Joe Patarino 
The LA Kings close out 2022 with a home game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Projected Lineups
LA Kings (21-12-6)
We saw a bit of a shake-up in the third period against Colorado and it appears we could see the same on Saturday:
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Iafallo – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Lizotte – Vilardi
Grundstrom – Kupari – Anderson-Dolan
Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker
Copley
Quick
Down 4-2 after two periods on Thursday, Todd McLellan moved some things around, the most noteworthy one being top prospect Quinton Byfield moving from third-line center to first-line left wing. While the future of Byfield is expected to be as the team’s number one center, his moving to the wing is a way to get him some more minutes. We’ll see how long this lasts.
Philadelphia Flyers (12-17-7)
Here’s how the Flyers skated in practice on Friday:
Flyers in practice same as how they started yesterday against the Sharks
van Riemsdyk-Frost-Tippett
Farabee-Cates-Konecny
Hayes-Laughton-Allison
Deslauriers-Brown-MacEwenProvorov-York
Sanheim-DeAngelo
Seeler-Ristolainen
Braun— Olivia Reiner (@ReinerOlivia) December 30, 2022
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 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 46.3 | 44.4 | 43.5 | 43.0 | 7.3 | 0.917 | 0.990 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 51.5 | 52.6 | 51.7 | 52.1 | 8.2 | 0.908 | 0.990 |
Philadelphia has been one of the worst teams in the NHL at 5-on-5, particularly when it comes to allowing scoring chances. If it weren’t for the excellent goaltending from Carter Hart, they’d be much lower in the standings.
Special Teams
| Team | PP% | PK% |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 15.1 | 74.3 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 23.4 | 71.7 |
Special teams haven’t been any better for the Flyers. They have the third-worst power play in the league and 23rd ranked penalty kill. The much improved LA power play should be able to see plenty of scoring chances with the man advantage on Saturday.
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 am ET/6 am PT may have changed since this was published.
The LA Kings come into this one as pretty heavy favorites with -215 being the best number available at DraftKings. The Flyers are +185 at a handful of books. The total on the game is 6 across the board with BetRivers’ -110 as the best number on the Over and a few books offering -105 on the Under.
Though the Kings are definitely the better team in this one, over the past 25 games the Flyers are playing slightly better at 5-on-5 than their overall season numbers above. I wouldn’t bet on them necessarily, but they are coming off a good comeback win in San Jose on Thursday. I don’t have a strong opinion on this game.
News & Notes
- The Kings extended their point streak to seven straight games with a comeback win over the Avalanche on Thursday.
- Unfortunately, they allowed another power play goal against, extending that streak to nine games. The penalty kill sits 28th in the NHL.
- Alex Iafallo has played in 12 games since returning from his long-term injury. In that time, he has four goals and five assists with all of those goals and three of the assists coming in the last five games.
- Blake Lizotte has also been in his last five games, registering a goal and four assists.
- Trevor Moore did not skate on Friday and will not play on Saturday.
- Pheonix Copley just keeps winning. He is now 8-1 with a 2.58 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage. Among goaltenders with at least nine starts, Copley is seventh in Goals Saved Above Expected per 60 minutes at .644 (per Moneypuck.com).
- Just above Copley in GSAx/60 is Philadelphia’s Carter Hart (.669). Hart is fourth overall in raw GSAx at 14.
(Photo Credit: TSN.ca)