Jason Wernegreen 
The LA Kings held a full-team skate this morning leading up to tonight’s game against the San Jose Sharks, following the three-day holiday break.
Who Was There:
The Kings had a full-team skate this morning with the same skaters on as their last skate. Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov was once again back on the ice in a black full-contact jersey. The first goaltender off the ice this morning was David Rittich, slating him to make his second start as a King. Rittich’s previous start was also against San Jose last Tuesday in which, Rittich saved 16 of 17 shots, putting up a .938 save percentage and his first win as a King. Gavrikov is slated to make his return to the lineup tonight for the first time in 17 days, dating back to the 4-1 loss against the New York Rangers.
We've activated Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov off Injured Reserve. @Enterprise | #OnTheMove pic.twitter.com/uyAVIGbXmP
— LA Kings (@LAKings) December 27, 2023
Todd McLellan expects Vladislav Gavrikov to make his return to the lineup tonight.#GoKingsGo
— Russell Morgan (@NHLRussell) December 27, 2023
The LA Kings had three extra skaters this morning, Those players were forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan, and defensemen Jacob Moverare and Tobias Bjornfot. The LA Kings line rushes this morning were as such:
Forwards:
Byfield-Kopitar-Kempe
Fiala-Danault-Moore
Laferriere-Dubois-Kaliyev
Grundstrom-Lizotte-Lewis
Anderson-Dolan
Defensemen:
Anderson-Doughty
Gavrikov-Roy
Englund-Spence
Moverare-Bjornfot
Goaltenders:
Rittich
Talbot
Last Meeting:
The LA Kings and San Jose Sharks to this point have only met once this season. The Kings came out on top in the previous meeting with a 4-1 victory. Goaltender David Rittich made his Kings debut and shined stopping 16 of 17 shots. The Kings had goal-scoring from all four lines, in succession nonetheless. The captain, Anze Kopitar, opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period. Moving to the second period, Trevor Moore scored next, quickly followed by Alex Laferriere just a minute and 10 seconds later. Trevor Lewis sealed the win with an empty-net, short-handed goal with less than two minutes remaining in the game, completing the depth scoring from the top down. Unfortunately, Jacob MacDonald scored just 29 seconds later to end the shutout bid for Rittich. LA had nine different skaters record a point through the four goals, as well as Anze Kopitar, and Kevin Fiala each having two points respectively.
THE PASS 😮💨 THE SHOT 🥵 pic.twitter.com/dP4f57A17h
— LA Kings (@LAKings) December 20, 2023
The Kings welcome the Sharks to Los Angeles tonight at 7:00 PM PST, on Bally Sports West. Get ready Kings fans, and if you will be at the game, BRING THE NOISE!
Featured image credit: Jeff Chiu/AP Photo