Coming off one of the more confusing and embarrassing losses in recent memory, the Kings will quickly return home on Wednesday night to welcome the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights to Crypto.com Arena.
Before we completely turn the page to tonight’s matchup, though, it’s important to put a proper bow on the San Jose game. Simply put, there is no way around the fact that a loss to the Sharks is unacceptable at this point for coach Jim Hiller’s group. San Jose is a team thought to be below them when ranking the strength of all 32 NHL clubs; thus, LA needed to put forth a much better effort than was evident. If Hiller was hesitant to analyze his team after wins, perhaps this was just the type of loss that will force some pretty serious discussions among the group.
Cutting right to what will be staring his group squarely in the eyes a few hours from now, this is more than a rematch of last week’s game played in Sin City. It should serve as a re-set on multiple fronts.
For starters, we’ll assume forward Kevin Fiala will draw back in after sitting out Tuesday night’s pre-Halloween horror show in San Jose. There are no tricks here, though. LA bench boss Jim Hiller appears to have his work cut out for him, as he looks to get the team’s most creative offensive player pointed in the right direction. Now in his third year with the club, Fiala is coming off back-to-back 70-point seasons, while continuing to be shuffled around the lineup in search of his perfect linemates.
Whatever happened before the opening faceoff last night needs to quickly be forgotten about because the Kings need to be hyper focused come puck drop tonight. It was missing last time out and that set them on the heels right from the hop.
Prior to Tuesday night’s performance vs. the Sharks, it was a game at T-Mobile Arena against the Golden Knights last week that perhaps served as the most troubling of the season. LA looked out of sorts in that matchup, dropping that one by a final score of 6-1. However, it was really over pretty early, as the team trailed 3-0 after 20 minutes. Warren Foegele’s goal in the middle frame was the lone highlight in an otherwise miserable night.
Against San Jose, Akil Thomas took advantage of his chance to suit up and came through with a goal in his season debut. He now has four goals in just eight career NHL games. Alex Laferriere also found the back of the net up north, his team-leading fifth goal of the season. That also gives him eight points through 10 games — a fairly impressive start from one of the Kings youngsters.
After going with David Rittich in net last night, Darcy Kuemper is expected to be tonight’s starting goaltender. In 17 career games played against Vegas, he’s posted a 2.31 goals-against-average (GAA)
and a .930 save percentage (SV%). No other goaltender has posted a higher SV% or a lower GAA against the Golden Knights franchise (min. 10 GP).
Statistically Speaking
— Vegas is averaging 4.70 goals per game, tops in the NHL. They’re also only allowing 2.80 goals against, which sits sixth in the league.
— If there is a weakness among the Golden Knights at the moment, it’s likely their penalty kill. Having been scored on in 5 of their 22 shorthanded situations, Vegas holds a 77.3% PK mark; ranked 19th. Of course, to expose this aspect, LA will need to look much better than their 0-for-6 power play did last night.
— LA has scored three goals or more in each of their past five home games against Vegas, dating back to Oct. 14, 2021.
— No skater has recorded more goals (14) or points (36) against the Golden Knights than Anze Kopitar.
— LA has won both of their 2024-25 home games, which builds upon the strong finish they had to last year’s schedule, where the team won nine of their last 10 home games, including eight consecutive victories at Crypto.com Arena from March 11 through April 13 (marking the team’s longest home winning streak since the 2010-11 campaign).
— 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 10 games, and the player featured has scored four times, for a 40% conversion rate. A goal from Adrian Kempe tonight would push it up to 45%.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Golden Knights
If there are any key changes during morning skate or pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Moore
Foegele – Turcotte – Laferriere
Lee – Thomas – Jeannot *
Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Jones – Spence
Kuemper (starter)
Rittich
Likely scratches: (F) Lewis (D) Burroughs, Englund
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised by TNT. 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 Moore 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
Vegas is coming off a 5-0 win over Calgary on Monday. Here’s how they lined up for that contest:
Barbashev – Eichel – Stone
Howden – Hertl – Dorofeyev
Pearson – Karlsson – Holtz
Schwindt – Roy – Kolesar
Hanifin – Pietrangelo
McNabb – Korczak
Theodore – Whitecloud
Hill
On This Day in Kings History
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