For all the ups and downs of the Kings extended early season road trip, they sit in a pretty good position heading into the finale against Vegas on Tuesday night. Holding a 3-1-2 record, those eight points banked already checks the ‘survive the roadie’ box on their to-do list. Now, they have an opportunity to do something far more important — beat a Golden Knights team that they’ll likely be battling for playoff positioning come April.
With Edmonton expected to win the Pacific Division, and even with a little regression from Vancouver’s 109-point campaign last year, the Canucks are still projected by most people to finish in second place. This, theoretically, leaves the Kings and Golden Knights fighting for third place. And if LA has any thoughts of avoiding the Oilers for a fourth straight season, finishing third would potentially be a best-case scenario. Thus, beating Vegas should be considered paramount, even if it’s only October. This is more than just a proverbial four-point division game.
Standing in the way of LA earning a possible ten out of fourteen points is Jack Eichel and the Golden Knights, who have gotten off to a 3-2-1 start themselves.
Coming into the season, there was a lot of talk on Kings Of The Podcast about coach Jim Hiller almost needing to manage through three sub-seasons this year. Part one would be the ‘without Drew Doughty’ era, followed by the middle part of the season — this would be where the newer (and younger) players have settled into their roles, along with the expected return of Doughty. Then, the final segment of the season would be the ‘post Trade Deadline’ era, where the team will assumingly add a player or two. That latter stage is also the period where the Kings are hopefully getting ready for the playoffs. That’s a far way off, though. The focus needs to be on this first segment, where everybody is still trying to adjust to all the off-season changes.
It’s been a rather small sample size thus far. However, one thing has been rather noticeable, Hiller’s squad looks like a different team with vs. without Joel Edmundson in the lineup — especially on the PK. Throwing out the Ottawa game (because how can you not?), the Kings PK has been perfect when Edmundson plays. They were 5-for-5 vs. Buffalo, 5-for-5 vs. Boston, and 3-for-3 vs. Anaheim. His size and reach have been a factor.
Overall, Hiller’s group may have shown more the type of game they want to play this season over the past two contests. For example, take Sunday night in Anaheim. It was a dominating and suffocating win for LA. They allowed the Ducks just 15 shots on goal and seemed to mainly play in the offensive zone over the final 40 minutes (after using the opening frame to get their legs under them).
It’s also worth putting some praise on LA’s third line of Warren Foegele, Alex Turcotte, and Alex Laferriere. Hiller may even go so far as to say they’ve combined to form his most effective line. They look dangerous every shift and have a knack for playing in the offensive zone non-stop. The play of Turcotte has been downright outstanding. So much so, he’s allowed Hiller to reunite Quinton Byfield with Anze Kopitar temporarily to jump start the team’s offensive attack. While Byfield’s time at center will come; for now, the current lineup is giving LA the best chance to win on a nightly basis.
Even so, the Golden Knights are a much deeper and dangerous team than the Canadiens or Ducks, which makes tonight a massive test for LA before their home opener at Crypto Arena on Thursday.
Is It Thomas’ Time?
Hiller hasn’t said one way or the other, yet we’d lean toward Akil Thomas not playing tonight. The better matchups were likely against Montreal (especially with it being a back-to-back situation) and Anaheim. Coming off consecutive 4-1 victories, combined with Vegas being a big, physical team — especially on defense — we’ll speculate that tonight likely isn’t the night for Thomas’ season debut.
ICYMI – Hiller had this to say when asked about the 24-year-old forward waiting in the wings:
Should he opt to wait one more game to put Thomas in, it could make for an interesting Thursday:
Statistically Speaking
— It’s been a split for LA in their head-to-head matchups in Vegas. The Kings come into play tonight with an 8-8-0 record all-time in Sin City.
— Turcotte carries a modest four-game point streak (1G, 3A) into his first career regular season matchup against the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
— Brandt Clarke recorded six shots on goal in Anaheim on Sunday, after averaging less than one SOG over the previous five games. He continues to look for his first goal of the season.
— Forward Alex Laferriere skates into T-Mobile Arena with four goals and five points (4G, 1A) in six games this season, including his second consecutive game-winning goal on Sunday evening.
— Kopitar has an impressive 36 points (14G, 22A) in just 32 career games against Vegas. Most recently, LA’s captain has four points in his last two games against the Golden Knights, including notching his 400th career goal on Nov. 8, 2023 as part of his multi-point effort. In doing so, Kopitar became the fourth player in Kings history to reach the 400-goal mark, joining Luc Robitaille (557), Marcel Dionne (550) and Dave Taylor (431).
— The Kings will have to be wary of Jack Eichel tonight. In his 17 career games vs. the Kings, Eichel has amassed 16 points.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Ducks
The Kings did not hold a morning skate today. If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Laferriere – Danault – Moore
Fiala – Turcotte – Foegele
Lee – Lewis – Jeannot
Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Englund – Spence
Rittich (starter)
Copley
Likely scratches: (F) Thomas (D) Burroughs, Jones
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 8:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised locally by ESPN. Additionally, a Kings radio feed is available on the ESPN LA app (which is the new home for Kings radio this season, they’ve moved off of the iHeart platform).
More on the ongoing TV situation here.
Across the Ice
Vegas is coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to Florida on Saturday. Here is how they lined up for that contest:
Barbashev – Eichel – Stone
Pearson – Hertl – Dorofeyev
Brisson – Schwindt – Holtz
Howden – Roy – Kolesar
Theodore – Pietrangelo
Hanifin – Hague
McNabb – Whitecloud
Samsonov
On This Day in Kings History
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