LA Kings vs Dallas Stars projected lineups, odds, notes

Playing their first game in five days, the LA Kings host the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

Projected Lineups

LA Kings (25-14-6)

Per LA Kings Insider Zach Dooley, here is how the Kings skated at practice on Wednesday:

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Iafallo – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Lizotte – Vilardi
Lemieux – Kupari – Grundstrom – Anderson-Dolan

Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker
Spence

Copley
Quick

Dallas Stars (26-12-7)

Here’s how the Stars skated last night in San Jose

Roope Hintz still out with upper body injury. Here is expected lineup:

Robertson-Seguin-Pavelski
Benn-Johnston-Dellandrea
Marchment-Glendening-Gurianov
Olofsson-Faksa-Kiviranta

Heiskanen-Miller
Suter-Lundkvist
Lindell-Hakanpaa

Oettinger

— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) January 19, 2023

5-on-5

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

Both teams are good possession teams at 5-on-5, with the biggest difference being between the pipes, where Dallas has gotten some strong goaltending, particularly from Jake Oettinger. This has held true even in the past ten games. While Pheonix Copley has certainly been better, the Kings are still just 17th in 5-on-5 save percentage over those last ten games. The Stars are second.

Special Teams

As good as Dallas has been at 5-on-5, both of their special teams’ units are in the top five in the NHL.

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 10 am ET/7 am PT may have changed since this was published.

With the Kings playing some good hockey and Dallas on the second leg of a back-to-back, the hosts enter Thursday as the favorites. BetRivers and BetMGM are offering the Kings at -125. The best number on the Stars is over at FanDuel at +112. The total on the game is six, with FanDuel’s -104 the best number on the Over, while BetRivers’ -108 is the place to shop for the Under.

I think this number is fair. With Scott Wedgewood the projected starter for Dallas and Roope Hintz‘s injury, this seems like a fair price. If LA were closer to -110 or maybe -115, I’d pull the trigger, but I’m probably a pass at -125.

News & Notes

• The Stars are coming off of a bad loss in San Jose last night. Dallas held a 3-0 lead midway through the second period before allowing five unanswered goals, losing 5-3.
• Jason Robertson scored his 30th goal last night, the fifth most in the league.
• Dallas starting goaltender, Jake Oettinger, got the start against the Sharks, which would make it likely the Kings will see Scott Wedgewood on Thursday.
• The injuries are starting to pile up for the Kings. Arthur Kaliyev and Trevor Moore continue to be on the mend, while Carl Grundstrom and Gabriel Vilardi were both absent from practice yesterday with injuries.
• As of this writing, there hasn’t been an announcement as to who would come up from Ontario, but Samuel Fagemo did not play in last night’s Reign game, perhaps an indication that he could be an option for LA tonight.
• This will be the third meeting of the season between the two teams. Wedgewood and the Stars won the first one, 5-2, on November 1st in Dallas. Most recently, the Kings knocked off the Stars 3-2 in LA at the beginning of January. The Kings had 55% of the shot attempts and 54% of the expected goals at 5-on-5 in their 3-2 win.

(Main Photo Credit:  Andrew D. Bernstein/NHLI via Getty Images)