On the second half of a back-to-back in Chicago later this afternoon, Kings coach Jim Hiller will find himself at important milestone. It will be Game 10 of LA’s 2025-26 campaign. Typically, that’s a good time for GMs to briefly pause and take stock of what they have.
In this case, it might be a mixed bag.
On one hand the Kings have been collecting points. Most observers would have tabbed the team’s current five-game road trip a success if they returned to LA late next week with five or more points. They’ve already hit that total, following wins in St. Louis and Dallas, along with one additional point from a shootout loss in Nashville yesterday. With two more games to go — including Sunday vs. the Blackhawks and Tuesday vs. the Sharks — Hiller’s group could really make a statement.
Then again, there are a few things that should still concern Kings management. LA can’t seem to hold a lead, and they can’t seem to stay out of the penalty box. To make matters worse, they’re struggling at the faceoff dot — something that could also be contributing to the first two problems.
Fortunately, the team is now healthy. Corey Perry rejoined the team after missing more than month after suffering a knee injury just before training camp opened. He’s also scored in both of the past two games. Anze Kopitar and Darcy Kuemper have also recently returned from injuries of their own, so Hiller has a full deck to play with.
This will be Kopitar’s last trip to the United Center. Like yesterday in Nashville, expect some sort of tribute to his Hall of Fame career. Here’s a great article looking at it from the other side:
Statistically Speaking
— Today’s goaltending matchup is likely to feature a pair of backups.
— LA’s 10th ranked power play (24%) will be taking on a Chicago penalty kill ranked 12th in the league, having killed more than 83% of the situations when they’ve been a man down.
— This could potentially be an opportunity for the Kings dismal PK (ranked 26 out of 32 NHL teams) to get healthy. They’ll face a Blackhawks power play that has only converted at 18.5% (23rd).
What You May Have Missed
— Predators’ Rob Scuderi Shares Memories of Time with Kopitar LINK
— NHL Radio Replay: Talking Kings Goaltending, Defensive Pairings, and Other Concerns LINK
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Blackhawks
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Armia
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Laferriere – Turcotte – Perry
Dumoulin – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci
Forsberg
Kuemper
Likely scratches: (F) Helenius, Malott and (D) Moverare
Injured Reserve: Burroughs
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 4:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised locally by FanDuel Sports. Additionally, a Kings radio feed is available on the ESPN LA app.
Get to know new Kings play-by-play voice John Kelly by checking out his interview here. He tells some interesting stories about joining the Kings broadcasts and what it was like calling games against them for most of his career.
Across the Ice
Chicago is coming off a 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Thursday. Here’s how they’re expected to line up for today’s matchup:
Mikheyev — Bedard — Burakovsky
Teräväinen — Nazar — Donato
Dach — Greene — Dickinson
Foligno — Slaggert
Vlasic — Rinzel
Kaiser — Levshunov
Grzelcyk — Murphy
Crevier
Söderblom
On This Day in Kings History
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