11/17 Preview – Optional Morning Skate, looking at Arvidsson In + movement with Kempe/Grundstrom

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (8-5-2) vs. Washington Capitals (9-2-5)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Wednesday, November 17 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: STAPLES Center – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The LA Kings are back in action this evening, as they host the Washington Capitals to begin a seven-game homestand at STAPLES Center.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Capitals have won each of the last four head-to-head matchups between the clubs, as they swept the season series in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. The last time these teams met, forward Blake Lizotte scored the lone goal for the Kings in a 3-1 defeat in Los Angeles. Washington is one of two teams that Phillip Danault has scored at a point-per-game pace against in his NHL career, with 10 points (1-9-10) from 10 games played.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings have had three days between games and are finally back in action here this evening on home ice. Morning skate today was optional, meaning we did not get full line rushes.

After practicing the last two days, the Kings have added Viktor Arvidsson back into the mix for this evening. Arvidsson cleared COVID Protocol and overcame an unrelated illness to rejoin the team during yesterday’s practice. Todd McLellan confirmed with us that Arvidsson will return to the lineup tonight, with Carl Grundstrom sitting out. More on tonight’s expected alignment, and roster decisions, below.

In net, we’ll project Jonathan Quick as the starter. Quick did not skate this morning, with the optional, and Cal Petersen was the lone netminder on the ice. All-time against the Capitals, Quick is 9-5-0, with a .907 save percentage and a 2.55 goals against average. If Quick does in fact start tonight, Washington will become the third solely Eastern Conference opponent that the 35-year-old netminder has made 15 career appearances against, joining Philadelphia and Boston.

Back to the skaters – Arvidsson took his usual spot alongside Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown yesterday, so we’ll project him there tonight. Here’s how the Kings lined up at yesterday’s practice, with McLellan confirming that Grundstrom and Lias Andersson are tonight’s scratches at forward.

Arvidsson – Kopitar – Brown
Iafallo – Danault – Athanasiou
Kempe – Kupari – Moore
Lemieux – Lizotte – Kaliyev

Edler – Roy
Bjornfot – Anderson
Maatta – Clague

Quick
Petersen

CAPITALS VITALS: Washington enters tonight’s game on the second half of a back-to-back, after they skated to a 3-2 overtime loss yesterday evening in Anaheim.

Vitek Vanacek got the start in last night’s game for the Capitals, so that points to Ilya Samsonov getting the nod this evening at STAPLES Center. Samsonov made 22 saves on 23 shots in the lone appearance of his NHL career against the Kings, on December 4, 2019. Washington skated to a 3-1 victory in Los Angeles on that night.

Via Samantha Pell of the Washington Post, here’s how the Capitals aligned last night in Anaheim.

Capitals lines in Anaheim:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Sheary-McMichael-Sprong
AJF-Pilon-Hathaway
Hagelin-Protas-Leason

Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR-Schultz

Vanecek

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) November 17, 2021

The Capitals played yesterday’s game in Anaheim without five forwards, including Lars Eller, who was placed in COVID Protocol earlier in the day. The Capitals also missed centers Niklas Backstrom and Nic Dowd, along with wingers TJ Oshie and Anthony Mantha. Mantha and Backstrom are out longer-term, while Oshie and Dowd are on the trip with the team.

The obvious name that is not missing is Alexander Ovechkin, who brings an obvious goal-scoring threat every time he steps on the ice. Ovechkin hasn’t slowed down at all early in this season, ranking second in the league goals. When asked about what he’s taken away more from Ovechkin, Todd McLellan talked about his ability to entertain, and to do so for so long.

“Entertain, that’s probably the best way of putting it, I just don’t like when he’s entertaining against us, but I watch the rest of the highlights on a nightly basis,” McLellan said of Ovechkin. “He’s that good and to have sustained it for as long as he has, credit goes to him and the people around him for maintaining his health. He doesn’t slow down, and I think that’s why this talk of him approaching Wayne and Wayne’s record is really starting to pick up steam. There’s no sign of this guy slowing down, so good for him and good for the league because what he does is entertaining.”

