Credit: Hockey Royalty
The LA Kings are in the State of Hockey for the first game of a three-game road trip. With Vegas getting two points and Edmonton one point on Saturday, this is about as close as a “must win” as we’ll get. Kings hold just a two point lead over VGK with nine games to go.
Top scorers:
LAK: Anze Kopitar – 18 goals, 43 assists, 61 points
MIN: Kirill Kaprizov – 41 goals, 47 assists, 88 points
Betting Odds
The Kings come into this one as underdogs, per our sponsors at DraftKings.
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- Kings Odds: +150
- Wild Odds: -175
- Over/Under: 5.5
- Time: 2:00 pm PT
- Broadcast Info: BSNX, BSWIX, KCOP-13, ESPN+
Projected Lineups
Here’s how the Kings aligned in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to Edmonton:
Line rushes for LA:
— Russell Morgan (@NHLRussell) April 8, 2022
Kempe – Kopitar – Iafallo
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Grundstrom – Byfield – Vilardi
Lemieux-Kupari-Kaliyev
Roy-Stecher
Bjornfot-Durzi
Maatta-Spence#GoKingsGo
Jonathan Quick got the nod on Thursday, and it will be interesting to see if Todd McLellan gives him the back-to-back.
The 36-year-old is 16-11-7 with a .902 SV% and 2.63 GAA, including a shutout in 34 career games.
The Kings could be getting Blake Lizotte back into the lineup, which probably restores some order to the fourth line – Lemieux, Lizotte, and Kaliyev.
Here were the Wild starters in Friday’s overtime loss to St. Louis:
Our starters in STL.#mnwild | @CaptainMorganUS pic.twitter.com/gO4LCNHYne
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 9, 2022
Does Marc-Andre Fleury get the start against the Kings?
If the Kings want to win this game, they’ll need to keep Kirill Kaprizov off the scoresheet. In 10 career games, he has six goals and four assists.
The Wild will be without defenseman Matt Dumba.
Not skating. Less serious than they initially feared but he’ll miss time https://t.co/zjPdR6LlFh
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) April 8, 2022
The LA Kings and Wild will get underway at 2:00 pm PT.