Game Sixteen Preview: Blue Jackets at Kings

The Los Angeles Kings will look to bounce back at home as they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.

With Tanner Jeannot serving the first game of his three game suspension, Samuel Helenius is expected to make his NHL debut, centering Andre Lee and Trevor Lewis on the Kings’ fourth line. To accommodate this change, LA had to place Alex Turcorre on Injured Reserve. Head Coach Jim Hiller pointed to the need for more physicality when addressing Helenius’ call up.

Staying on the theme of physicality, Andreas Englund is earmarked to return to the lineup in place of Kyle Burroughs.

David Rittich was absent from the Kings’ optional skate this morning, making him the likely starting goaltender for tonight’s matchup. Mikey Anderson is cleared to play after taking a puck to the side of the head Thursday night against Vancouver.

This is the likely Los Angeles lineup for the 6PM faceoff:

Fiala - Kopitar - Kempe
Moore - Danault - Thomas
Foegele - Byfield - Laferriere
Lee - Helenius - Lewis

Anderson - Gavrikov
Edmundson - Clarke
Englund - Spence

Rittich
Kuemper

This is how the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets are expected to line up:

This will be the second game of a 5 game road trip for Columbus. They are 0-1-1 on the trip and have dropped three games in a row. They are 1-2-2 on the road this season and sit in 7th place in the Metropolitan division with a record of 5-5-2. The Blue Jackets last played on Tuesday night, giving them the edge in rest with three days between games.

Meanwhile, the Kings will play their 4th game in 6 nights before hitting the road for another two game trip. They are 2nd in the Pacific division and 3-1-1 on home ice.