The Los Angeles Kings are continuing through their five-game road trip with a stop in Vancouver against the Canucks on Thursday night. However, they are going to be without Alex Laferriere, who is dealing with an upper-body injury according to Zach Dooley with LA Kings Insider.
After the game against the Oilers, Jim Hiller highlighted Alex Laferriere's penalty on Connor McDavid and described it as a "really bad penalty". He would miss the remainder of the game after that penalty which raised some speculation that he might have been benched in the third period.
However, the upper body injury, especially considering he is missing the upcoming game, probably was more of the reasoning for him missing the final period against the Oilers. In his second season in the NHL, Laferriere has played really well with 13 goals, 13 assists and a +/- of +11 which are all career highs and the Kings are only halfway through the season.
How do the Los Angeles Kings address the absence of Alex Laferriere?
During practice on Wednesday, Dooley provided some hints about what the Los Angeles Kings are thinking for in terms of lines for the game against the Canucks. The Kings moved Tanner Jeannot back up to the line with Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield.
This line was playing very well together just a few weeks ago before Trevor Moore returned and replaced Jeannot. It will be interesting to see if they are able to return to that level in a pivotal road game.
Meanwhile, the third line consisted of Kevin Fiala-Phillip Danault-Trevor Moore and there is no reason to think either line gets changed before tomorrow night. The Kings will likely stick with their 11-7 alignment and if they do then Samuel Helenius or Akil Thomas should be active for this game.