Long road trips and playing on back-to-back days are often viewed as the kiss of death in the National Hockey League. That's what the Boston Bruins will be dealing with when the visit the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
The Kings have been struggling this season, off to an 0-3-2 start and are winless at home this season (0-2). The Bruins have had their number of late, 6-1-3 over the last 10 meetings, including a series sweep last season. However it's a little deceiving as seven of the last 11 games have gone into overtime,
On paper, the Kings have a big scheduling advantage, as they haven't played since Tuesday (a 4-1 loss to Edmonton). Both of the home losses were in overtime and the last time Los Angeles defeated Boston was a 7-2 drubbing at Crypto.com Arena, on March 23, 2025.
Jeremy Swayman is expected to start after Michael DiPietro notched his first career NHL win on Friday night. It wouldn't be surprising if he had a busy night. Meanwhile Anton Forsberg will likely be in net for the Kings, making his second start with his new team, and he's had a lot of success against Boston. In six six career starts he's 4-1-1 with a .935 save percentage and a 2.16 goals-against average.
We'll have scoring and analysis throughout the night, so keep coming back for the latest in the game.
Pregame: 5 Things We're Watching For, Bruins at Kings
1) How much hunger do the Kings have? They're winless at home and have scored just one goal in each the last three games.
2) Alex Laferriere reportedly worked on L.A,'s first line with Artemi Panarin and Adrian Kempe during Thursday's practice, and is expected to play on the top unit for the first time this season. Quinton Byfield was with Trevor Moore and Erik Haula on the second line. Will the change spark the offense?
3) It's the third game in a four-game swing for the Bruins, including Friday night's game. Boston is 2-0 so far, but will it show any road/scheduling fatigue?
4) Boston's power play wasn't clicking without Charlie McAvoy, who returned this week from a suspension, and was just 3-for-18 through the Sharks game on Tueday. However, it notched three goals with the man advantage against the Ducks, finishing 3-for-4 while killing off all five Anaheim chances.
5) We'll be on the Pavel Zacha watch as he took a high hit and didn't return against the Ducks. The line combinations at Anaheim:
Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha, David Pastrnak
Marat Khusnutdinov, Fraser Minten, JJ Peterka
Casey Mittelstadt, Elias Lindholm, James Hagens
Tanner Jeannot, Matt Poitras, Mark Kastelic
Also, Zadorov is being a healthy scratch.
Pavel Zacha Scratched for Bruins at Kings
Here's your first big update of the night, Zacha (undisclosed injury) has been scratched. He's considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Jonathan Aspirot will suit up. Minten is playing on the top line. Here are the new combinations:
Morgan Geekie, Fraser Minten, David Pastrnak
Marat Khusnutdinov, Matt Poitras, JJ Peterka
Casey Mittelstadt, Elias Lindholm, James Hagens
Tanner Jeannot, Sean Kuraly, Mark Kastelic
Also, defenseman Nikita Zadarov is being called a healthy scratch.
"Discipline on the ice has to be better. ... he needs to be smarter," head coach Marco Sturm said. "He wasn't happy."
Check out Game Central for projected lineups and injuries.
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