LA Kings vs Carolina Hurricanes projected lineup, betting preview

The LA Kings look to follow up Thursday’s win with a good performance against one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams, the Carolina Hurricanes, on Saturday.

Projected Lineups

LA Kings (13-9-4)

Here’s how the Kings skated in their 5-3 win over Arizona on Thursday:

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Bjornfot – Roy
Edler – Durzi

Quick
Copley

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) December 2, 2022

In addition to Cal Petersen being sent down, the Kings shuffled around some more things, bringing up Samuel Fagemo and Tobias Bjornfot. Both slotted into the lineup and registered assists against the Coyotes. Barring any other surprises, I would expect the lineup to look like this on Saturday, including Jonathan Quick getting the start.

Carolina Hurricanes (13-6-5)

This was the Carolina lineup in St. Louis on Thursday:

The #Canes expected lineup tonight as they take on the Blues:

Jarvis – Aho – Necas
Svechnikov – Kotkaniemi – Noesen
Martinook – Staal – Fast
Drury – Stastny – Stepan

Slavin – Burns
Skjei – Pesce
de Haan – Chatfield

Raanta

— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) December 2, 2022

In their victory over the Blues, goaltender Antti Raanta left the game with apparent cramping. If he is unable to go, Pyotr Kochetkov will be between the pipes for Carolina. The 23-year-old is 4-1-3 with a 2.30 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage in eight games played.

The Hurricanes may also be getting one of their star forwards, Teuvo Teravainen, back from a 10-game absence. He was activated off of IR on Friday.

The #Canes have activated forward Teuvo Teravainen from injured reserve. His status for tomorrow's game in Los Angeles is to be determined.

The 28-year-old winger has missed the team's last 10 games due to an upper-body injury.

— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) December 2, 2022

5-on-5

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

Carolina has been one of the best-possession teams in hockey for years and this season has been no different. They are a good skating team who will fire a barrage of shots toward their opponent’s net. The Kings’ defense and goaltending will likely be put to the test tonight.

Special Teams

If there’s one thing the Hurricanes have lacked over the years it is a true finisher. This seems to become apparent on their power play, which ranks 27th in the league at 17.4%. Three different players (Andrei Svechnikov, Martin Nexas, and Stefan Noesen) have three goals scored with the man advantage to lead the team. At 78.3%, the penalty kill ranks 18th.

It’s safe to say the Kings’ power play is buzzing right now. With two more goals on Thursday, the LA power play has snuck up into the top ten in the league at 24.7%. It was both units contributing again against Arizona with Anze Kopitar tallying the first and Trevor Moore on the second.

The Kings killed off all three Arizona power plays on Thursday. At 73.3%, the penalty kill ranks 26th in the NHL.

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 9:30 am ET/6:30 am PT may have changed since this was published.

The LA Kings will enter this one as home underdogs, with a few different books offering +110. You can find -125 on the Carolina Hurricanes at a few different shops as well. Carolina is one of the better teams in the league and while backing the Kings as home dogs sounds attractive, their inconsistent play makes that tough.

I’m a little surprised the total on this game is only at six. BetRivers’ has the Over at -106 while PointsBet and DraftKings are offering the Under at -105.

DraftKings Player Props

Sponsored by DraftKings (promo code THPN)

LA is having no problems filling the back of the net and we’ve seen production from up and down the lineup. We saw Adrian Kempe snap his skid against Seattle earlier in the week, he is +160 to score again on Saturday.

Trevor Moore and Anze Kopitar both found the back of the net on Thursday, they are +295 and +275 respectively to do so again on Saturday.

One of the bright spots for Carolina is the emergence of Martin Necas. He leads the team with 26 points in 24 games; he is +195 to register a power play point and +205 to score. If Teuvo Teravainen does return tonight, he is +215 to score.

Good luck, and enjoy the game!

Follow me on Betstamp @JWPatarino!

(Main Photo Credit: Karl B DeBlaker, AP)