Where do the storylines even begin heading into Game 6 for Jim Hiller and his LA Kings?
Obviously, there’s the team’s record as one key point. It’s been a disappointing start to the season thus far, with Los Angeles collecting just one win — in a shootout — through five games.
Although this is still far too early to think about hitting a panic button, so to speak, their latest loss on Thursday was not a performance to calm the waters. While things started well enough, with an early 2-0 lead, it ended in another defeat on home ice. Those words were hardly written at all last year.
In an interesting twist of narratives, the Kings have been dominated by the Penguins in recent matchups (including sweeping the series last season and grabbing another win in LA this week), but they’ve taken three consecutive meetings with Carolina, dating back to Jan. 15, 2024. Perhaps even more impressive, LA has scored four goals or more in the past five head-to-head matchups with the Hurricanes.
Even so, that doesn’t suggest tonight will be an easy task for Hiller and the Kings. They’re welcoming one of the Eastern Conference’s better teams to town; and Carolina has gotten off to a perfect 4-0-0 start. Can the Kings match that intensity and hand the Hurricanes their first loss of the young season?
If so, they’ll have to do it with a ‘new look’ lineup. As noted the other night, captain Anze Kopitar is going to miss a few games due to his lower-body injury. It’s a massive loss for a team already in a funk. Losing a leader and one of their top scorers is never a good thing, yet Hiller and the coaches appear to be looking at the situation as an opportunity to test a few things out — and why not, the typical alignment hasn’t really worked well through five games.
There it was, late in Thursday’s game, Alex Laferriere made another appearance at center. It’s an idea Hiller has been toying with for over a year (as explained in the article linked below). The 23-year-old forward is expected to start out centering that line tonight. If it’s the ‘top line’ is only something that can truly be discussed after the game. We’ll have to see how Hiller distributes the minutes, as that line wasn’t even getting the most minutes when Kopitar was there over the past few weeks.
Quinton Byfield’s line has scored some pretty goals this season, including one the other night against Pittsburgh. Later in the evening, Hiller stated he thought that was Warren Foegele’s “best game of the year, by quite a margin.”
He went on to say, “And I thought it was Laf’s best game of the year, by quite a margin. Those are two really important players for us. They had great seasons last year [and] were really off to slow starts. So, that’s really encouraging.”
Anton Forsberg is expected back in net, with Darcy Kuemper still dealing with a lower-body injury. From what we’re quietly hearing, it seems like LA’s No. 1 goalie may be back pretty soon. Maybe even as early as Tuesday in St. Louis or Thursday in Dallas. For his part, Forsberg has to be better than he’s shown thus far. Over his first two tries with the Kings, the newly signed goalie has given up three preventable goals.
Finally, in some rather shocking news, Corey Perry is miraculously nearing a return from knee surgery that he underwent just five weeks ago. He has been practicing with the team, and while not quite ready to go, the upcoming road trip might provide Perry the opportunity to make his season debut for Los Angeles.
Statistically Speaking
— Tonight will be Silver Saturday, marking the second time LA wears their new third jersey.
— The Kings roster features a trio of former Hurricanes. In addition to Foegele (200 GP) and Forsberg (3 GP), defenseman Joel Edmundson (68 GP) also suited up with Carolina prior to joining the Kings.
— Speaking of the rugged defender, according to NHL Edge stat data, Edmundson has recorded the league’s third hardest shot of the season thus far. His 99.09 mph blast has only been topped by New Jersey’s Zach MacEwen and Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman.
— Trevor Moore has an active four-game goal streak against the Hurricanes, dating back to Oct. 14, 2023. He has scored five times in that span and can become just the third skater in Kings history to record a five-game goal streak against the Hurricanes franchise should he find the back of the net tonight.
— Phillip Danault has six points (2G, 4A) in his last three games against Carolina, dating back to Jan. 15, 2024.
What You May Have Missed
— Predicting a Kempe Contract Extension, How it Likely Plays Out with Kings LINK
— Kings Of The Podcast Ep. 248: Rob Blake Returns, Opens Up About His Past and Future LINK
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Hurricanes
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Kuzmenko – Laferriere – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Armia
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Malott – Helenius – Turcotte
Dumoulin – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci
Forsberg
Copley
Likely scratches: (F) Kopitar, (D) Moverare and (G) Kuemper
Injured Reserve: Burroughs (eligible to come off when ready)
Injured: Perry (initially reported as 6-8 weeks, , and he’s already back skating)
Key Game Info
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.
Want to win autographed jerseys and helmets from Kopitar or Wayne Gretzky? Head over to the Royal Army booth outside section 303 on the upper concourse. They’re doing a special raffle tonight, so stop by and check it all out. Be sure to tell them Mayor’s Manor sent you too!
Across the Ice
Carolina is coming off a 4-1 victory over Anaheim on Thursday. Here is how they lined up in that matchup:
Ehlers – Aho – Jarvis
Hall – Stankoven – Blake
Carrier – Staal – Martinook
Svechnikov – Jankowski – Robinson
Miller – Walker
Nikishin – Gostisbehere
Reilly – Chatfield
Anderson
On This Day in Kings History
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