Prior to two nights ago, many were hitting the panic button regarding a rather sluggish offense from coach Jim Hiller’s squad. After all, the Kings had struggled mightily over their previous ten games to find the back of the net with any real consistency. Then, they put up six goals against Chicago on Saturday night, looking more like an offensive juggernaut. So, what happened?
Sometimes that’s just hockey. After two weeks of pucks going a tad wide or hitting the crossbar, they found their way in on Saturday. Even more so, three goals came from defensemen. What’s going on? After all, these were the same skaters playing the same system as they had for weeks prior. Maybe it was more than simply ‘puck luck,’ and maybe it was a team that finally got some confidence back with the puck.
From Andrei Kuzmenko scoring a power-play goal to Brandt Clarke earning two tallies of his own, Saturday night was likely just what the doctor ordered for this year’s club.
Now the Kings are back on the road to take on the Utah Mammoth for the first time this season. Thus far in 2025-26, LA has found much success on the road than in the normally friendly confines of Crypto.com Arena. In fact, their 9-2-4 road record trails only Colorado and Dallas for tops in the Western Conference.
Coming off their most impressive win of the season just 48 hours ago, we’re not expecting any major changes to tonight’s lineup.
Statistically Speaking
— The Kings are 3-0-0 all-time against Utah since the franchise joined the League in 2024-25, while outscoring the Mammoth 12-7 over the span.
— Today is Drew Doughty’s birthday. He shares his special day with an original Kings skater. Ted Irvine even assisted on the LA’s first-ever NHL goal — and he’s also Chris Jericho’s father:
— With his 23-save performance on Saturday against Chicago, Goaltender Darcy Kuemper earned his 38th career shutout and 10th as a member of the Kings. As a result, Kuemper tied Stephane Fiset and Kelly Hrudey for the fifth-most shutouts in franchise history.
— Brandt Clarke’s pair of goals on Saturday night marked his first career multi-goal game to become the 10th different blueliner in LA Kings history to record a multi-goal outing before turning 23 years of age. Clarke’s performance on Saturday also made him the 11th different defenseman in team history to record 10 or more multi-point outings at age 22 or younger.
What You May Have Missed
The Reign had a big weekend at home, sweeping their back-to-back set vs. the visiting Calgary Wranglers:
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Mammoth
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
Utah is coming off a 2-0 loss to Calgary on Saturday. Here’s how they lined up in that matchup:
Keller – Schmaltz – Peterka
But – Hayton – Guenther
Crouse – McBain – Carcone
O’Brien – Stenlund – Yamamoto
Sergachev – Marino
Schmidt – Durzi
Cole – Lamoureux
Vanecek
On This Day in Kings History
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