The Los Angeles Kings are set to take the ice in Edmonton and will be doing so with a slightly different lineup. It isn't necessarily surprising the Kings elected to make a change but who was left out could be a bit of a surprise.
Head coach Jim Hiller elected to swap Jordan Spence with Jacob Moverare for the defensive pairs and Spence will be a healthy scratch for this game. In addition, the Kings are moving Vladislav Gavrikov from the left side to the right side, according to Zach Dooley, and he will be the player paired with Moverare.
This was Spence's second season as a full-time starter and he appeared in 79 games this season and averaged almost 17 minutes of ice time per game. He certainly took a step forward and finished with 28 points and a +/- of +23.
In this series, Spence has seen his time significantly cut back and he has had ice time of 6:40 in Game 1, 8:50 in Game 2 but only 2:55 in the Kings' loss in Game 3.
For Moverare, he has seen enough time this season that he isn't that unfamiliar with the defensemen he will play with and he played in 49 games this season with an average of 11:52 minutes of ice time per game. However, he hasn't played much down the stretch with the Kings moving back to a 12-6 alignment.
This won't be the first time he is active in this series as he did play in Game 2 but saw only 2:36 minutes of ice time. It certainly begs the question what did Jim Hiller see over the past few days to warrant a shift.
In the end, it might not make much of an impact as the Kings have really only played five defensemen the past few games. If Moverare only plays a couple of shifts, it is just another reason why it is surprising the move was made and why the Kings didn't just stick with Spence.