If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Winning an NHL hockey game may not be that easy, yet Saturday night’s effort by the Kings must be much, much better than it was on Thursday. Paraphrasing what LA’s bench boss said after the team’s loss to Chicago that night, his players went into business for themselves for the first 40 minutes of that contest.
“The first period was terrible, and that might be polite,” said Hiller. “We had a team of players tonight that though they were going to play the game their way, how they wanted to play it. … There always looks like there could be a more exciting and sexy way to do it. I think you saw players try to play that game through at least most of the first 40 minutes, and I think you saw a pretty clear result in that style of hockey, for our team in particular.”
No matter how you slice it, the Kings are starving for offense. It’s been tough sledding for Hiller’s group when it comes to putting the puck in the net over the last ten games or so. Despite any frustration being felt by the coaching staff, players, and fans, the team will give it another go because that’s what the schedule calls for. In this case, it’s a rare immediate rematch against the same team they just faced. Will the results be any different in a second consecutive game vs. the Blackhawks?
At least the line combinations will likely look a tad different — compared to how last game started. Hiller moved Alex Laferriere up with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe in the third period of Thursday’s game. There was some other shuffling around, including bumping Phil Danault up off the fourth line to his more usual spot with Warren Foegele.
The use of Danault was particularly interesting. After calling him out in the postgame presser on Tuesday, Hiller praised how Danault responded against the Hawks. “I thought he had his best game of the year tonight, I really did; all over the ice, he really played well. Credit to him,” said LA’s coach.
Seeing the 32-year-old center play 17:35 — the most minutes he’s seen in a non-overtime game in more than month — raised a few eyebrows. Was that praise worthy of a performance that began on the fourth line or was Hiller trying to pump his tires a bit? There have quietly been trade rumors surrounding Danault for more than a year now, and given the lack of centers available in a seller’s market this season, could this mean something? Or is all just speculation and people attempting to connect dots?
Looking ahead, Hiller’s recent past may help. When he tries different looks at the end of one game, he often starts the following game with that alignment and that’s what we’re expecting to happen heading into puck drop tonight.
The tide has to turn at some point. For example, let’s use the last minute of Thursday’s contest. Within a span of 30 seconds, the Kings had what seemed like three grade-A chances at an open net. They failed to bury one, and Chicago scored with just five seconds remaining in the period, giving them a two-goal lead at the time. Unfortunately, it was too much for LA to overcome, and they dropped another game on home ice.
Tonight gives the group a shot at redemption and a chance to get some confidence and swagger back. It doesn’t matter how; they just need to find a way to win a game at home and then go from there.
Putting aside the projected lines below, Hiller has shown he’s not afraid to mix things up once he doesn’t like what he sees. Look for that trend to continue until something starts to click for this team.
Statistically Speaking
— According to Advanced Hockey Stats, the Kings have a 65% chance of winning tonight. When looking at projected goals for the game, LA is at 3.4 and Chicago is at 2.5.
What You May Have Missed
There are a bunch of former Kings coming back to play a game at Crypto.com Arena in just a few weeks — including Jeff Carter, Jarret Stoll, and Matt Greene:
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Blackhawks
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Laferriere – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Armia
Moore – Danault – Foegele
Kuzmenko Turcotte – Perry
Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci
Kuemper
Forsberg
Likely scratches: (F) Helenius, Malott and (D) Moverare
How to Watch the Game
Puck drop is set for 6:00 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 2-1 over LA on Thursday. Here’s how they lined up in that matchup:
Greene — Bedard — Burakovsky
Moore — Nazar — Bertuzzi
Teravainen — Dickinson — Mikheyev
Donato – Dach
Vlasic — Crevier
Kaiser — Levshunov
Grzelcyk — Murphy
Rinzel
Knight
On This Day in Kings History
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