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Sharks vs. Kings Game 2 Preview: Torres out, anyone’s guess as to how long

When the Sharks attempt to steal home-ice advantage by splitting the first two games of their second-round series against the Kings tonight in Los Angeles, they’ll assuredly be without forward Raffi Torres following his controversial hit on Jarret Stoll in Game 1. What we somehow still don’t know is how long that will be the case with a suspension verdict yet to be handed down by league disciplinary czar Brendan Shanahan.

Torres being out of the lineup is definitely a blow to the Sharks’ forward depth, especially considering Martin Havlat remains injured and won’t play, but given the line combinations Todd McLellan was running at today’s morning skate, Torres’ suspension actually improves the team’s top six. Joe Pavelski will be playing right wing on a pretty awesome first line alongside Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture while the Thornton line remains unchanged. After struggling to counter Anze Kopitar (and Mike Richards, in their brief time against him) on Tuesday, Marleau and Couture will have a decidedly better linemate helping them get the job done tonight.

Obviously the Sharks’ bottom six suffers with Pavelski moved up but with Stoll injured and unavailable, it’s a less dangerous Los Angeles bottom six they will need to contend with. There are some legitimate positives the team can draw from their 2-0 Game 1 loss and with a stronger top line and the Kings’ bottom six seemingly whittled down to a level more or less comparable to what the Sharks’ third and fourth lines now look like, they have a pretty good chance at tying this series. Well, at least they will if they can find a way to beat Jonathan Quick.

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Game 2

LAK leads 1-0

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Projected Sharks Lineup

Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Joe Pavelski
T.J. GaliardiJoe ThorntonBrent Burns
James SheppardScott GomezTommy Wingels
Bracken KearnsAndrew DesjardinsTim Kennedy

Marc-Edouard VlasicJustin Braun
Matt IrwinDan Boyle
Scott HannanBrad Stuart

Antti Niemi
Thomas Greiss

Projected Kings Lineup

Dustin Brown – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Dwight King – Mike Richards – Jeff Carter
Dustin PennerBrad RichardsonTrevor Lewis
Jordan NolanColin FraserTyler Toffoli

Robyn RegehrDrew Doughty
Rob ScuderiSlava Voynov
Jake MuzzinAlec Martinez

Jonathan Quick
Jonathan Bernier

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