Jason Wernegreen The LA Kings held an optional morning skate this morning ahead of their matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Who Was There
The LA Kings held a full team skate yesterday morning after they arrived in Tampa Bay. The Kings have played with multiple different line configurations in the past few games. Tonight, however, there is a good chance we see the lines going back to what they had been before the shuffle. Cam Talbot was nowhere to be found at this morning’s skate, projecting him as the starter between the pipes tonight. With the lines shuffling back and Talbot in the crease, here are tonight’s projected lines;
Kings going back to regular line top 6 alignments for tonight vs TBL. TBD on 3rd and 4th lines.
Kopitar and Danault lines reunited with usual wingers and Jordan Spence in for Brandt Clarke.
— Dennis Bernstein (@DennisTFP) January 9, 2024
LA Kings Forwards
Byfield-Kopitar-Kempe
Fiala-Danault-Moore
Laferriere-Dubois-Kaliyev
Grundstrom-Lizotte-Lewis
Anderson-Dolan
LA Kings Defense
Anderson-Doughty
Gavrikov-Roy
Englund-Spence
LA Kings Goaltenders
Talbot
Rittich
Morning skate in TB ⚡️
No Cam Talbot, so he’s tonight’s projected starter in net. pic.twitter.com/uxJrbqhNEi
— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) January 9, 2024
LA Kings Head Coach Todd McLellan stated ahead of the road trip that there would be rotational moves on the blue line throughout the trip. With this rotation in effect, Brandt Clarke checks back out of the lineup for Jordan Spence. McLellan confirmed this morning that this change on the backend is purely rotation-based, rather than performance-based. With this rotation, the defensive pairings go back to normal, but we can expect Clarke to be back in the lineup sooner rather than later.
Last Meeting
The LA Kings and the Tampa Bay Lightning have yet to meet this season. In the last matchup between the two, going back to last season, the Kings fell to Tampa by a score of 5-2. Forwards Phillip Danault and Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored the two goals for your Kings. Brayden Point and Nick Perbix led the way for the Bolts, each having 2 points, respectively.
The Kings face off against the Lightning tonight at 4 PM PST (7 PM EST). Note, the early puck drop for an East Coast game, be ready Kings fans. It’s time to get the ship back on track and break this five-game skid. Go Kings Go!
(Feature Image Credit: ABC7.com)