11/30 Preview – Doughty expected to play, Quick in net + notes on Anderson, Special Teams

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (9-8-3) vs. Anaheim Ducks (11-8-3)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, November 30 @ 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 Freeway Faceoff returns this evening, as the Kings and Ducks square off at STAPLES Center for the first time this season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings posted a 4-3-1 record last season versus their Southern California rivals, including a 2-2-0 mark on home ice. Adrian Kempe led the Kings with six goals and nine points versus Anaheim last season, while defenseman Drew Doughty led the team with five assists. Blake Lizotte was a point-per-game player against the Ducks last season, with five points (1-4-5) from five games played. Dustin Brown (29) and Anze Kopitar (27) have more goals against Anaheim than any other opponent they have faced.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings are shooting for two straight tonight, as they look to build off of Saturday’s win over Ottawa. On their current homestand, the Kings are 1-3-1, with games against Anaheim and Calgary to finish off the slate.

The Kings held an optional morning skate today, with several players not on the ice. Among those who did skate, however, was Drew Doughty in a regular jersey and Quinton Byfield in a non-contact red jersey. More on Doughty’s potential return to the lineup below.

Here’s how the Kings lined up yesterday during practice –

Kempe – Kopitar – Brown
Iafallo – Danault – Arvidsson
Moore – Andersson – Kupari
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Kaliyev
Lemieux, Byfield

Anderson – Doughty
Edler – Roy
Bjornfot – Durzi
Maatta – Clague

Quick / Petersen

Jonathan Quick was confirmed by Todd McLellan to return between the pipes against Anaheim this evening. All-time, Quick is 24-13-8 versus the Ducks, with a .910 save percentage and a 2.40 goals-against average. If Quick does in fact get the nod between the pipes, he would be making his 48th career appearance against the Ducks, his most against any NHL opponent.

Among the skaters, tonight’s lineup is naturally dependent on the result of Brendan Lemieux’s hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. If Lemieux is eligible to play, he likely will, though McLellan’s comments this morning indicate the Kings are planning to play without him. If not, Rasmus Kupari featured among yesterday’s line rushes, skating on the third line with Lias Andersson and Trevor Moore.

DUCKS VITALS: If the Kings are on a seven-game homestand, then we’ll say the Ducks are on a five-game Southern California Stand. Anaheim played its last two games at home and will play its next two games at home, all sandwiched around this evening’s game at STAPLES Center.

No reports from Anaheim’s morning skate, so we’ll go with John Gibson as the assumption for now in net for the Ducks. Gibson has faced the Kings 21 times throughout his NHL career, more often than any other opponent. Gibson brings a 13-7-0 record, a .924 save percentage and a 2.16 goals-against average into tonight’s contest.

Per Anaheim’s team account, here’s how the Ducks lined up against Toronto on Sunday –

Here's who we fly with tonight. #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/4E1J1TWYBT

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) November 29, 2021

Anaheim is without forwards Max Comtois and Max Jones, both of whom are on injured reserve entering tonight’s game. Without much information from today’s Anaheim morning skate, we’ll have to wait until closer to puck drop to confirm the Ducks lineup.

Notes –

Early Return, Never In Dought
Today should be the day, Insiders!

It’s Drew Doughty time in Los Angeles.

“He’s ready to go, we’re going to play him,” McLellan said. “He’ll show us whether he’s sharp. I’m not sure he’s going to win the Norris Trophy tonight, he’s going to make mistakes, he makes mistakes when he’s at the very best of his game. We’re excited about having him back and we’re going to play him.”

Doughty has progressed from skating on his own, to skating with the team in a non-contact jersey, to a full-contact jersey over the last few days to now a regular spot in the line rushes. Re-assuming his usual spot, on the right next to Mikey Anderson certainly feels like we’re back to normal. Anderson’s comments this morning gave us a good idea, with Todd McLellan confirming the news during his own availability.

He still needs to be, officially, activated from IR, but that seems to be a formality between now and game time.

The next question, to me, was obvious. Doughty’s usual workload is 25+ minutes, time in all situations, on the power play, on the penalty kill and top minutes at even strength. Can he immediately assume that role again tonight?

“Knowing Drew, he probably can do it,” McLellan said. “How well can he do it? We’ll have to wait and see. The guy has a lot of confidence, he’s really poised. If it’s going good, he gets more, if it’s not going good, then we’ve got to play the guys that are playing well. We know he’s going to get back to what he was before and the sooner the better.”

The other side of the coin is with regards to the rest of the team.

