Joe Patarino 
The LA Kings host the Calgary Flames on Thursday in the first game of a back-to-back before the Christmas holiday break.
Projected Lineups
Here’s how the Kings lined up in their 4-1 win over Anaheim on Tuesday:
Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –
Fiala – Kopitar – Kempe
Iafallo – Danault – Moore
Arvidsson – Lizotte – Kaliyev
Anderson-Dolan – Kupari – VilardiAnderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – SpenceCopley
Quick— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) December 21, 2022
Here’s how the Flames lined up in San Jose on Tuesday:
#Flames in pre-game warmup in San Jose …
Dube-Lindholm-Toffoli
Huberdeau-Kadri-Lucic
Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman
Lewis-Ruzicka-Ritchie
Hanifin-Andersson
Weegar-Tanev
Zadorov-Stone
Markstrom— Wes Gilbertson (@WesGilbertson) December 21, 2022
Similarly, there does not appear to be any lineup changes expected for Calgary as they head to LA.
5-on-5
Here’s how the two teams match up at 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick
Team CF% xGF% SCF% HDCF% SH% SV% PDO
Calgary Flames 54.9 53.0 51.5 51.1 8.0 0.905 0.985
Los Angeles Kings 52.0 53.3 52.5 52.7 8.1 0.904 0.985
The two teams are pretty similar at 5-on-5. Both are struggling to find consistency this season. The Flames came in as one of the favorites in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference, but things have not gone to plan so far.
Los Angeles has been better of late, winning three in a row on the strength of goaltender Pheonix Copley.
Special Teams
Team PP%/PK%
Calgary Flames 19.6/81.1
Los Angeles Kings 23.0/71.3
After the power play struggled, the Kings now have power-play goals in three straight games with Drew Doughty scoring the most recent one on Tuesday. They’ll be going against one of the top penalty kills in the NHL as Calgary’s 81.1% ranks seventh in the league.
The LA penalty kill is on a streak of its own, though not one they’d want to hear. They’ve allowed a power play goal against in five straight games.
Betting Odds
Let’s look at the odds, courtesy of Betstamp.
*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.
Via Betstamp
The odds reflect how evenly matched the two teams are as it’s a virtual toss-up across the board. BetRivers has the best option on either team, offering -109 on the LA Kings and -106 on the Calgary Flames. The total on the game is at six with a few books offering the oVer at -105 and BetRivers offering the Under at -111.
The goaltenders are not confirmed for either team but while you’d think Calgary bettors would prefer Jakob Markstrom and LA Kings’ backers would like Jonathan Quick, that hasn’t been the case this season.
News & Notes
The goaltending in LA has been a story all season long but only recently has that story been a positive one. Pheonix Copley has now won three straight games and only once this season has he given up more than two goals in a game. With a back-to-back situation for the Kings, we’ll see if he gets the start against Calgary, I certainly would keep him in.
On the other side of the coin, things aren’t going so well for Gabriel Vilardi lately. He has just four goals in his last 20 games and none in his last ten. He has just two points overall in his last ten and has seen his ice time dip as he’s been dropped to the fourth line.
(Main Photo Credit: NHL.com)