Los Angeles Kings v Edmonton Oilers (Staples Center)
Time: 7.30 PM
TV: Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 1, Fox Sports West
Kings projected lineup:
Richards – Kopitar – Williams
Pearson – Carter – Toffoli
King – Stoll – Brown
Clifford – Andreoff – Nolan
Doughty – McNabb
Regehr – Voynov
Martinez – Greene
Quick
Injured: Gaborik (??), Muzzin (upper body), Lewis (“upper-middle body”)
Oilers projected lineup:
Hall – Arcobello – Purcell
Perron – Yakimov – Joensuu
Pouliot – Draisaitl – Yakupov
Hendricks – Gordon – Acton
Perron – Yakimov – Joensuu
Pouliot – Draisaitl – Yakupov
Hendricks – Gordon – Acton
Hunt – Schultz
Ference – Nurse
Nikitin – Fayne
Ference – Nurse
Nikitin – Fayne
Fasth
Injured: Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins
Enemy reading: Copper & Blue
Game notes:
- Biggest Kings news of the day is that Marian Gaborik is dealing with an ongoing muscle injury (which kept him out of the preseason) and will not be playing tonight. Kings fans may have forgotten about Gaborik’s reputation for being injury-prone, since he’s been quite healthy since hitting the west coast, but he’s only ever played three full NHL seasons.
- Mike Richards will take Gaborik’s place on the top line, leaving Andy Andreoff to make his NHL debut centring the fourth line. Congratulations to Mr. Andreoff, but that fourth line is not exactly the stuff of which Stanley Cup dreams are made.
- As detailed by LAKI, the Kings are a wee little bit cap-space-strapped. The positive is that none of the injuries afflicting them are serious enough to populate the LTIR, but if one more able body goes down, an emergency call-up will have to be made.
- The Oilers are also suffering from a pretty big pair of injuries to Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and old friend Teddy Purcell (who was part of the three-way Sam Gagner trade this summer) may not be 100 per cent in his first game back from injury.
- The projected Oilers lineup is based on the morning skate, although it should be noted that coach Dallas Eakins has been futzing around with the line combinations – after the Oilers’ shootout loss, he had rookie (defenceman) Oscar Klefbom skating on the top line with Mark Arcobello and Taylor Hall. Klefbom has since been demoted to the AHL, and it looks like the similarly highly-touted Darnell Nurse will be playing in his first NHL game tonight. Also, one of their most competent defenceman, Jeff Petry, will sit out tonight as a healthy scratch because ???Oilers???
- Prediction: nobody has any idea what is happening, Kings win.