Just to set the table, in advance of tomorrow night’s game, the Kings’ top two lines — Brown-Kopitar-Williams and Smyth-Stoll-Lewis — will remain intact, while Alexei Ponikarovsky returns on the third line, with Michal Handzus and Wayne Simmonds. Terry Murray said today that his fourth line will be Kyle Clifford, Brad Richardson and Kevin Westgarth. Murray previously said there would be no changes on defense, so unless ailing Alec Martinez is unable to play, the healthy scratches would be Davis Drewiske and John Zeiler.
In goal, not surprisingly, Jonathan Quick gets the call. Given that the Kings don’t play back-to-back games again until Dec. 26-27, Quick could be the guy for a while, but Murray declined to disclose his short-term goalie plan…
MURRAY: “I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve been talking about it. I’m just going to commit to this game right now. Quick keeps going. He’s had a couple of big wins here, and if he gets going and keeps things on a roll here, I’ll stay with it. That’s not going to be the No. 1 criteria, necessarily, but I’ll just stay with this right now.”
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