The Kings are coming off a 3-1 loss against the Washington Capitals. That is the Kings’ 4th loss in the last 6 games. The Kings’ power play also continued to struggle, so they are looking to play better on the man advantage tonight against the Blackhawks, which may prove to be a difficult task, as the Blackhawks have the 5th-best penalty kill in the NHL. The Blackhawks are coming off a 4-3 Shootout loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and are looking to avoid losing two in a row heading into tonight’s matchup.
Projected Kings Lines:
Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight:
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Trevor Moore – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala – Quinton Byfield – Joel Armia
Alex Laferriere – Phillip Danault – Andrei Kuzmenko
Warren Foegele – Alex Turcotte – Corey Perry
Mikey Anderson – Joel Edmundson
Brandt Clarke – Drew Doughty
Brian Dumoulin – Cody Ceci
Darcy Kuemper
Anton Forsberg
Projected Blackhawks Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Blackhawks tonight:
Ryan Greene – Connor Bedard – Andre Burakovsky
Tyler Bertuzzi – Frank Nazar – Oliver Moore
Teuvo Teravainen – Jason Dickinson – Ilya Mikheyev
Colton Dach – Ryan Donato
Alex Vlasic – Louis Crevier
Wyatt Kaiser – Artyom Levshunov
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Murphy
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Sam Rinzel
Spencer Knight
Arvid Soderblom
Injuries and Line Changes
The Kings are seemingly fully healthy, with Drew Doughty, Warren Foegele, and Phillip Danault all returning to the lineup. The Blackhawks are without Nick Foligno, who is out tonight with a left-hand injury. The Blackhawks are also running 11 Forwards and 7 Defensemen, a common theme this season.
Key Factors
The Kings will have to try to contain one of the best young forwards in the NHL, Connor Bedard, who has been on an absolute tear this season for the Blackhawks, with 17 goals and 38 points on the year, and in his last 5 games, he has 4 goals and 7 points. The Kings will have to be smart defensively, especially with how electric Bedard has been. For the Kings, they will be looking to their superstar player to be the difference-maker, as he has 2 goals and 3 points in his last 5 games.
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The goaltenders in tonight’s matchup are very interesting, as both Kuemper and Knight have been very solid this season, with Knight taking a massive step forward in his play. Knight this season has played 18 games, with 8 wins, 1 shutout, a 2.52 GAA, and a .917 SV%. For the Kings, Kuemper has been very solid, playing 18 games with 8 wins, 1 shutout, a 2.37 GAA, and a .908 SV%. So the matchup between these two goalies is going to be very interesting.
If the Kings can clean up their power-play chances in this game, it could be the deciding factor for them tonight. In the last 10 matchups between these teams, the Kings are 7-1-2, and while Chicago has played much better this season, I predict the Kings will win 3-1 tonight and get back on track.