Sometimes, as has been pointed out, a team can sag a bit as a whole when a star player returns to the lineup. Nothing to do there with that individual themselves, the team as a whole is better with those types of players in, but sometimes there’s a letdown from others who are now asked to play a different role than they did without that star player.

McLellan admitted there’s no answer to that question, meaning if he knew how to avoid it he’d obviously just do it, but he commented on individuals being sharp, pulling their same weight as before as Doughty re-integrates into the group.

“Our team has to get ready to play. I think that if you’re sharp individually, everything else will fall into place. If we have five or six guys that aren’t sharp, it won’t matter if Drew or Bobby Orr comes into the lineup. It’s all about the 20 pieces working together. We’re all excited about getting Drew back, but we also have to understand that Drew hasn’t played in 16, 17 games, so he’s going to be looking for his game as well.”

Mike(y) & Ikes
Doughty’s partner this evening will likely be Mikey Anderson, who returns to the left side and to his usual home, playing alongside Doughty.

Anderson was able to find some chemistry on a young pairing with Tobias Bjornfot, with both players still in the midst of their first go at an 82-game schedule. That pairing had a lot of success, especially in their early stages together, and a few growing pains as well.

Speaking with Anderson this morning, he felt that he was able to grow as a player without Doughty next to him, proving to himself and a lot of others that two young defensemen could thrive together.

“For both of us, we were able to expand on what we normally do,” Anderson said. “We both know what we are as players, but with [Drew] out, Yawns put us together and told us ‘you guys are together, figure it out, you’re going to be together and play against some good players.’ You gain that confidence that we were able to do it together as two young guys and obviously, it’s nice to have Drew back and help cover up some mistakes. I thought me and Toby, for the most part, did a really good job together. It allowed us to trust what we can do and gave us the opportunity to just go out, play and see what happened.”

With Doughty returning, Anderson is also looking forward to have his regular partner back in the lineup.

In Doughty’s return though comes a potential adjustment period, seeing as he hasn’t played in close to six weeks. Anderson feels that he can do his best to help Doughty get back up to speed in a game as quickly as possible, but considering the experience of who we’re talking about here, there might not be a ton to do.

“He hasn’t played in a while, so when he’s back in, he’s going to have to get back up to speed with the pace,” Anderson said. “Obviously he’s been practicing, so he’s almost there and he’s been around awhile, so I’m not sure there’s much for me to do to really help. Trying to be in a good spot for him, give him outs if he has the puck, maybe a certain play he usually makes to give him a different one at the start, just to get his feet and everything back under him.”

At the end of it all though, it’s an excitement level for Anderson, one that likely engulfs the rest of the team as well.

“We’re excited for him to be back, not only on the ice, but in the locker room, he’s a big part of that.”

Hear several more terrific quotes from Anderson below –

Special Teams
Special teams has been a big part of Anaheim’s early-season success and is an obvious storyline entering tonight’s game.

The Ducks are in the NHL’s Top 5 on the man advantage, ranking fourth at 27.7 percent on the power play. Anaheim also placed inside the league’s Top 10 on the penalty kill, ranking eighth at 86.9 percent. In terms of PP + PK, the Ducks trail only the Edmonton Oilers this season, making them the league’s second-best group on special teams here in the early goings.

“Their shooting percentage is way up, so obviously they’re converting on more opportunities, and that has worked well for them on the power play,” McLellan said, of the Ducks. “They have some established, veteran players who are real good penalty killers and they’re confident right now, and their goaltender has played really well. That would lend itself to a strong penalty kill as well.”

The Kings have been up and down on special teams so far this season. The power play, while inconsistent, ranks right in the middle of the league at 18.6 percent, 15th best of the NHL’s 32 teams. LA ranks towards the bottom of the league on the penalty kill, at just over 77 percent, though that one night in St. Louis is accountable for much of that. Removing that game moves the Kings up to 14th in the NHL, a jump over six percentage points.

The Kings have also allowed just 11 power-play goals this season, having been shorthanded a league-low 49 times. At the end of the day, percentages tell one story, but the Kings have 13 power-play goals for, versus 11 against. That’s +2.

Regardless of past performance, the Kings understand that special teams will be a big factor this evening against Anaheim. The Kings are aware of Anaheim’s success this season in that area, and know that it could be a determining factor this evening versus the Ducks.

“It’s going to be a huge factor, special teams, we’ve got to be on top of it,” Iafallo said. “We have to shoot a lot faster on the power play and get the puck back, they’re pretty fast on the PK. Our PK just needs to do the same things, attack them, don’t sit back and move forward from there.”

Freeway Faceoff tonight at 7:30 from Los Angeles!