The Kings are facing off against one of the NHL’s best teams tonight. They are coming off a 2-1 overtime loss against the Calgary Flames, who dominated the Kings offensively. The Stars are coming off a 4-0 loss to the Florida Panthers, in which they had only 15 shots. With both teams coming off losses, tonight’s game is important for them to bounce back as the season progresses.
Projected Kings Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight:
Andrei Kuzmenko – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala – Alex Turcotte – Joel Armia
Warren Foegele – Alex Laferriere – Trevor Moore
Jeff Malott – Samuel Helenius – Corey Perry
Mikey Anderson – Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson – Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin – Cody Ceci
Darcy Kuemper
Anton Forsberg
Projected Stars Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Stars tonight:
Sam Steel – Wyatt Johnston – Mikko Rantanen
Jason Robertson – Roope Hintz – Jamie Benn
Justin Hryckowian – Matt Duchene – Mavrik Bourque
Oskar Back – Radek Faksa – Colin Blackwell
Esa Lindell – Miro Heiskanen
Thomas Harley – Alex Petrovic
Nils Lundkvist – Ilya Lybushkin
Casey DeSmith
Jake Oettinger
Injuries and Line Changes
The Kings are without 2 of their centers tonight, as both Quinton Byfield and Phillip Danault are out due to injury. Andrei Kuzmenko also finds himself on the top line tonight alongside Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe after being scratched in his last 2 games. The Kings also elected to start Darcy Kuemper, as he stopped 36 of 38 shots faced in the Kings-Flames game. The Stars are without Tyler Seguin tonight after he was injured on December 2nd against the New York Rangers. They are also without Adam Erne (lower body), Thomas Harley (lower body), and Lian Bichsel (lower body). While the Stars seem to be dealing with the injury bug, it has not stopped their success this year. The Stars are starting Casey DeSmith tonight after Jake Oettinger started the last 2 games for them.
Key Factors
With the Kings missing 2 of their centermen tonight, the entire offence needs to step up. The Kings allowed 38 shots against the Calgary Flames, including 21 against Dustin Wolf. The Kings need their offence to step up sooner rather than later, as Darcy Kuemper has been the main reason they’ve been able to stay in games of late. The Stars are a very good offensive team, averaging 3.27 goals per game, while the Kings average 2.65 goals per game. The Kings will have to be strong defensively tonight, especially facing the duo of Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen. Johnston has 6 points in his last 5 games, and Rantanen has 7. The Kings are going to need all 4 forward lines to play well tonight, especially on offence.
Overall, with the Kings losing both Danault and Byfield and facing one of the best teams in the NHL, this game will show just how resilient the Kings can be. If they capitalize on their offensive opportunities and have Kuemper continue his solid play, they can walk away with a win tonight.
