LA Kings at Calgary Flames projected lineups, odds, notes

The LA Kings hit the road for four straight games – and five of their next six. They’ll start in Calgary against the desperate Flames.

Projected Lineups

LA Kings (43-20-10)

The Kings had Kevin Fiala and Sean Durzi back on Sunday against St. Louis:

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Durzi – Walker

Copley
Korpisalo

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 27, 2023

Calgary Flames (33-26-15)

The Flames beat the San Jose Sharks 5-3 on Saturday; here is how they lined up:

#Flames today vs. San Jose:

Mangiapane-Lindholm-Toffoli
Huberdeau-Backlund-Coleman
Ritchie-Kadri-Dube
Lucic-Lewis-Duehr
 
Hanifin-Andersson
Zadorov-Weegar
Gilbert-Stecher

Markstrom

— Pat Steinberg (@Fan960Steinberg) March 25, 2023

5-on-5

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

Don’t be confused by where they are in the standings; the Flames are good. They’ve been one of the unluckiest teams in the NHL this season, and their time is running out. That said, the 8-2 drubbing the Kings gave them last Monday was not due to bad luck.

Special Teams

The LA Kings’ power play has picked back up. Though, the penalty kill continues to struggle as they’ve been in the bottom ten in the league since March 1st.

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 11 am ET/8 am PT may have changed since the writing of this article.

Despite their blistering hot stretch of late, the Kings come into this one as underdogs, with multiple books offering +115. BetRivers has the best price on the Flames at -127. The total on the game is six across the board, with Caesars offering the Over at -110 and BetRivers having the best price on the Under at +102.

Like me, the oddsmakers refuse to quit the Calgary Flames. Their underlying numbers continue to be strong, but they’ve gotten inconsistent (to be nice) goaltending, and they’ve lacked a finishing touch. I do expect a much better performance from the Flames in this one than we saw a week ago. I’m going to sit this one out.

News & Notes

• It was a successful return to the lineup for Kevin Fiala, notching a pair of assists, including one on the power play. Likewise, Sean Durzi, who also had two assists – both came with the man advantage.
• Durzi was in the lineup for Alex Edler, who has been getting rested on the second leg of a back-to-back. We’ll see if Durzi sticks in the lineup on Tuesday.
• Calgary is four points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card spot; this should be a desperate team on home ice.
• The Oilers picked up two points on Monday to move within three of LA, but the Kings are just two points back of Vegas atop the Pacific Division. Conveniently enough, the Oilers are in Vegas on Tuesday.
• LA has points in 12 straight games, with their last regulation loss coming on February 26th in New York.
• Pheonix Copley‘s six-goals against performance on Sunday could potentially open the door for Joonas Korpisalo to take the reigns on the starter’s job. The two have split games since Korpisalo came to LA, and the latter is expected to start on Tuesday. The Kings do have back-to-back games this weekend as well.
• One of Calgary’s top prospects, Matthew Coronato, signed a three-year entry-level contract after his season with Harvard came to an end. It is uncertain whether or not he’ll be in the lineup on Tuesday. He did not practice on Monday.
• Former LA Kings, Tyler Toffoli, is having another good season with Calgary. In 74 games, Toffoli has 31 goals and 67 points. He continues to be a productive player since leaving LA.