12/11 Preview – Optional Skate: Quick Expected, Moore at C, Lemieux’s Return, Wild’s “five-tool” play

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (11-10-4) vs. Minnesota Wild (19-6-1)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, December 11 @ 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 Kings conclude a short two-game homestand at STAPLES Center this evening against the Minnesota Wild.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: During the first meeting of the season, a 3-2 Minnesota victory, forward Anze Kopitar (1-1-2) and defenseman Drew Doughty (0-2-2) each had multi-point games, while Viktor Arvidsson had a goal and……Jonathan Quick had an assist.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings look to take four of a possible four points from a quick pair of games on home ice.

The expectation tonight is that Jonathan Quick will make his second consecutive start, following his second shutout of the season on Thursday against Dallas. Quick made 27 saves on 30 shots in a narrow, 3-2 defeat against Minnesota back on October 16, the first meeting of the season between the two teams. Throughout his NHL career, Quick is 15-11-7, with a .900 save percentage and a 2.68 goals-against average. More on Quick below.

The Kings appear set to make one change from the win over the Stars on Thursday, with Brendan Lemieux appearing set to check in for Jaret Anderson-Dolan at the forward position. Lemieux skated with the team’s fourth line during rushes yesterday, with Todd McLellan confirming that he will play this morning. Lemieux is eligible to return to the lineup this evening after he served the final game of his five-game suspension versus Dallas.

Here’s how the Kings are expected to align this evening against Dallas –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Edler – Roy
Bjornfot – Durzi

Quick
Petersen

The interesting part of the projected lineup is Trevor Moore playing center, which he hasn’t done for the Kings since the preseason. Moore shined in the middle at the 2021 World Championships, representing Team USA, as he skated on the team’s top line during that tournament. That flexibility gives the team additional options, with that being utilized this evening.

“The risk in that line is putting Trevor in the middle, but we’re willing to take that chance tonight,” Todd McLellan said. “The three of them should complement each other, they all have pace, they have a tenacity to their game. We’re hoping that combination of players really gives us something, but we won’t know until we take the test.

WILD VITALS: Minnesota did not hold a morning skate today in advance of tonight’s game. The Wild are currently in the midst of a four-game road trip, that concludes tomorrow evening in Vegas. Each of the first two games resulted in victories, as a part of an eight-game winning streak that Minnesota is currently riding, entering tonight’s game.

Cam Talbot has started each of the last three games for Minnesota, with Kaapo Kahkonen also an option in goal for the Wild. All-time against the Kings, Talbot is 12-9-1 with a .916 save percentage and a 2.65 goals-against average. If Kahkonen gets the nod, he brings a 2-2-0 record into today’s game, to go along with a .902 save percentage and a 2.75 goals-against average.

In terms of lineup, we haven’t seen anything from the Minnesota camp this morning, with no morning skate to guide us. Here’s how the Wild aligned during their most recent game, against San Jose on Thursday.

#mnwild lines

Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello
Greenway-Eriksson Ek-Foligno
Duhaime-Rask-Fiala
Shaw-Sturm-Bjugstad

Brodin-Spurgeon
Goligoski-Merrill
Benn-Kulikov

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 10, 2021

Minnesota is naturally a very strong foe for the Kings, as evidenced by not only their current run of form, but also their Western-Conference leading 39 points.

“They’re a five-tool team, the baseball analogy, I always go there,” McLellan said. “Size, power, skill, speed, checking ability, they have it all, they’re very well built. They’re confident, they’re getting tremendous goaltending, they can beat you a lot of different ways. That’s why they’re winning as many games as they are.”

Notes –

Brendan Is Back
After completing his five-game suspension, forward Brendan Lemieux is ready to return to the lineup this evening for the LA Kings.

