Jim Hiller and the Los Angeles Kings (4-3-3) have one more contest on this five-game West road trip early this week to play on the ice before returning home to Southern California in a couple of days on Thursday. The Kings face the Pacific Division foe San Jose Sharks (2-5-2) in the Shark Tank on Oct. 28 to finish off this successful road trip in the West early this week.
Los Angeles Kings will be without forward Warren Foegele and defenseman Kyle Burroughs vs. San Jose on Tuesday night due to injuries
This upcoming stretch of games, including tonight against the Sharks, will have some hurdles for Hiller and the Kings to clear in the coming days. The Kings lost forward Warren Foegele to an injury in the 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on the road on Oct. 26 this past weekend.
In the pregame press conference on Tuesday before the faceoff on the road vs. San Jose, Hiller said that Foegele suffered an "upper-body injury" last weekend in the win over the Blackhawks.
"It's upper body. I can tell you that we don't know exactly. He's going to miss some time. I would I would tell you that. I don't know when he's going to be back, but it shouldn't be too long. "Jim Hiller on Warren Foegele
Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider reported on Oct. 28 that Foegele will not play tonight for the Kings in the road trip finale game in San Jose against the Sharks at the SAP Center.
"Foegele “will miss some time” with an upper-body injury, per Jim Hiller, after he went into the boards in the first period of the game in Chicago, but Hiller wasn’t certain on exactly how long he might be out. My expectation would be for forward Joel Armia to get the bump in Foegele’s place, while forward Jeff Malott checks back in after he was a scratch during the past two games."Zach Dooley, LA Kings Insider
I'd expect forward Jeff Malott to return to the lineup for the Kings tonight against the Sharks after he was a healthy scratch in LA's last game this past weekend vs. the Blackhawks in Chicago. The Kings could also call up someone like forward Andre Lee or move Sammy Helenius into the lineup if they need to make any additional roster changes tonight.
Here's what the Kings' forward lines are expected to be tonight against San Jose, with other players stepping up and filling depth needs.
Andrei Kuzmenko - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala - Quinton Byfield - Alex Laferriere
Joel Armia - Phillip Danault - Trevor Moore
Jeff Malott - Alex Turcotte - Corey Perry
It's also worth noting that Dooley's report on LA Kings Insider mentioned that Foegele did not skate today in practice for the Kings after suffering the upper-body injury a couple of days ago last weekend.
Another notable injury update for the Kings is defenseman Kyle Burroughs. Over the past week, Burroughs has traveled with the team on the plane during this five-game Western Conference road trip since last Tuesday against the Blues in St. Louis.
As of the most recent update and reporting we have for Burroughs' injury status early this week on Tuesday, it appears that he is still skating with the team in practice wearing the red non-contact practice jersey for the Kings.