4/16 Preview – Lineup Changes Expected + 1st gAAme Back, Production, Moverare’s Game, “Final 6”

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (39-27-10) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (35-33-6)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, April 16 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back in action for the final six games of the regular season, beginning this evening against Columbus.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The first time these teams met, forward Viktor Arvidsson led the way with a hat trick in Ohio, in a 4-3 overtime victory. Forward Dustin Brown also scored, while forwards Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore and Phillip Danault each collected an assist. Forward Alex Iafallo has seven points (4-3-7) from seven career games played against the Blue Jackets.

KINGS VITALS: Tonight’s game is the final matchup of the season against the Eastern Conference, bringing with them 22-6-3 record versus the Eastern Conference this season.

Goaltender Jonathan Quick was not on the ice this morning, indicating that he is in line to make his third consecutive start this evening. All-time against the Blue Jackets, Quick has a 17-8-0 record, a .911 save percentage and a 2.27 goals-against average. Quick’s last three consecutive starts came from December 28 – January 6, a stretch of four straight games.

The Kings held a mostly-full team skate today, with just a couple of veterans not on the ice. With that in mind, and considering how the team lined up yesterday during practice combined with who was on late for extra work today, here is a potential lineup for this evening against Columbus –

Athanasiou – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Iafallo – Lizotte – Brown
Lemieux – Kupari – Kaliyev

Edler – Roy
Moverare – Durzi
Maatta – Spence

Quick
Petersen

That would make three lineup changes from Colorado to today, with the trio of Andreas Athanasiou, Brendan Lemieux and Jacob Moverare checking in and Quinton Byfield, Troy Stecher and Gabe Vilardi checking out.

Seeing a few changes after a 9-3 loss is not uncommon. More on Athanasiou below, but he’s now healthy and has shown an ability this season to produce immediately after returning to the lineup. Lemieux and Moverare will look to simplify and contribute in that way in their own respective returns. More on the lineup changes below.

BLUE JACKETS VITALS: Columbus enters tonight’s game with three wins from its last four games, though that followed a seven-game losing streak preceding. Tonight begins the final “trip” of the season for the Blue Jackets, with games to follow against the other California teams tomorrow and Tuesday.

Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins is expected to get the nod this evening for the visitors, his third career start against the Kings. Merzlikins is 1-0-1 all-time against Los Angeles, with a .925 save percentage and a 2.91 goals-against average, including 39 saves in the 4-3 overtime defeat earlier this season in Ohio.

Per Jeff Svoboda of the Blue Jackets team website, Columbus is only expected to make one change from their last game, with forward Sean Kuraly checking in for forward Brendan Gaunce. Here’s how Columbus lined up last time out –

Forwards Boone Jenner, Alexandre Texier and Nathan Gerbe are all on injured reserve and not expected to be available tonight.

Notes –

chAAnges
A lot of information from this morning’s media availability.

Regarding changes for tonight, as noted above, Andreas Athanasiou is healthy and ready to go, per Todd McLellan. McLellan indicated that he will use Athanasiou on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, continuing the team’s tradition of players with a name that begins with A on the top line (Anze, Adrian, Alex, Arthur, Arvidsson……Andreas Athanasiou).

Athanasiou has 14 points (9-5-14) from 22 games played this season. Tonight will be the fifth time he’s returned from injury so far this season. His first four games? An assist, a goal, a goal and an assist and two goals. McLellan is hopeful that Athanasiou can step right in and contribute the same way here against Columbus.

“Athanasiou has shown the ability, and we’re hoping that it will happen again, to recover from injury, he’s the one guy that’s been able to come back into the lineup and be able to produce in games one and two, really quickly. He’s got an incredible skillset, one of the most skilled individuals I’ve been around in all of my years. If it can transfer his speed and skill to Kopi’s line, then we have something.”

With regards to those coming out, it’ll be the first time we’ve seen Quinton Byfield or Gabe Vilardi out of the lineup since their respective returns to the NHL. Arthur Kaliyev, who was on that top line over the last two games, will shuffle down in the lineup, likely onto a line with Rasmus Kupari and Brendan Lemieux, with McLellan admitting that Kaliyev has been more productive lower in the lineup than when played on the top line.

McLellan noted that those coming out haven’t had the production they’re capable of as of late, resulting in the changes.

