The Los Angeles Kings secured a big win on Saturday night that ended a five-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues. They will be looking to carry that momentum into the fourth, and final, meeting with the Vegas Golden Knights of the regular season.
Right now, the Kings hold a 2-1 lead in the season series as the home team has won every game. Unfortunately, this final game is on the road and it is something that the Kings have struggled with this season with a 12-17-5 record.
There is no question that this will be a tough game considering it's on the road, against the team leading the Pacific Division and is the second game in a back-to-back. However, they have had some of their best games of the season against the Golden Knights and these are four players to keep an eye on.
4 Los Angeles Kings to watch in key matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights
Quinton Byfield
Quinton Byfield is playing some of his best hockey of the season and making an impact in a number of different ways. He has seven points in the past seven games, including four against the Vegas Golden Knights the last time they met with four assists.
Recently, he has found his scoring touch with goals in back-to-back games but also is bringing some physicality with 13 hits in just the past three games. The Kings are definitely going to need all of that against the Golden Knights and Byfield is a player that can really set the tone for the Kings.
Trevor Moore
Trevor Moore has struggled for most of the season but has been playing better recently. On the season, he has 12 goals but six of them have been in just the past 12 games. The last time the Kings played the Golden Knights he had two goals, only his second game all season with multiple goals.
While the Kings have shuffled their lines a lot recently. Moore's line with Phillip Danault and Warren Foegele has been impacted. I would expect that familiarity should help tonight against a tough Golden Knights' team.
Andrei Kuzmenko
Andrei Kuzmenko made a great first impression with the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night. He had yet to have any ice time with his teammates before the game but never really looked out of position playing next to Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe.
Where he made the biggest impact though was on the power play as he got a lot of touches in both power play opportunities and moved the puck well. In the third period, he had a beautiful pass to Adrian Kempe that was going to be a goal if it was not for a great save by Joel Hofer.
It will be great to see him build off that first impression but tonight the Kings should try to get Kuzmenko in a position to take shots on net, which didn't happen against the Blues.
David Rittich
While it hasn't been announced yet, the thought would be that David Rittich is in net on the second of a back-to-back after Darcy Kuemper got the start on Saturday night. It has been a tough stretch for Rittich and he is now put in a big position against the Golden Knights.
In his last seven games, Rittich is 1-4-2 and has allowed three or more goals in three of his past four starts. He also has already played the Golden Knights once this season back in October when he allowed six goals.
This is probably not going to be a low-scoring game and if the Los Angeles Kings hope to win they are probably going to need four or five goals. Based on their lack of scoring that might be tough but if David Rittich can rebound, it will certainly help their chances.