Kings forward Quinton Byfield is expected to return Wednesday against the Predators, team editorial content manager Zach Dooley reports. The 21-year-old missed the last two games with an illness and was listed as day-to-day.
Unfortunately, underwhelming play from the rest of the squad has the Kings reeling. The team is 2-8-6 in their last 16 games and is now in a three-way tie for the two Western Conference Wild Card spots with the Blues and Predators. That makes Byfield’s return tonight a key piece of news ahead of Los Angeles’ most consequential game of the season thus far.
Other notes ahead of tonight’s Kings-Preds showdown on national TV in the United States:
- Dooley also reports that depth forward Trevor Lewis is questionable for tonight after missing practice with an undisclosed injury Tuesday. Lewis skated this morning, but Dooley called his availability “wait and see.” The 37-year-old has five goals and nine points in 47 games this season after returning to his former squad on a one-year, $775K deal in free agency. Lewis was the Kings’ second of two first-round picks in 2006 and was a member of both the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup-winning teams. While he hasn’t produced much offense, he’s been quite effective in a shutdown role for his league-minimum deal. Centering Blake Lizotte (currently injured) and Carl Grundström on the Kings’ fourth line, the trio has produced an expected goals share of 57.1%, per MoneyPuck. They’ve limited opponents to 2.09 expected goals against per 60 minutes, the lowest among any Los Angeles forward line with over 100 minutes together.