Vitals, Betting Odds, and Projected Lineups vs San Jose Sharks

After a couple of days off, the LA Kings are back in action, at home to take on their division rivals in the San Jose Sharks. Here’s to hoping Timo Meier doesn’t go off again.

Tale of the Tape

Power-play:

LAK: 16.4% (28th)

SJS: 18.9% (20th)

Penalty Kill:

LAK: 75.8% (25th)

SJS: 86.4% (2nd)

Faceoffs:

LAK: 53.0% (6th)

SJS: 50.6% (13th)

Goals per game:

LAK: 2.93 (18th)

SJS: 2.55 (29th)

Goals against per game:

LAK: 2.76 (9th)

SJS: 3.16 (20th)

Top scorers:

LAK: Anze Kopitar – 15 goals, 36 assists, 51 points

SJS: Timo Meier – 24 goals, 30 assists, 54 points

Betting Odds

The LA Kings come into this one as significant favorites, courtesy of our friends at DraftKings.

Use Promo Code: THPN

Projected Lineups

Here’s how the LA Kings aligned in practice on Wednesday, noting the addition of Jordan Spence to the D pairings

Kaliyev – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Athanasiou
Iafallo – Byfield – Brown
Grundstrom – Andersson – Lizotte – Anderson-Dolan

Moverare – Doughty – Spence
Maatta – Roy
Bjornfot – Durzi

Petersen / Quick

Will Cal Petersen get a third consecutive start between the pipes?

Here’s how the Sharks lined up in practice on Wednesday:

Sharks at practice (updated):

Meier-Couture-Dahlen
Barabanov-Hertl-Balcers
Cogliano-Bonino-Nieto-Viel
Gadjovich-Reedy-Gregor-Dzingel

Megna-Burns
Merkley-Karlsson
Vlasic-Meloche

Hill/Sawchenko/Stalock

— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) March 9, 2022

Sawchenko will be making just his 2nd NHL start on Thursday. He’s 1-0-1 in five games this year, owning a .908 SV% and 3.17 GAA.

Sharks coach Bob Boughner said Jake Middleton could still play tomorrow despite missing a second straight day because of illness. Also said Zach Sawchenko will start in net, and it looks like Erik Karlsson, Jaycob Megna and Jonathan Dahlen are all good to go tomorrow night.

— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) March 9, 2022

The LA Kings and Sharks get underway at 7:30 pm PT.