Notes –

Making Moves
Adding Viktor Arvidsson back into the mix is an obvious move. This is a proven top-six forward, who doesn’t suddenly become something else because of his experience with COVID. More on Arvidsson’s return below.

The harder decision becomes one, who do you move out of the top six to work Arvidsson back in and two, who comes out of a lineup that has collected a point or better in eight straight games, with seven of those contests being victories?

The answer to question one is Adrian Kempe, who skated on the third line yesterday, with question two being Carl Grundstrom, who will not play tonight against Washington.

Starting with the latter, it was no easy decision to take Grundstrom out of the lineup, and it speaks to the growth in organizational depth that the Kings have seen over the last six months. Grundstrom scored a really nice goal in Winnipeg and was a part of a third line that played perhaps its best game against the Jets.

“These are the toughest decisions we have because they’re not giving us the ammunition to pull them out, they’re giving us the ‘why the hell are you doing this’ ammunition,” McLellan said. “These are tough ones. I have to sit with Grunny, I have to explain to Lias why he’s not going in, but they’re also good team guys and they realize where we’re at. That doesn’t mean Grunny is done playing for the LA Kings, he’s been tremendous. You look at his camp, and it was a disappointing training camp, to where he is now and the impact he has on the team, he doesn’t deserve to come out, but somebody is. That’s how it is.”

The former involves moving Adrian Kempe off of Anze Kopitar’s line, and slotting him in alongside Rasmus Kupari and Trevor Moore, the spot that Grundstrom was previously occupying. Kempe is as versatile as they come, with the ability to play on really any line the Kings can throw out there. He’s played with Kopitar, Danault, Vilardi and Lizotte as his centerman and has contributed, in his own way, with each of them.

There is also the thought that Kempe, on paper, seems to be a pretty good fit with his new linemates. The result could be a line that can play with speed and pace, win pucks back and ideally create puck possession and offensive opportunities.

“I think that when you find a player that you can move around the lineup, it’s more of a trust factor in trying to find a spot for him that works with a line combination,” McLellan said of Kempe. “I look at the pace that Kupari can play with, that Mooresy can play with and I think that Kempe can help them in that area. It doesn’t affect his ability to play on penalty kill or power play and we’ve found ways to play four lines so it shouldn’t affect his minutes. I don’t sense or feel at all that he is looking at it as a demotion.”

Sweet, Sweet Viktory
We’ve talked about the others affected, and now let’s dive into Arvidsson himself.

While he’s missed now seven games with a positive COVID test, Arvidsson said this morning that he’s ready to go and ready to assume the role he had prior to entering protocol. He confirmed to us this morning that he did not have any symptoms during his time out, and has been skating since last week. With all that now behind him, Arvidsson feels his conditioning is where it needs to be to fire on all cylinders tonight.

“It’s fine, I know that in the game it’s different, but I feel confident,” he said this morning. “I’ve practiced from Wednesday through Saturday, then I had another illness that I had to handle, and then I was back yesterday. I think I’ll be fine.”

In his time away, Arvidsson observed that the team was giving up fewer “momentum goals” during the string of victories. By that, he means fewer goals in the early or late stages of a period, goals that can swing the momentum away from the Kings at key moments in the game. He also found himself watching for systems and situations when watching the games over the last two weeks, still being a new player to the Kings himself. All observations from a short stretch away.

“I feel like, while I played those eight games to start, I just came into the group at that point,” he said. “I was playing good, just starting to understand what to do, so I’ve been trying to watch the games and think about what we’ve done. Obviously it’s hard when you’re not playing, it’s more of reading situations.”

As he now re-integrates in with that group, which has found its stride here over the last couple of weeks, Arvidsson has no reservations about settling right back into the role he had before he left. That role consists of first-line minutes, against the tough competition that playing with Anze Kopitar brings, as well as time on special teams. Arvidsson feels that, while it might take him a couple of shifts to settle in, he’s good to go.

“I think so – I’ve been playing for a long time and I don’t think that will be a problem,” he said. “I know what’s asked of me and what I have to do to create success for the team. That’s what I’m going to do.”

First of seven straight here on home ice, Insiders – Arvidsson and the Kings are ready to go tonight at 7:30!