Game 5 lineup notes

Projected Lines – Los Angeles

Dustin Brown – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Dwight King – Mike Richards – Jeff Carter
Dustin Penner – Jarret Stoll – Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford – Colin Fraser

Robyn Regehr – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Slava Voynov
Alec Martinez – Rob Scuderi
Keaton Ellerby

Jonathan Quick
Jonathan Bernier

-No lineup changes are expected for Los Angeles, though Sutter wouldn’t confirm that he’d continue playing 11 forwards and seven defensemen. It was a subject raised when he was asked to comment about St. Louis reuniting the “CPR Line” of Adam Cracknell, Chris Porter and Ryan Reaves after Vladimir Tarasenko replaced Cracknell in Game 4. “You know what? I don’t know yet what we’re doing, if we’re going to go seven-11, quite honest,” Sutter said. “That’s an effective line for [St. Louis]. If I was them, I’d do it too. It was an effective line at home for ‘em, and they didn’t play many minutes on the road. Quite honest, we’re a little different. Our fourth line, we’ve had one guy struggle the whole year. It didn’t matter who it was, whoever we put on the fourth line, either the centerman or the right winger, struggled the whole year. That’s kind of what we’re up against, too. We played Richardson in Game 1. Played Fras in Game 2. Played Jordie in both. I’m just looking for the right answer there, that’s all. At the end of the day, those guys give you seven-to-10 minutes. They’d better give it to you.”

Projected Lines – St. Louis

Jaden Schwartz – David Backes – Alex Steen
Andy McDonald – Vladimir Sobotka – Chris Stewart
David Perron – Patrik Berglund – T.J. Oshie
Adam Cracknell – Chris Porter – Ryan Reeves

Jay Bouwmeester – Alex Pietrangelo
Jordan Leopold – Kevin Shattenkirk
Barret Jackman – Roman Polak

Brian Elliott
Jaroslav Halak

-David Backes took a maintenance morning, though he is expected to play tonight. In the unlikely event Backes is not available to play, Alex Steen would center Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko as indicated by line rushes at the morning skate. On whether Backes was available tonight – and whether he was planning on reinserting Adam Cracknell into the lineup – Ken Hitchock said, “You know not to comment on personnel.” Hitchcock also had lofty praise for Vladimir Sobotka’s hockey intelligence. “When you watch him play, any time we’re doing highlight videos of how to play the position, he pops up on every video. He just is such a great outlet and helps so many – whether it’s a winger, a defenseman, or in any of the three zones, he just helps us so much,” he said.

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