LA Kings at Seattle Kraken projected lineup, betting preview

The LA Kings wrap up their four-game Pacific Division road trip in Seattle on Saturday against the Kraken.

Projected Lineups

LA Kings (11-8-1)

Here is how the Kings lined up in Vancouver on Friday night:

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

Vilardi – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Kupari – Grundstrom
Anderson-Dolan – Lizotte – Kaliyev

Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker

Quick
Petersen

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) November 19, 2022

The only change I would expect to see is Cal Petersen getting the nod between the pipes. I also wouldn’t rule out the chance that Jacob Moverare gets his first action of the season, either. If this happens, I imagine it would be for either Alexander Edler or Sean Walker.

Seattle Kraken (9-5-3)

Here is how Seattle skated in their win over the Rangers on Thursday:

#SeaKraken lines look like this (Burakovsky & Schwartz back):

Schwartz-Wennberg-Burakovsky
McCann-Beniers-Eberle
Tanev-Gourde-Bjorkstrand
Donato-Geekie-Sprong
Kuhlman & Wright

Dunn-Larsson
Soucy-Schultz
Fleury/Olofsson-Borgen

Jones, Hellberg, Grubauer

— Scott Malone (@ScottMaloneTV) November 17, 2022

Philipp Grubauer has been activated off of IR and could make his first start in nearly two months. Though, former King Martin Jones is having a nice start to the season with an 8-4 record, a 2.34 goals-against average, and a .912 save percentage.

Andre Burakovsky leads Seattle in assists (11) and points (15), while Jared McCann leads in goals with six. Youngster Matty Beniers is off to a nice start to the season as well, he has five goals and nine points in 17 games.

5-on-5

Here’s how the two teams match up at 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick

The Kraken has been one of the league’s better stories of the young season. They were an above-average possession team at 5-on-5 last season but were let down by poor goaltending. In 2021-22, Seattle had a 5-on-5 save percentage of .899, the second worst in the league. Their .927 this season is good for eight in the NHL.

Los Angeles has been better overall than Seattle and last night in Vancouver controlled the shot attempts (55.2% CF%), expected goals (64.5%), scoring chances (61.8%), and high-danger chances (65%). Unfortunately, they ran into Thatcher Demko, who put together his best performance of the season in goal.

Special Teams

It isn’t just the goaltending that’s improved for Seattle, but the powerplay as well. Last season, they had a bottom-five power play. Early on in the 2022-23 campaign, the Kraken has the 14th-ranked power play at 22%. First-year Kraken Andre Burakovsky leads the team in points with the man advantage with seven, while Jaden Schwartz’s four goals are the most on the team.

Seattle’s penalty kill could use some work, though. Their 74.1% is good for just 25th place.

The Kings are 24th on the power play at 19.0% and 24th on the penalty kill at 74.7%.

Betting Odds

Let’s take a look at the odds, courtesy of our partner Betstamp (promo code: hockeyroyalty).

*Note: the odds below are for sports books offered in New York. Refer to available sports books specific to your state.
**Odds as of 9 am ET/6 am PT and may have changed since this has been published.

The LA Kings are road dogs in this one, with DraftKiings offering +115. WynnBet’s -125 is the best number on the home team. The total on the game is six, with multiple books offering the Over at -110. If you like the Under, BetRivers has that at -102.

The number seems fair, given LA is on the back half of a road back-to-back and their third game in four nights. I’ll be sitting this one out.

DraftKings Player Props

Sponsored by DraftKings (promo code THPN)

Blake Lizotte scored his fifth goal of the season, and while he’s known more as a spark plug fourth-line player, it’s not a total fluke. He is second on the Kings in goals-per-60 at 5-on-5 and is also second on the team in 5-on-5 shot contributions. He is +600 to score on Saturday.

Adrian Kempe has scored seven goals this season but only one in his last ten games. He leads the Kings in 5-on-5 shot attempts and is first in shot attempts per 60 minutes at 5-on-5. He is +145 to find the back of the net against Seattle.

Despite leading the Kraken in shot attempts and expected goals at 5-on-5, Oliver Bjorkstrand has scored just one goal this season, and it came on the power play. He is +210 to score on Saturday.

Not one of Jaden Schwartz’s five goals have come at 5-on-5, even though he leads the Kraken in scoring chances and his second in both shot attempts and high-danger chances. The former St. Louis Blues forward is +265 to score against LA.

Good luck, and enjoy the game!

Follow me on Betstamp @JWPatarino!

(Main photo credit: Associated Press)