Avalanche Vs Kings Season Opener: Game Preview – The Hockey News

The NHL Season has officially started, and tonight the Kings host the Colorado Avalanche for game 1 of the season. 
Tonight at 8:30 pm MDT, the Kings play host to the Avalanche for the first day of the regular season. The Kings will have their work cut out for them, as the Avalanche have a pair of superstars in Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, and the ever-dangerous Martin Necas. This will also be the final season for Kings legend Anze Kopitar, as he announced in September that he will retire at the end of the season.
The Kings projected lines tonight are:
 A. Kuzmenko – A. Kopitar – A. Kempe
K. Fiala – Q. Byfield – A. Laferriere
W. Foegele – P. Danault – T. Moore
J. Malott- A. Turcotte – J. Armia
M. Anderson – D. Doughty
J. Edmundson – B. Clarke
B. Dumoulin – C. Ceci 
D. Kuemper
A. Forsberg 
The projected lines for the Avalanche: 
A. Lehkonen – N. Mackinnon – M. Necas
G. Landeskog – B. Nelson – V. Nichushkin
R. Colton – J. Drury – V. Olofsson
P. Kelly – Z. Bardakov – J. Kiviranta
D. Toews – C. Makar
S. Malinski – B. Burns
S. Girard – J. Manson
S. Wedgewood
T. Miner 
The most significant factor the Kings will have to manage in this game is slowing down Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, as these are the Avalanche’s key players and major reasons for them to walk away with a win.
The Kings will be looking at all four lines to help get the job done. The Kings are a defensive-first type of team, and they will be looking for quick transitions and counterattacks to combat the Avalanche’s strong offence. 
For the Avalanche, it’s the big players, Mackinnon and Makar, that the Kings will need to focus on shutting down, as they can single-handedly win the game for their team if they are on top of their game.
For the Kings, Fiala and Kempe will be the players they will look to for scoring and pure offence, as they led the Kings team in points last season. Defensively, the Kings will be looking at their defence to help protect Kuemper. 
The goaltending duel between Darcy Kuemper and Scott Wedgewood will be a good test for each team. Kuemper was a Vezina finalist last season, and Wedgewood put up strong numbers for the Avalanche after being traded from Nashville. 
The Kings will be looking to start the season off with a win, and if they can contain Makar and MacKinnon, they could be off to a 1-0 start. 

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