The Canes west-coast swing continues in Los Angeles Saturday afternoon (thankfully) against the Kings.
The last time the Hurricanes played a game in the STAPLES Center, it was Petr Mrazek who got the win in net in a game where Erik Haula and Ryan Dzingel had assists for the Canes.
The Canes’ west-coast road trip and reunion with old friends they haven’t seen in a long, long time continues Saturday afternoon, as Carolina will faceoff with the Kings in the STAPLES Center for the final time ever (the arena will technically be the same, but farewell to an American sports icon of a name).
So far, so good on the six-game road trip for the Hurricanes, as Carolina picked up wins in Vegas and Anaheim early this week. Both of those games came with game-winning goals from rookie Seth Jarvis, who simply continues to prove he belongs on this stage.
The Canes have gotten some key pieces of their lineup back early in the road trip, as Brett Pesce and Nino Niederreiter have gotten back into the swing of things. No lineup changes are expected for the Canes, so here’s how Rod Brind’Amour’s squad will hit the ice:
Andrei Svechnikov – Sebastian Aho – Seth Jarvis
Teuvo Teravainen – Vincent Trocheck – Martin Necas
Nino Niederreiter – Jordan Staal – Jesper Fast
Steven Lorentz – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Jordan Martinook
Jaccob Slavin – Ethan Bear
Brady Skjei – Brett Pesce
Ian Cole – Tony DeAngelo
Frederik Andersen
Antti Raanta
Scratches: Brendan Smith (healthy), Derek Stepan (healthy)
The Kings have opened up the season fairly well, boasting an 8-6-2 record through 16 games.
November started out really well for Los Angeles, as the Kings won their first five games of the month, but they’ve lost their last two. Last time out, Los Angeles was shut out at home by another Metro foe in the Washington Capitals.
The goalie tandem has been stellar for Los Angeles, with Jonathan Quick currently holding a 1.88 GAA and Cal Petersen at 2.84. As far as the scoring goes, Anze Kopitar leads the scoring charge for Los Angeles with 16 points, with Alex Iafallo right behind with 13.
The Kings didn’t skate Saturday morning, but had made some changes to their starting lines Thursday in practice, according to Zach Dooley of the team.
With that said, here’s how Los Angeles may hit the ice, with no announced goalie yet either:
Adrian Kempe – Anze Kopitar – Viktor Arvidsson
Alex Iafallo – Phillip Danault – Andreas Athanasiou
Trevor Moore – Rasmus Kupari – Dustin Brown
Brendan Lemieux – Blake Lizotte – Arthur Kaliyev
Alexander Edler – Matt Roy
Tobias Bjornfot – Mikey Anderson
Olli Maatta – Kale Clague
Jonathan Quick
Cal Petersen
Injuries and Scratches: Lias Andersson (healthy), Carl Grundstrom (healthy), Sean Durzi (healthy)