Los Angeles Kings (36-14-9, 81 pts) at Vancouver Canucks (18-34-7, 43 pts)
Venue: Rogers Arena
Date: Thursday, April 9th
Time: 10:30 pm ET / 7:30 pm PT

TV: ESPN+ / FanDual Sports Network / Sportsnet
Radio: 
Los Angeles Kings – ESPN Radio 710 AM
Vancouver Canucks – Sportsnet 650 AM

DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Lines:
Los Angeles Kings -1.5 ML -278
Vancouver Canucks +1.5 ML +225
O/U 6.5

Los Angeles Kings News and Notes:

The Los Angeles Kings are in an incredibly tight race for the Western Conference wild card spot, sitting just one point back from the Nashville Predators, who currently reside in the final spot. The Kings have found enormous momentum as of late, going 4-1-1 in their last six. They are one of the unluckiest teams in the league this season, with the league-leading 19 overtime losses. Their going to have to start taking advantage of games in clutch time while also adding to the momentum the have now by taking down another west coast rival.

Vancouver Canucks News and Notes:

The Vancouver Canucks couldn’t solve the Los Angeles Kings in any aspect in their most recent game against them on March 26th. That game ended in a 4-0 shutout victory in favor of the Los Angeles Kings. The Canucks have been finding the back of the net at a more consistent rate since then, including a huge 8-6 victory over the Colorado Avalanche, however after a 1-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, Vancouver needs to get back on the horse and keep building chemistry among their super young roster.

Los Angeles Kings Projected Lines:

Panarin-Kopitar-Kempe
Moore-Byfield-Laferriere
Armia-Laughton-Wright
Malott-Helenius-Ward

Anderson-Doughty
Edmundson-Clarke
Dumoulin-Ceci

Kuemper
Forsberg

Vancouver Canucks Projected Lines:

Ohgren-E. Pettersson-DeBrusk
O’Connor-Rossi-Boeser
Sasson-Blueger-Karlsson
Douglas-Raty-Hoglander

Buium-Hronek
M. Pettersson-Willander
E. N. Pettersson-Mancini

Tolopilo
Patera

Players to Watch:

Los Angeles Kings:

After joining the Los Angeles Kings on March 2nd, Jared Wright had a very quiet season with just one point through his first month of games, whereas now he’s got a point in his last three games so the Canucks must be wary of all over the Kings lineup because of course the newest dynamic duo in Los Angeles between Artemi Panarin and Adrian Kempe is still firing on all cylinders as well. Kempe has ten points in his last six games, and Panarin has five points in his last four games.

Vancouver Canucks:

Nikita Tolopilo is back in the crease for the Vancouver Canucks for the injured Kevin Lankinen. He gave it all he had against the high-powered offense of the Vegas Golden Knights, only letting two goals by, but it wasn’t enough. Vancouver was only able to find the back of the net once, and Tolopilo couldn’t get the win. Max Sasson has found some momentum on the offensive side of the puck with four points in the last four games after the recent move to the third line with the injury to Evander Kane, to be paired up with Teddy Blueger and Linus Karlsson, who have shown great chemistry down the stretch.

Injury Report:

Los Angeles Kings:

LW Kevin Fiala – IR
LW Andrei Kuzmenko – IR

Vancouver Canucks:

LW Evander Kane – Day to Day
G Kevin Lankinen – Day to Day
C Filip Chytil – IR
D Derek Forbort – LTIR
G Thatcher Demko – LTIR

Next Game:

Los Angeles Kings: Saturday, April 11 vs. Edmonton Oilers – 4 pm ET
Vancouver Canucks: Saturday, April 11 at San Jose Sharks – 10 pm ET

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