Game Day #15: Kings-Predators Preview

Los Angeles Kings v Nashville Predators (Staples Center)

Time: 7.30 PM

TV: Fox Sports West

Enemy reading: On the Forecheck

Predators (projected) lineup:

Stalberg-Fisher-Wilson
Bourque-Legwand-Hornqvist
Forsberg-Cullen-Smith
Nystrom-Gaustad-Spaling

Jones-Weber
Klein-Josi
Ellis-Ekholm

Hutton

Injured: Matt Hendricks, Pekka Rinne; Scratched: Rich Clune, Victor Bartley

Kings (projected) lineup:

King-Kopitar-Williams
Carcillo-Richards-Toffoli
Brown-Stoll-Lewis
Clifford-Vey-Frattin

Muzzin-Doughty
Regehr-Voynov
Mitchell-Greene

Quick

Game notes:

• I have no idea if those Preds lines are even close. I mostly made them up, assuming that rookie Filip Forsberg will back in the lineup now that Matt Hendricks is out injured. If they're totally wrong, I'm sorry. Look, you go try to find a first-line centre in there, and then you come back and tell me how easy this job is.
• Of course, the Kings lines are likely to be a bit of a moving target as well. Jeff Carter is currently sidelined with a mysterious foot(?) injury, paving way for the call-ups of Tyler Toffoli and Linden Vey. The lineup above is based off of practice lines, but it's possible that Jordan Nolan subs in for Matt Frattin and that Colin Fraser subs in for Vey.
  
• Sidenote: if he plays, this will be Vey's first NHL game ever. I may be cold and dead inside, but that is pretty exciting for him. Hooray, Linden Vey!
• The top line is likely to have Seth Jones and Shea Weber stapled to their asses all night, so receiving a strong effort from the bottom 9 is going to be particularly important. As you may recall, they were miserable against the Predators a few weeks ago, and Jonathan Quick was essentially the only reason the team managed to escape with a shootout win.
• I'm very excited to see how Sutter's current defensive pairings work out against the Predators. I think that the Predators are a safe-ish candidate against which to continue the Willie Mitchell-Matt Greene experiment, and I think having Jake Muzzin-Drew Doughty available against the not-particularly mobile Predators' forwards might be a pretty good time for the Kings. (#nodisrespecttodavidlegwand #alldisrespecttomikefisher) (timely jokes: I got 'em!)
• Every time I comment about the power play being total shit, they go out and have a good game. So here it is: the power play sucked last game. Stop sucking, power play.
• Guys, I'm so excited about Tyler Toffoli.
• Tyler Toffoli!!
• Prediction: Kings win 6-2, Tyler Toffoli hat trick, Dwight King hat trick, sunshine, rainbows, glory.

More from Jewels From The Crown:

• Player Power Rankings: Kopitar on Top, Bottom Six... on the Bottom
• (Update) Kings Shakeup: Carter to IR, Ellerby Waived, Toffoli and Vey Called Up
• Is Anze Kopitar finally shooting more?
• Sharks @ Kings: Grades and Analysis
• Kings-Sharks Recap: Power Play Comes Through, Kopitar Beats San Jose in OT/