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Preview: Kings look to impress dads as road trip continues

Posted on by Sarah Avampato

How to Watch

Game Time: 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time

TV: Fox Sports West

Radio: iHeart Radio

The Opposition: Litter Box Cats

What to Watch

  • The Kings have their dads (or brothers or billet dads) along with them on this road trip, and I’d like to think Dad Power is what powered the Kings to a 2-0 lead yesterday. (Being the Los Angeles Kings is what powered them to squandering that lead.) Will the big dad energy help them out tonight, too? /

  • The Florida Panthers are in a bit of a precarious situation in terms of the standings. They’re just outside of the wild card picture in the East, but it’s a close race. The Carolina Hurricanes, holders of the first wild card spot, have 56 points; the Panthers have 53. They’re looking to gain ground any way they can, and that’s going to include coming out hard against the Kings tonight. The Panthers are winners of two straight, including a wild 8-4 win over Toronto earlier this week.
  • The Panthers are led in scoring by Jonathan Huberdeau, who recently surpassed Olli Jokinen for most points in franchise history. (Huberdeau has a very nice 420 career points now.) Huberdeau, along with center Aleksander Barkov, are possibly two of the more underappreciated players in the league — and players we should probably be glad we only see twice a year. Huberdeau leads the Panthers with a ridiculous 61 points in 45 games, good for seventh overall in the league. /

  • The Panthers have struggled to keep the puck out of their own net, with their defense and goaltending being a work in progress. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky got off to a slow start and is now injured, and they’re currently leaning on Chris Dreidger, who has spent most of his career going between the AHL and ECHL. The Panthers don’t have any problems scoring, though, so it’ll be on the Kings to try to outscore the Panthers in this one.
  • No lineup changes for the Kings up front. Jack Campbell goes. Both Campbell and Quick have put up very strong performances lately, so it looks like we’re back to rotating between them until one falters. /

Lineups

Los Angeles Kings

Alex Iafallo — Anze Kopitar — Tyler Toffoli
Kyle Clifford — Jeff Carter — Dustin Brown
Adrian Kempe — Michael Amadio — Austin Wagner
Nikolai Prokhorkin — Jaret Anderson-Dolan — Trevor Lewis

Alec Martinez — Drew Doughty
Derek Forbort — Sean Walker
Ben Hutton — Matt Roy

Jack Campbell

Florida Panthers

Jonathan Huberdeau – Aleksander Barkov – Evgenii Dadonov
Brett Connolly – Vincent Trocheck – Noel Acciari
Frank Vatrano – Dominic Toninato – Mike Hoffman
Jayce Hawryluk – Brian Boyle – Colton Sceviour

Mike Matheson – Aaron Ekblad
Riley Stillman – Anton Stralman
Keith Yandle – Josh Brown

Chris Driedger

Talking Points