), here’s a ‘big picture’ look at the Kings top performers this season:

Stats Worth Knowing

— Trevor Moore will skate in his 300th NHL game tonight. In doing so, he will become the 37th different undrafted skater to reach that mark among all active NHL players.

— Andreas Englund continues to lead all NHL defenseman with 19 drawn penalties.

— Historically, on a goals-per-games played basis, Adrian Kempe has scored more goals in the month of January than any other month. Thus, it isn’t that surprising that he has six goals over his last six games (6G, 2A) this season.

— Kempe Continued: He’s also scored more goals against the Eastern Conference than the Western Conference in his career. Digging in even further, he has scored more goals against the Atlantic than the Metro Division. Interestingly enough, some of his lowest production has come against a pair of Atlantic Division teams, Tampa Bay (1G in 8 GP) and Florida (1G in 12 GP).

— LA will likely need to rely on their strong penalty kill to have a chance at victory tonight. Fortunately, over the Kings last 16 shorthanded situations against the Lightning, they’ve allowed just one power-play goal. LA’s 93.8% (15-for-16) penalty kill percentage over this period gives them the highest PK% in the league vs. Tampa since the 2019-20 season.

Kings Projected Lineup vs. Lightning

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Moore
Laferriere – Dubois – Kaliyev
Grundstrom/JAD – Lizotte – Lewis

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence

Talbot (starter)
Rittich

Likely scratches: Anderson-Dolan, Clarke

Injured: Arvidsson (LTIR), Copley (LTIR)

Key Game Info

Puck drop is set for 4:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised by Bally Sports.

Across the Ice

Tampa is coming off a 7-3 thrashing in Boston on Saturday.

Here’s how they lined up at practice yesterday:

Over their last 10 games, the Lightning are 5-5-0. At home, they hold an 11-5-3 record this season.

On This Day in Kings History

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