To wrap up their three-game West Coast road trip at long last, the Vancouver Canucks (6-2-3) travel to L.A. to face the Los Angeles Kings (8-3-3) at Crypto.com Arena at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night. This will be the first of three meetings between these two teams this season, with the next not coming until the new year on Jan. 16.
The Canucks and the Kings have generally been very evenly matched, but in their last five games against each other, the Kings own a 4-0-1 record. Over the last 10 games, though, the Canucks have a push-and-pull record of 4-5-1. These two sides have traded blows as Western Conference heavyweights over the last few years, so tonight's Canucks game should be a close one against a strong Kings team.
Canucks Game Lineup
Jake DeBrusk - J.T. Miller - Brock Boeser
Pius Suter - Elias Pettersson - Conor Garland
Danton Heinen - Teddy Blueger - Kiefer Sherwood
Nils Hoglander - Aatu Raty - Daniel Sprong
Quinn Hughes - Filip Hronek
Carson Soucy - Tyler Myers
Erik Brannstrom - Vincent Desharnais
Kevin Lankinen has been confirmed to be the Canucks starting goalie vs. the Kings and is set to play in his ninth game of the season already. Lankinen has been outstanding to this point this season, posting a 6-0-2 record, a 2.09 GAA, and a .923 save percentage. As far as the Canucks are concerned, the crease belongs to Lankinen until further notice.
Kings Game Lineup
Kevin Fiala - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe
Akil Thomas - Phil Danault - Trevor Moore
Alex Laferriere - Quinton Byfield - Warren Foegele
Tanner Jeannot - Trevor Lewis - Andre Lee
Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke
Mikey Anderson - Jordan Spence
Vladislav Gavrikov - Kyle Burroughs
After recently returning from injury, Kings starting goalie Darcy Kuemper is likely to get the nod vs. the Canucks on Thursday night in what is expected to be a crucial early-season matchup. Kuemper is 4-0-3 this season with a 2.67 GAA and a .899 save percentage and is coming off a 16-save shutout against Nashville on Monday.
How to watch the Canucks game
Thursday night's Canucks game will be streamed on Sportsnet. For fans unable to watch the Canucks game, Sportsnet 650 and Sportsnet Radio Network will be the radio broadcasts available for your listening.