The Los Angeles Kings come to town for the first preseason matchup between the two teams. Los Angeles played the Anaheim Ducks last night in San Diego, home of the Ducks’ AHL affiliate the San Diego Gulls.
A couple of quick team notes before we jump into the lines. Sounds like Kasper Halttunen was sent back to his junior team, the London Knights, earlier this week. He made his debut for the Knights yesterday and then quickly made his presence felt on the ice.
Welcome to the OHL!#SJSharks prospect Kasper Halttunen has his first with the @LondonKnights! 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/PdNoYKNAuw
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) September 30, 2023
Meanwhile, Jake Furlong was named captain of his QMJHL team the Halifax Mooseheads.
“Jake exemplifies the values of the Halifax Mooseheads. His work ethic, consistency and commitment make him a great ambassador for our organization,” said Mooseheads’ Head Coach Jim Midgley.
Congratulations to Jake Furlong, our 35th Captain in franchise history!
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) September 29, 2023
Read more on the 2023-2024 leadership group for your Mooseheads -> https://t.co/gzhM98V5Xg #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/3GJB6ITMzN
San Jose Sharks lines
Okay, to tonight’s game. San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng says that Thomas Bordeleau will center a line of William Eklund and Luke Kunin.
Here’s what he projected the rest of the lineup would be following Friday’s practice.
Chrona will start tomorrow.
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) September 29, 2023
Quinn said this is more or less your line-up. There's hope that Granlund will be ready to center Eklund/Kunin.
On defense, I saw Mukhamadullin, Ferraro, Vlasic, Benning, Rutta & Knyzhov in this group, so expect them to play https://t.co/e1o1yUS04I
Based on all that, this is the best guess at what the lineup will be for tonight’s game.
Forwards
Alexander Barabanov – Tomas Hertl – Anthony Duclair
William Eklund – Thomas Bordeleau – Luke Kunin
Mike Hoffman – Nico Sturm – Josh Bailey
Mitchell Russell* – Nathan Todd – Scott Sabourin
*Not sure about Russell since he’s been wearing that orange jersey all camp
Defense
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Shakir Mukhamadullin
Mario Ferraro – Matt Benning
Jan Rutta – Nikolai Knyzhov
Goaltenders
Magnus Chrona
Mackenzie Blackwood
Los Angeles Kings lines
According to the LA Kings Insider, the Kings will start to add in some of those players who played for the team in Australia. Tonight’s roster according to the LA Kings Insider in particular order is:
Forwards (13) – Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Martin Chromiak, Jacob Doty, Samuel Fagemo, Samuel Helenius, Charles Hudon, Alex Laferriere, Mikhail Maltsev, Francesco Pinelli, Akil Thomas, Alex Turcotte, Taylor Ward, Koehn Ziemmer
Defensemen (7) – Tobias Bjornfot, Brandt Clarke, Kevin Connauton, Andreas Englund, Joe Hicketts, Jacob Modry, Jacob Moverare
Goaltenders (3) – Ryan Bednard, Jacob Ingham, David Rittich
How to watch
Game time is 7 p.m. at SAP Center. You can stream the game online sjsharks.com/watch or listen on the Sharks Audio Network through the San Jose Sharks app.
This is the final home preseason game for the Sharks. The final two preseason games will be against the Golden Knights on Oct. 3 and in Colorado against the Los Angeles Kings.
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