Carolina Hurricanes vs. Los Angeles Kings: Lineups and Game Discussion

The Carolina Hurricanes (33-23-6) will kick off a two game home stand facing Western Conference opponents tonight with a meeting against the Los Angeles Kings (23-32-6). The Canes return from their recent road trip on a two game winning streak and enter tonight’s game on a 9-3-0 run in the month of February, setting new franchise records for both wins (9) and points (18) in the process.

With the trade deadline having passed without any major deal, and Jordan Staal showing no ill effects from his time off, the Canes lines will be similar to those used against Dallas. It appears that Greg McKegg will be the healthy extra, swapping with Saku Maenalanen on the fourth line. Petr Mrazek should get the start in net.

Here is the Canes’ projected lineup:

Nino Niederreiter - Sebastian Aho - Justin Williams
Micheal Ferland - Jordan Staal - Teuvo Teravainen
Andrei Svechnikov- Jordan Martinook - Brock McGinn
Saku Maenalanen - Lucas Wallmark - Warren Foegele

Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton
Brett Pesce - Justin Faulk
Calvin de Haan - Trevor van Riemsdyk

Petr Mrazek
Curtis McElhinney

Injuries and Scratches: Greg McKegg (Healthy)

The Kings should be happy to see February end. They have gone 3-6-3 during the month, including a current stretch of eight regulation or overtime losses. The losing streak is their longest dating back to 2007. Tonight’s game will wrap up a four game road trip where the Kings have secured only one point, from a shootout loss last night to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

With Jack Campbell playing last night in Tampa, Jonathan Quick should get the start in net for the Kings. Quick has lost 5 straight and was pulled in his last outing, a 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers. His best game of the year was the December 2nd meeting against the Canes, where he delivered a 34-save shutout performance.

The Kings are projected to line up like this:

Alex Iafallo - Anze Kopitar - Dustin Brown
Ilya Kovalchuk - Jeff Carter - Tyler Toffoli
Brendan Leipsic - Adrian Kempe - Jonny Brodzinski
Kyle Clifford - Trevor Lewis - Austin Wagner

Derek Forbort - Drew Doughty
Dion Phaneuf - Matt Roy
Sean Walker - Paul Ladue

Jonathan Quick
Jack Campbell

Editor’s note: Hey y’all, Brian here. I realized this morning that I never got around to introducing the newest member of the CC team, so here’s my chance to do so. Jake is a native of Raleigh who snuck references to the dearly departed Raleigh IceCaps into his cover letter, so you know he’s an OG in these parts. (Fun fact: there’s a time capsule in Nash Square in downtown Raleigh that was placed for Raleigh’s bicentennial in 1992. Jake is responsible for the IceCaps puck in that capsule.)

Also, he fits the bill perfectly to fulfill the SBN rule that you have to replace a writer with someone else of the same name, so we checked that box off straight away. (This isn’t a real rule. As far as we know, anyway.)

He’s a financial analyst by trade, and currently works as an administrator for a speech pathology business while somehow finding time to chase two daughters around — and with one of my own around the same age as his oldest, I can’t even begin to imagine. And as you’ve already seen, he’s a heck of a writer as well and we are very excited to have him on board. Please welcome him and, as always, be nice to the new guy!