Saturday night is sure to be a special one at Crypto.com Arena. There is no shortage of storylines as the Kings prepare to welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets to town.
For starters, LA is coming off a loss to Vancouver on Thursday night, in a game that set off a series of dominoes. In brief, forward Tanner Jeannot was suspended for a hit on Brock Boeser. This triggered the Kings to place Alex Turcotte on injured reserve in order to create a roster spot. Otherwise, they would have only had 11 healthy forwards tonight. More on the mechanics of all that can be found here.
Also included in that article was news that defenseman Mikey Anderson appears good to go after a rather scary situation vs. the Canucks. Midway through the game, he was hit in the head with a puck shot from the blueline. There was blood on the ice, he missed the third period; it just wasn’t a good situation. Hockey players being hockey players resulted in one of the team’s top rearguards being ready to play just 48 hours later.
Now, with the aforementioned roster spot created, LA has recalled Sammy Helenius from AHL Ontario. We took a deeper look into his ascension earlier today in the following article:
The 6-foot-6 forward is expected to be reunited with Andre Lee on the fourth line. It was a duo that impressed last season with the Reign, all the way up through their final playoff game. Helenius was also given a long look during Kings training camp and the club’s brass — including coach Jim Hiller — complimented him at nearly every turn.
Born in Texas, while his father Sami was playing for the Dallas Stars, the younger Helenius actually has dual citizenship and has played for Finland internationally. Kings officials have been working feverishly to get his parents here for his NHL debut tonight. As of now, it looks like things will work out in time, it’s just a tight scramble.
And what a wild past few days it’s been for the younger Helenius. On Thursday night, he was at Cryto.com Arena watching the Kings play from a seat in the stands. Then, the hit on Boser took place at center ice, leading to a change in his hockey journey. The 21-year-old center now stands on the doorstep of an important career milestone, his first NHL game.
Helenius has been impressive in the AHL for some time and will now have an opportunity early in the season to send a message to management that he belongs with the big club.
Remembering Johnny Hockey: From one extreme emotion to another, tonight will also stir memories of Johnny Gaudreau. There are several Kings players who will get the opportunity to pay their respects as former teammates of Johnny Hockey. Trevor Lewis, David Rittich, and Vladislav Gavrikov all played alongside Gaudreau either in Calgary or Columbus over the past few years. Zach Dooley had more on this in a touching article here.
Statistically Speaking
— Under Jim Hiller, the Kings are 14-4-1 in games following a loss.
— LA is 5-0-1 in their last six meetings vs. Columbus.
— Historically, the Kings have been dominant at home against the Blue Jackets, coming into play today with a 23-10-1-0 record all time.
— Kevin Fiala has been red hot against the Blue Jackets dating back to 2022, recording points in eight straight contests.
— Finally, we have a fun stat to track this season. Our MM graphics team had an almost uncanny ability to randomly select a player for our daily lineup article last year, and then said player would seem to score a goal. Thus far in 2024-25, the Kings have played 15 games, and the player featured has scored seven times, for a 47% conversion rate. A goal from Alex Laferriere today would push it back up to 50%.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Blue Jackets
Morning skate was optional. If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Fiala – Kopitar – Kempe
Thomas – Danault – Moore
Foegele – Byfield – Laferriere
Lee – Helenius – Lewis
Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Englund – Spence
Rittich (starter)
Kuemper
Likely scratches: (F) Jeannot, Turcotte IR (D) Burroughs, Jones
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 6:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised locally by KCAL. Additionally, a Kings radio feed is available on the ESPN LA app (which is the new home for Kings radio this season, they’ve moved off of the iHeart platform).
More on the ongoing TV situation here.
For those live in attendance, the LA Kings Booster Club will offer their popular ‘Puck for a Buck’ contest — featuring Brandt Clarke for this game. Just $1 could win you an autographed puck from an NHL star. Visit their table outside sections 317-318 on the upper concourse for more information.
Across the Ice
Columbus is coming off a 2-1 loss to San Jose on Tuesday. Here’s how they lined up for that contest:
Chinakhov – Monahan – Marchenko
Sillinger – Fantilli – Pyyhtia
Voronkov – Danforth – Olivier
van Riemsdyk – Kuraly – Labanc
Werenski – Provorov
Christiansen – Severson
Johnson – Jiricek
Merzlikins
On This Day in Kings History
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