Preview: Sleepy Avalanche opportunity for rolling Kings

How to Watch

Game Time: 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET

TV: Fox Sports-West, Altitude2

Streaming: NHLtv, ESPN+

Radio: iHeart Radio

The Opposition: Mile High Hockey

What to Watch

• Keep the streak going, baby! The Kings are on a season-high five-game win streak, and 6-1-1 in their last eight games. With playoffs all but out of the picture, having a bit of fun at the end of the season isn’t the worst possible thing that could happen — especially when it messes with actual playoff teams. Sure it’s petty, but what else do we have left?
• Speaking of playoff teams, the Avalanche are hoping to move into first in the Central, and a second-straight win would tie them with the St. Louis Blues — assuming, of course, that the Blues lose to the Florida Panthers tonight, which seems a little unlikely. Still, the race at the top is tight and after last year, Colorado is going to want every advantage they can get.
• Those advantages are few and far between, as the Avalanche’s injured reserve is turning slowly into a roster of its own. Testing their depth has worked out so far, but is it sustainable? The Sharks managed to hold their own for the most part last night, despite eventually losing the the dangerous Avalanche offense, and the Sharks’ roster is also fairly depleted. A health Kings squad might find some more cracks, especially on the second night of a back-to-back.

• Dustin Brown is one goal away from 300 career NHL goals. He’s tallied has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past four games.

Lines

KINGS

Alex Iafallo — Anze Kopitar — Dustin Brown
Adrian Kempe — Blake Lizotte — Trevor Lewis
Trevor Moore — Gabriel Vilardi — Martin Frk
Nikolai Prokhorkin — Michael Amadio — Austin Wagner

Ben Hutton — Drew Doughty
Mikey Anderson — Matt Roy
Kurtis MacDermid — Sean Walker

Jonathan Quick
Calvin Petersen

Expected Scratches: Joakim Ryan

Injured Reserve: Jeff Carter (lower body)

AVALANCHE

Gabriel Landeskog — Nathan MacKinnon — Vladislav Namestnikov
Tyson Jost — J.T. Compher — Joonas Donskoi
Martin Kaut — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Matt Nieto
Sheldon Dries — Vladislav Kamenev — Valeri Nichushkin

Samuel Girard — Ryan Graves
Ian Cole — Erik Johnson
Kevin Connauton — Mark Barberio

Pavel Francouz
Michael Hutchinson

Expected Scratches: Nikita Zadorov, Logan O’Connor

Injured Reserve: Cale Makar (upper body), Andre Burakovsky (lower body), Philipp Grubauer (lower body), Mikko Rantanen (upper body), Nazem Kadri (lower body), Colin Wilson (lower body), Matt Calvert (lower body)