With DJ Smith’s inaugural game as interim coach now in the rearview mirror, the Kings are moving ahead and on the hunt for points.
In his initial press conference when taking over on Sunday, Smith promised a Kings team with more intensity and passion, starting with Monday’s game vs. the Avalanche. For the most part, the Kings delivered. They played hard, fast, and with more energy than they had shown for much of the past 10-15 games. Unfortunately, they were playing against this year’s Stanley Cup favorites. That brought an all too familiar result: a loss on home ice.
Tonight, the Islanders are in town, as the homestand continues. Smith is likely hoping history is on his side for this one, as the Kings have won each of their last five games against the Islanders at Crypto.com Arena, dating back to Nov. 27, 2019.
With time running out on the Kings’ regular season, their spot in the standings becomes more and more crucial. Every game is essentially a must-win situation from here on out. Furthermore, this is the final game before Friday’s Trade Deadline. In a seller’s market, one has to wonder if GM Ken Holland has any tricks up his sleeve.
From a roster standpoint, things continue to be in a constant state of flux. The number of injuries and illnesses is somewhat staggering. Thankfully for Smith, both Drew Doughty and Trevor Moore are expected to return to the lineup after missing a few games. On the flip side, Quinton Byfield is potentially headed to IR, where he’d join a trio of teammates.
One could argue that injuries are currently hurting the Kings playoff hopes. Yet it’s also important to remember how healthy the club was over their first 50 games this season. Simply put, they didn’t take advantage of health when they had it and now may be paying the price.
Statistically Speaking
— Captain Anze Kopitar will skate in his 1,500th career game tonight. In doing so, he will become just the 25th different player in NHL history to reach such a mark, and the third active player to do so behind Brent Burns (1,557 GP) and Alex Ovechkin (1,554 GP).
— With his marker on Monday against Colorado, rookie Angus Booth became just the fourth defenseman, and 24th skater overall, in LA Kings history to score their first career goal in their NHL debut.
— Kenny Connors and Jared Wright joined Booth in making their first appearance in the NHL on Monday, marking the 11th occasion in Kings history in which three players made their debut for the team in the same game. Some of the previous occurrences came in 1992 (Zhitnik, Lang, Hiller) and 2003 (Brown, Gleason and Pirnes). It happened again during the 2017-18 season (Iafallo, Fantenberg and MacDermid) with a bit of a twist: all three of those players were undrafted.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Islanders
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Panarin – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Turcotte – Laferriere
Foegele – Connors – Perry
Malott – Helenius – Ward
Edmundson – Clarke
Doughty – Dumoulin
Anderson – Ceci
Forsberg (starter)
Kuemper
Likely scratches: (F) Byfield, and (D) Moverare
Injured Reserve: Armia, Fiala, Kuzmenko
How to Watch the Game
Puck drop is set for 6:30 pm Pacific Time and will be televised by ESPN. Additionally, a Kings radio feed is available on the ESPN LA app.
With the television landscape changing at a rapid pace, we have all the latest news regarding some current FanDuel issues here — including how some teams cancelling contracts impacts LA’s plans for the balance of their 2025-26 season.
Across the Ice
New York is coming off a 5-1 loss to Anaheim on Wednesday. Here’s how they lined up in that matchup:
Palat – Horvat – Barzal
Drouin – Ritchie – Heineman
Lee – Pageau – Holmstrom
MacLean – Cizikas – Gatcomb
Schaefer – Mayfield
Pelech – DeAngelo
Soucy – Boqvist
NOTE: Sorokin will start vs. the Kings
On This Day in Kings History
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