Patrick O'Sullivan expects to make season debut Sunday for Kings

O'Sullivan, the team's fourth-leading scorer who missed the first 2 1/2 weeks of training camp while a new contract was hammered out, is not expected to dress for tonight's season opener in San Jose.

O'Sullivan and Coach Terry Murray agreed that taking the ice in consecutive games after missing most of training camp would be too much, too soon.

"There's a nice opportunity here for him to review what we're doing," Murray said. "Watch a game up top, get a good look at it and then get himself ready to go."

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One of Murray's first tasks Friday morning was to watch a replay of San Jose's 4-1 victory over the Ducks on Thursday night.

He was impressed with the Sharks' puck movement, particularly on the power play, and was sold that they are indeed one of the top teams in the NHL this season.

"They have a real strong mentality right now," he said. "They have something to prove and they've started off in the right direction."

Murray singled out San Jose defenseman Rob Blake for his play. Blake served as team captain for the Kings last season but signed a free-agent deal with the Sharks in the off-season.

"You got Blake back there last night, he's loading up," Murray said. "He had seven shots on net and they end up with over 40 as a team."

Blake took more than six shots on goal only twice last season.

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Murray isn't backing away from his plan to lean on goalie Jason LaBarbera. The Kings open the season with three games in four days and Murray expects LaBarbera to start all three.

"I don't see any reason right now why I should look another way," said Murray, who envisions LaBarbera playing in 60-plus games this season. "He really thrives with that kind of workload, so I'll go with it, as long as things are going well for him."

LaBarbera played four of eight exhibition games, giving up 10 goals in 98 shot attempts (89.8% save percentage). Last season, he played 42 games and had a save percentage of 91%.

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With three players set to make their NHL debut tonight, Murray said handling the intensity will be the biggest key. The Kings and Sharks played an exhibition game Sunday, but Murray reminded Drew Doughty, Oscar Moller and Wayne Simmonds that the stakes will be much higher tonight.

"There's going to be a lot of pressure," he said. "They are a very aggressive forecheck team and they come at you with a lot of speed, a lot of pressure."

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The front-line combinations for tonight, confirmed by Murray, will be:

Dustin Brown

Anze Kopitar

Matt Moulson

Alexander Frolov

Jarret Stoll

Oscar Moller

Wayne Simmonds

Michal Handzus

Kyle Calder

Raitis Ivanans

Derek Armstrong

Brad Richardson

Brian Boyle is also expected to see fourth-line duty.

dan.arritt@latimes.com