Vitals, Betting Odds, and Projected Lineups vs Blue Jackets

The LA Kings and Blue Jackets last met on January 6, 2020, with Columbus winning 4-2 at STAPLES Center. This is the first of two matchups, with the other coming in mid-April.

Tale of the Tape

Power-play:

LAK: 16.8% (27th)

CBJ: 17.2% (24th)

Penalty Kill:

LAK: 75.3% (28th)

CBJ: 80.2% (14th)

Faceoffs:

LAK: 52.7% (6th)

CBJ: 49.2% (17th)

Goals per game:

LAK: 2.91 (19th)

CBJ: 3.26 (10th)

Goals against per game:

LAK: 2.82 (11th)

CBJ: 3.61 (31st)

Top scorers:

LAK: Anze Kopitar – 15 goals, 35 assists, 50 points

CBJ: Boone Jenner – 23 goals, 20 assists, 43 points

Betting Odds

After being underdogs in the last two contests, the LA Kings come into this game as pretty significant favorites, courtesy of The Action Network.

Projected Lineups

Here’s how the Kings lined up in Wednesday’s game against the Stars:

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

Iafallo – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Grundstrom – Byfield – Brown
Lemieux – Lizotte – Kaliyev

Anderson – Doughty
Maatta – Roy
Bjornfot – Durzi

Petersen
Quick

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 3, 2022

“At this time of the year, the mental to the physical is 2-to-1, so over-doing it is no good, you have to find a balance,” Yawney said via LA Kings Insider. “Today wasn’t to get the low-minute guys some work, we can do that tomorrow, it was more just to clean it out and help the trainers out with the flight. We moved the puck around, felt good and got off.”

It’ll be interesting to see if Cal Petersen sees more starts down the home stretch, beginning with a back-to-back on Wednesday and Friday. Since returning from the Christmas break, Petersen has played better than Jonathan Quick.

Kings goalie stats since returning from the Christmas break:#GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/XZ2YVzH3DD

— West Coast Hockey Bias (@MarcelAndRogie) March 3, 2022

Here were the Blue Jackets’ starters in Tuesday’s 4-3 win against New Jersey:

But! The #CBJ morning skate lines

Nyquist-Jenner-Laine
Bjorkstrand-Roslovic-Voracek
Domi-Kuraly-Danforth
Bemstrom-Sillinger-Gaunce
Gavrikov-Peeke
Carlsson-Kukan
Bayreuther-Christiansen

No Boqvist skating today. Werenski still likely out but we’ll hear from Lars soon.

— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) March 1, 2022

Zach Werenski returned to practice on Thursday, so we’ll see if he draws back into the lineup. However, the Blue Jackets have that Patrik Laine guy, who is pretty darn good:

23 points…
…in the last 14 games pic.twitter.com/2WyGKWTFkB

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) March 2, 2022

The LA Kings and Blue Jackets get underway at 4 pm PT.