Game 1 of the new-look LA Kings brought a familiar result on Wednesday night — a loss on home ice.
Now, just 24 hours later, coach Jim Hiller’s squad will get a chance at a redo of sorts. And new star winger Artemi Panarin seems to have the right attitude:
His debut in Los Angeles was a success from a performance perspective. The Russian superstar had two assists and was by far the most dangerous Kings forward on the ice. Unfortunately, it was spoiled by the bigger picture. With an overall disappointing effort by the Kings, they saw the Golden Knights skate away with a critical two points.
Things won’t get any easier tonight because Connor McDavid and the Oilers are in town for another divisional showdown. Both teams should come into the game looking to shake off what happened last night, as Edmonton blew a 4-1 lead in Anaheim and ended up losing to the Ducks. Thus, neither side will have much time to lick their wounds. It’s time to get back to work right away.
Even so, another loss for the Kings tonight would put them in an even tougher spot in the standings. Coaches don’t like to say ‘must-win’ in the middle of the season. Yet this is a critical matchup as far as the division race goes.
Lineup-wise, Darcy Kuemper is expected to get the nod in net. He’ll be returning to action after bringing home a silver medal for Team Canada. Despite not seeing any game action over the past three weeks, the Kings will need Kuemper to show up big and help them secure two points.
Last night, when asked about any other potential changes to his reconfigured lineup, Hiller essentially preached the balance of urgency and patience. LA’s bench boss specifically liked what the Panarin line brought last night. He also called out a few individual mistakes, without mentioning any players by name.
This is only speculation, but Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield may have been two players he was referring to. If so, Foegele could potentially sit tonight — which would most likely result in Armia getting bumped to LW3 and Taylor Ward drawing in.
Byfield likely isn’t going anywhere. It’s too soon to try him at 3C. At this point, we’d assume Hiller wants to give Byfield a longer leash at LW playing alongside a familiar center in Anze Kopitar. This is where Kevin Fiala’s absence is also felt. He has been the most consistent player to get results out of Byfield of late.
Defensively speaking, we’ve left the alignment below as it was deployed last night. Hiller didn’t go back to Anderson-Doughty as a unit against Vegas. We’re thinking that might be on the table for tonight. Hiller will speak to the media about an hour before the game and may give further insight into this option.
Statistically Speaking
— Forward Adrian Kempe has points in each of his last four regular-season games against the Oilers at Crypto.com Arena, and five points in his last three regular-season games versus Edmonton overall.
— In notching a pair of helpers in his debut last night, Panarin became the fourth active skater to record a point in their inaugural game with four different franchises (CHI, CBJ, NYR & LAK), per NHL PR.
— Mikey Anderson skated in his 400th career NHL game last night against the Golden Knights. Over his 400 career outings, Anderson has accumulated 19 goals and 91 points with a cumulative +73 rating, the third-highest plus/minus rating among skaters selected in the 2017 NHL Draft behind Cale Makar (plus-163) and Jason Robertson (plus-115).
— With his helper last night, captain Anze Kopitar sits seven points shy of surpassing Marcel Dionne for the most points in LA Kings history.
— Today is Alex Turcotte’s 25th birthday.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Oilers
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Panarin – Laferriere – Kempe
Byfield – Kopitar – Moore
Foegele – Turcotte – Kuzmenko
Armia – Helenius – Perry
Dumoulin – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci
Kuemper (starter)
Forsberg
Likely scratches: (F) Malott, Ward and (D) Moverare
How to Watch the Game
Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm Pacific Time and will be televised nationally 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
Edmonton is coming off a 6-5 loss to Anaheim on Wednesday. Here’s how they lined up in that matchup:
Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Hyman
Savoie – Draisaitl – Roslovic
Podkolzin – Henrique – Frederic
Mangiapane – Lazar – Janmark
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Walman
Stastney – Emberson
Jarry
On This Day in Kings History
Read more about that day in the article below.
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