Things are possibly starting to settle back to normal for Kings coach Jim Hiller, and it couldn’t come at a better time considering his club has lost three of their last four contests. With only two points earned over those four outings, this would be LA’s worst stretch of the season.
Help is potentially on the way, though. Tanner Jeannot is expected to return to the lineup for tonight’s game against Detroit. He’s missed three straight starts after being suspended for this hit on Vancouver’s Brock Boeser. While he hasn’t contributed much offense thus far, Jeannot’s physical presence was dearly missed this past week during a road trip that saw the Kings fail to impress at either end of the ice.
Additionally, Alex Turcotte has been activated off of injured reserve and will draw in against the Red Wings.
While serving his suspension, Jeannot was already included among the Kings 23-man roster. However, to make room for Turcotte rejoining the club, somebody needed to go to AHL Ontario. GM Rob Blake has opted to send rookie Andre Lee back to the Reign… for now. Although he isn’t expected to play for coach Marco Sturm tonight in Colorado, this should give Lee an opportunity to get more playing time and return to a more normal hockey rhythm, where he has the puck on his stick more often than he has lately. Conversely, this also means fellow rookie Sammy Helenius will stay up with the Kings and serve as the team’s 4C.
Somewhat lost in all those headlines is the fact Akil Thomas was likely just squeezed out of a regular spot with the Kings. He’s still on the roster, yet will most likely be a healthy scratch tonight.
As noted quite often over the past few weeks, the defensive alignment projection needs to come with asterisk. Hiller has shown the propensity to mix things up. He has a standard group of five guys used each game, but then when he rotates in a sixth blueliner — and tonight that will be Jacob Moverare — it sometimes shuffles the other rearguards around slightly.
In goal, especially without any back-to-back games until after Thanksgiving, we’re expecting David Rittich to get the starts each night. Rookie Erik Portillo, up with the Kings on his first real NHL recall, will be on standby as the backup should Hiller opt for a different look at any point. Although the 6-foot-6 netminder is considered the Kings goalie of the future, now it certainly not the timeline envisioned for the 24-year-old Swede. He is still expected to get the bulk of his work with Ontario this season, where he’s hasn’t quite rammed back up to how he looked last season, currently holding a meager .891 save percentage.
As for what’s directly in front of them, hosting Detroit begins a run where the Kings can finally enjoy some home ice action, with seven of their next nine contests set to be played at Crypto.com Arena. While there isn’t much of a point in dwelling on the two most recent losses at this point — the team simply didn’t play well in either Calgary or Colorado, especially offensively — Hiller should be looking to refocus his group on the task at hand. It’s time to bank some points in the standings as they see the Red Wings, Buffalo, and Seattle this over the next week.
Statistically Speaking
— The Kings bring a 54-35-14-2 record against the Red Wings at home all-time.
— In 45 games in his career against Detroit, Anze Kopitar has 50 points including 19 goals
— LA has a record of 4-1-1 on home ice this season.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Red Wings
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Turcotte – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Fiala
Foegele – Byfield – Laferriere
Jeannot – Helenius – Lewis
Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Moverare – Spence
Rittich (starter)
Portillo
Likely scratches: (F) Thomas (D) Burroughs, Englund
Injured Reserve: Jones, Kuemper
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 5:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised locally by Fan Duel Sports. 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 Trevor Lewis 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
MORE LA KINGS NEWS:
Follow @mayorNHL
Continue reading...
