GameDay No. 51: Lines, Betting Odds for Kings at Panthers

Although the Florida Panthers had their two main goalies on the ice Thursday in preparation for their game against the Los Angeles Kings tonight, it appears Alex Lyon will get a fourth consecutive start in place of Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight.

Although the Panthers did not hold a morning skate Friday, they did make a roster move in sending Grigori Denisenko back to AHL Charlotte and recalling Mack Guzda.

That leads us to believe that neither Bobrovsky nor Knight is ready to go just yet and that Guzda will back up Lyon as he did last Saturday night against Minnesota.

Whether Bobrovsky or Knight could play Saturday against the Bruins is not known.

“We’re not playing around with the goaltenders,” coach Paul Maurice said Thursday. “We got to take care of these guys.”

• Sasha Barkov Makes Hometown NHL All-Star Game After All

The Kings come into town rested after winning their past two games of this road trip which started Saturday night in Nashville.

Although the Kings lost to the Preds, they won their next two in Chicago and Philadelphia and have not played since Tuesday night.

Los Angeles comes into the game holding third place in the Pacific Division.

The Kings beat the Panthers in their previous meeting, a contentious game in which Matthew Tkachuk was suspended two games after poking at Jonathan Quick’s mask in the final seconds of a 5-4 loss.

Tkachuk had a goal wiped off the board in a controversial interference decision earlier in the game and both he and Quick mixed it up a few times in the final minute of a game Florida was trying to get the tying goal in.

“It’s what he does. It makes him a good player, makes him a villain,’’ Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said of Tkachuk.

“Do we like the poke in (Quick’s) facemask? Of course not. But it’s not anything we can deal with now. Other people will have to look at it.’’

Tkachuk and Quick are not expected to renew their rivalry tonight as Pheonix Copley should be in net for the Kings.

Florida is also expected to have Eric Staal and Sam Bennett back in the lineup tonight.

PANTHERS ON DECK

LOS ANGELES KINGS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Friday, 7 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• DraftKings Odds — Panthers favored: MoneyLine (-140); Puck line (-1.5, +180); Over/Under 6.5 (-130/+110)
• Last season: Los Angeles won 2-0
  
• This season — Los Angeles leads 1-0: Kings 5, Panthers 4 (Nov. 5)
• All-time regular season series: Los Angeles leads 24-14-0, 3 ties

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINEUP

15 Anton Lundell // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

21 Nick Cousins // 27 Eetu Luostarinen // 6 Colin White

94 Ryan Lomberg // 12 Eric Staal // 54 Givani Smith

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

18 Marc Staal // 62 Brandon Montour

28 Josh Mahura // 7 Radko Gudas

34 Alex Lyon

29 Mack Guzda

Injured: Anthony Duclair (LTIR-Achilles), Patric Hornqvist (LTIR-concussion), Sergei Bobrovsky (LBI), Spencer Knight (UBI)

Scratched: Casey Fitzgerald, Chris Tierney

Returned to Charlotte: Grigori Denisenko

PROJECTED LOS ANGELES KINGS LINEUP

55 Quinton Byfield // 11 Anze Kopitar // 9 Adrian Kempe

19 Alex Iafallo // 24 Phillip Danault // 33 Viktor Arvidsson

22 Kevin Fiala // 46 Blake Lizotte // 28 Jaret Anderson-Dolan

89 Rasmus Kupari // 39 Alex Turcotte // 68 Samuel Fagemo

44 Mikey Anderson // 8 Drew Doughty

50 Sean Durzi // 3 Matt Roy

2 Alexander Edler // 26 Sean Walker

29 Pheonix Copley

32 Jonathan Quick