Kings vs Golden Knights Game 79: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

The Los Angeles Kings take on the Vegas Golden Knights Thursday, in a game that will have massive implications for the Pacific Division title race.

Puck drops at 7:00 PM.

The Kings have felt the impact of injuries down the stretch but will have no excuses Thursday coming up against a similarly depleted Golden Knights roster. 

The Jordan Spence recall gives the Kings options on the backend after Todd McLellan was surprisingly down on Tobias Bjornfot's game Tuesday.

I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Sean Walker slide over to the right to accommodate Spence's introduction. 

With no word on Kevin Fiala, Gabe Vilardi, Mikey Anderson or Alex Edler. We'll assume they aren't available tonight.

The Kings need to figure out their power play without Vilardi and Fiala as they looked hopeless without them Tuesday. 

I'd expect the goalie rotation to continue, meaning Joonas Korpisalo will get the nod in net tonight. 

Projected Los Angeles Kings Lines:

Quinton Byfield-Anze Kopitar-Adrian Kempe

Trevor Moore-Phil Danault-Viktor Arvidsson

Alex Iafallo-Blake Lizotte-Arthur Kaliyev

Carl Grundstrom-Rasmus Kupari-Zack MacEwen

Defense:

Vladislav Gavrikov-Drew Doughty

Sean Durzi-Matt Roy 

Sean Walker-Jordan Spence

Goalies:

Joonas Korpisalo

Pheonix Copley

Expected Vegas Golden Knights Lines:

Pavel Dorofeyev-Jack Eichel-Jonathan Marchessault

Reilly Smith-William Karlsson-Nicolas Roy

Ivan Barbashev-Chandler Stephenson-Phil Kessel

Brett Howden-Teddy Blueger-Keegan Kolesar

Defense:

Alex Martinez-Alex Pietrangelo

Ben Hutton-Nicolas Hague

Brayden McNabb-Zach Whitecloud

Goalies:

Laurent Brossoit

Jonathan Quick

Special Teams:

Los Angeles Kings Power Play: 64-257, 24.90%, 5th in NHL

Los Angeles Kings Penalty Kill: 64-259, 75.29%, 25th in NHL 

Vegas Golden Knights Power Play: 40-196, 20.41%, 19th in NHL

Vegas Golden Knights Penalty Kill: 43-186, 76.88%, 19th in NHL

Los Angeles Kings Pregame Notes:

• The Kings have allowed two or fewer goals in 14 of their last 16 games, dating back to the beginning of March. Since March 1, no team has allowed fewer goals (32) or holds a lower goals-against-per-game average (2.00) than the Kings.
• The Kings’ forward core has collectively registered 320 assists on the season, the fourth-most in the league behind Edmonton (373), Boston (330) and Tampa Bay (324).
• No team has scored more goals against the Golden Knights al-time than the Kings (86).
• Viktor Arvidsson skaters into tonight’s contest with points in each of this last two games (1-0=1 on Apr. 4 vs. EDM; 0-1=1 on Apr. 2 at VAN).
• Only Carolina (41) has more wins when outshooting their opponents this season than the Kings (34)

How to Watch:

TV: Bally Sports West // Radio: iHeartRadio