“There has to be signs of production,” he said. “When I say that and they hear that, they think, I have to score goals, have assists, to be in the lineup. No, you don’t, you have to show the potential of creating it and it hasn’t been happening.”

He was sure to expand, however, that he believes the Kings can win with a productive Gabe Vilardi or a productive Quinton Byfield in the lineup. He was also sure to expand on the notion of production, rattling off a list of things like playing physical, being shutdown defensively, changing the momentum of a game, contributing effectively on special teams, etc, etc as ways players can be productive.

“When you’re a young player coming into the league, drafted like you were, you feel like you have to score goals to stay alive in the lineup and that’s not necessarily the case, but when I answer a question about lack of production, it sounds like that. I think the production, the numbers, are the end game of everything else before it.”

To summarize – 22, 48, 57 in, 13, 51, 55 out. We’ll see how it works for the Kings this evening against Columbus.

Making MO-ves
Much of the conversation this morning pertained to the forward group, as detailed above.

We also should note, though, that defenseman Jacob Moverare looks set to return to the lineup tonight for the first time since March 30. The Kings have gone with four right-shot defensemen and two left-shooting ones over the last few games, with Matt Roy on his off side to try and accommodate getting a certain look. Rushes yesterday indicate that Roy will return to his natural, right side, with Moverare getting another look today.

“It’s always a little more exciting seeing your number on the board, that you’re playing,” he said this morning. “It’s obviously the playoffs, they’re not here but they’ve kind of started for our team already. It’s really exciting here.”

After the game in Minnesota, Todd McLellan preached the concept of having six, responsible defensemen. Largely, the Kings had that against Chicago, though the Colorado game was naturally short of that on all fronts. Moverare embodies those traits, providing a solid, responsible reliable game to the Kings, rarely hurting you with exceptional hockey sense.

He’s likely to partner with the more offensively-minded Sean Durzi this evening.

Moverare believes that their two games should mesh pretty well, with their respective strengths complementing the other.

“I think [our games] complement pretty well,” Moverare said after morning skate. “Sean is obviously very skilled offensively, and I may be a little better defensively, but I think we both are pretty good at first passes. We fit pretty good together.”

Moverare noted that he’s focused, as best he can, on staying in game shape despite not playing in a game over the last 16 days. He’s tried to stay out late during practices for extra reps, doing whatever he can to be ready when his number was eventually called. He also said that he hasn’t felt at all discouraged by not playing every day, noting that the goal is to be at this level for an extended period and he’s done that, as opposed to being reassigned to the AHL.

The always smiling defenseman gets another go tonight, with an opportunity to prove he’s not only built to stay in this league, but to play in this league as well.

“Final 6”
There’s been an external focus building, for probably a couple of weeks now, about these final six games.

The Kings close out the season with six consecutive games against teams who are, at this time, not occupying playoff spots. Five of those games will stay that way, though Vancouver is still in the picture entering today’s action, with plenty of time in between tonight and the season finale against the Canucks.

The Kings aren’t buying it though.

“If I hear one more time about the rest of your schedule, or you’re playing against teams that are out of the playoff picture, well Vancouver is not out of the playoff picture and the rest of them are playing pretty damn hard. So, for us, it’s Columbus,” McLellan said.

McLellan referenced several times yesterday that the focus is on Columbus and only Columbus. I rmentioned a quote I saw on social media the other day, that said players at this time of the year are either playing for their seeding, to make the playoffs, or for a job, which he felt put it into a good perspective. For the most part, everyone at this time of the season is still playing for something and regardless of which teams line up at the other end of the ice, a challenge awaits.

“I think it’s been here, for me, for a month, it’s felt like it’s been here,” McLellan added. “I hadn’t talked at all about playoffs for two and a half years and about a month ago, we began to talk about it. We’ve been in the playoffs, we’ve had some good experiences and some bad ones. Six of our last eight games have been against teams basically at the 100-point range. That’s a big, big challenge for us. We can look at scores like 9-3 and hang our heads, but we came through that stretch at .500, point-wise. We now have to look ahead to the last six games, but I don’t look at it that way. I look ahead to Columbus.”

Kings and Blue Jackets, tonight at 7:30 in Los Angeles. Third to last home game of the season, Insiders, and two big points on the line.

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