To recap the circumstances, that everyone knows by now, Lemieux was given five games for the incident involving Brady Tkachuk, with a war of words of sorts following in the media. Following Tkachuk’s comments, McLellan, Quick and Alex Iafallo also stepped up to talk about Lemieux’s value to the organization and him as a teammate. Hearing that from within the room was important for Lemieux, who is only focused right now on helping the team win games.

“That’s awesome, and obviously they were referring to the situation regarding my suspension,” he said. “All I care about really is what my teammates have to say about me, with the LA Kings, how they feel about me. Frankly, helping the LA Kings win games is all I’m here to do and all I really give a [crap] about.”

Lemieux had carved out an important role on the fourth line early this season, finding chemistry on an effective unit with Blake Lizotte at center and Arthur Kaliyev on the right. That line had become a staple of the team’s bottom six so far this season, producing effective play both offensively and in terms of creating energy for the Kings.

“Lemieux, Lizotte and Kaliyev had a really good thing on the go,” McLellan said. “For circumstances that were in or out of our control, they’re not there together anymore, but Brendan brings a lot of energy and physicality.”

That line is not an option for this evening, with Lizotte currently out of action in COVID Protocol, with no update on his status at this time.

Lemieux, however, is an option once again and is just about ready to jump right back into things. Earlier this season, when he himself was in COVID Protocol, it was harder to work his way back into action. Without being able to practice, or be around the group, getting back into action was a larger challenge. This time, however, Lemieux was able to practice every day during his suspension, with McLellan praising his work ethic during his time out of the lineup.

“Yeah, much, much [easier],” Lemieux said. “This was definitely easier than being in COVID Protocol from that regard. I hate not being around the guys, especially the fact that we had only a two and half day trip and I was here when they were gone. It’s good though that I’ve been able to skate with the guys, feel like I’m a part of helping AA get back, because I got to skate with him when he was out and I can still contribute to the mood of the room and whatnot.”

Now, with a long stretch of practice under his belt, Lemieux feels ready to jump back into the fold starting this evening.

Quick Turnaround
Following the shutout win over Dallas on Thursday, Jonathan Quick is expected to get the nod again this evening for the Kings between the pipes. Traditionally this season, there has been an alternating rotation in net between Quick and Cal Petersen. Tonight represents a rare deviation from that plan, likely due to Quick’s stellar performance against the Stars, which included several key saves during the victory, especially some made with the Kings on the penalty kill.

“Starts with the goaltender,” McLellan said, of the penalty kill. “He made some real good saves, there was a scramble in and around the net that he made the initial save and then had to fight through the crap to find the puck. I thought Quickie was really good there and just exuded confidence, and the rest of the group played off of it.”

This season, we’ve frequently seen Quick not take a morning skate on the day of a start, typically when a game has followed a full-team practice the day before. Speaking with McLellan today, he noted that Quick has the flexibility to skate or not skate before his starts, choosing not to do so often, as of late.

“That’s his preference, if you’ve played that much, you know how you feel, you know what works for you,” McLellan said. “He might change it up and decide he wants to take a few shots, but mileage on cars, players, we have to be aware of it, and so do they. They know their bodies better than we do. We can pretend to say maybe you should do this, or do that, but we’re not helping them one bit by putting them in situations they’re not comfortable with on game day, that’s really a trivial task at times.”

The last start against Dallas featured a weird dynamic for Quick, though one he himself was quick to downplay the importance of. The shots on goal, to open the game, read 14-0 in favor of the Kings, though Quick was tested shortly thereafter with a Dallas power play, on which he was forced to make a few quality saves to keep the game 0-0 at that juncture.

For a veteran like Quick, McLellan felt that his experience helped to carry him through it, without much, if any, cause for concern.

“I think with Jonathan, he’s been there and done that,” McLellan said. “He’s so competitive, I don’t think his mind goes anywhere, he’s probably trying to score the goal at the other end. You feel good about him in those stretches, and feel confident when that happens and he’s in goal.”

Kings and Wild, tonight at 7:30 before the team heads Southeast tomorrow!