1/24 Preview: Garden State -> (MS)Garden + Vitals, Back-To-Back, Ranger Focus, Fourth Line

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (21-16-5) @ New York Rangers (27-11-4)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Monday, January 24 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Madison Square Garden – New York, New York
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back at it again tonight, with the second half of a back-to-back set.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings will face the Rangers for the second time this month, coming off of a 3-1 victory in Los Angeles. Forward Trevor Moore collected two assists in that win and has three points (1-2-3) in two games against the Rangers as an LA King. Phillip Danault, Adrian Kempe and Blake Lizotte each scored in that victory, with Lizotte collecting a point in all three career games he’s played against New York.

KINGS VITALS: The East Coast trip continues this evening, as the Kings visit Madison Square Garden to take on the Metropolitan-Division leading New York Rangers.

Coming off of Cal Petersen’s start last night in New Jersey, expect to see goaltender Jonathan Quick between the pipes this evening in New York. All-time, Quick is 7-5-0 against the Rangers, with a .912 save percentage and a 2.42 goals-against average. Dating back to 2017, Quick has won three of his last four starts versus the Rangers.

Considering the back-to-back, the Kings did not hold a morning skate today in New York. Last night’s lineup saw the Kings add Adrian Kempe back to the group, with the Kings otherwise holding firm from the group that faced Colorado on home ice on Thursday.

Tonight’s lineup – as it is every night – is dependent on the results of the team’s COVID testing for those players still in daily testing. With that being said, we’re not expecting any changes this evening assuming that everyone is healthy and good to go.

For reference, here is how the Kings lined up yesterday in New Jersey –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Maatta – Roy
Bjornfot – Durzi

Petersen / Quick

Kempe logged just under 18 minutes in his return to the lineup yesterday, as he led the team with five shots on goal. The overall stat line had the Kings outshot and outchanced with the top line on the ice, though the higher quality chances just one shy of even. The Kings had just one power play, but Kempe’s ability to transport the puck from zone-to-zone was extremely noticeable, as it usually is, marking a relatively successful return for a player who did not get a practice in before returning to game action.

RANGERS VITALS: The Rangers are back at it this evening off of a high-scoring victory over Arizona on Saturday. New York has won four of their last five games played since their loss at Crypto.com Arena.

With the Rangers off yesterday, we’ll assume that usual starting goaltender Igor Shesterkin will be between the pipes tonight. Shesterkin won his only career start against the Kings, as he made 42 saves on 43 shots in a 4-1 Rangers victory back in February 2020 on home ice.

The Rangers were without forwards Kappo Kakko (upper body) and Filip Chytil (lower body) at morning skate earlier today, with both forwards not expected to feature tonight against the Kings. Per Vince Mercogliano of USA Today, New York could go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen this evening, as they were forced to once Chytil left the game versus Arizona.

For reference, here’s how they were aligned prior to that injury –

#NYR lines minus Kakko:

Kreider – Zib – Hunt
Panarin – Strome – Goodrow
Laf – Chytil – Gauthier
McKegg – Rooney – Reaves

— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) January 23, 2022

All things we will wait and see as we approach tonight’s action.

Notes –

Back Half, Back To Basics
The Kings are on the latter half of a back-to-back set this evening in New York, coming off last night’s victory in New Jersey.

LA entered yesterday’s game with identical 3-3-1 records on the first and second halves of back-to-back games respectively, improving to 4-3-1 on the front side with the win over the Devils. The common perception – at least my perception – would start with the fatigue factor on the second half, which Todd McLellan highlighted this morning via keeping shifts short. That led me to game management as being a key for the Kings tonight.

He expanded though that sometimes in that second game, it’s easier to keep things rolling off of a successful game one. Every situation is different, but there is that element to it as well.

“Keeping things short, that’s the biggest thing,” McLellan said. “Sometimes, when you play back-to-back, you just roll into the next game, which can be a good thing. If you’re able to have your legs and you’re mentally fresh, then the game management part just happens.”

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that certain mistakes in the defensive zone in particular can lead into those extended shifts. Things like losing faceoffs, poor puck management, failing to get a clear, the wrong decisions with the puck in the wrong areas can lead to extended shifts, which creates the fatigue factor.

In McLellan’s eyes, that’s where teams get in trouble on the second half of a back-to-back.

“It’s when you get yourself in trouble with decisions, and you get caught on the ice for a minute and a half on back-to-back nights that it’s an issue,” he said. “Shift length is the most important thing, but what causes long shifts are the mistakes, poor puck management, lost faceoffs. One plays into the other.”

Managing those situations will be key this evening against the Rangers, a team capable of making their opposition pay for a mistake.

Speaking Of The Rangers……
“We checked well in that game, we kept a pretty dynamic offensive group in check for most of the game and it’s going to have to be that way again.”

Todd McLellan reflected back fondly of the way the Kings played without the puck during the first time two teams squared off this season. The Kings and Rangers met just two weeks ago in Los Angeles, with the Kings taking that game by a 3-1 final, limiting a team full of talented offensive players to just one goal.

Since that point, New York has gotten healthier and stronger. The return of Igor Shesterkin in net certainly helps, as does the return of a couple of forwards and their Head Coach, Gerard Gallant.

After the game at Crypto.com Arena, McLellan felt the Kings checked well in “all three zones”, limiting the opposition in terms of their opportunities, especially in transition. Now on away ice, having played last night, the Kings will have to, in McLellan’s words, rise to the occasion tonight to find similar success.

“They’ve added some players, got some guys back in their lineup which should balance it out a little bit more,” McLellan said this morning. “Key people, so the test will be stronger here in New York than it was in LA, but we have enough guys that should be able to rise to the occasion and be very competitive.”

The Kings will look to build on their finish from last night’s game in New Jersey, carrying things they did in the final 40 minutes into tonight’s action. After a couple mistakes early, including one leading to Jesper Bratt’s breakaway goal, the Kings responded well, twice coming from a goal down to earn the victory. McLellan emphasized that “recovery” as being critical. Over the last three games before New Jersey, the Kings got down, but could not recover. Last night, that changed and that’s a positive to build on tonight.

Fourth Line Fury
McLellan also praised the play of his fourth line last night, with the underlying numbers supporting what the eye test saw.

That line posted a favorable 12-6 line in terms of shot attempts yesterday, showing their effective and tenacious style on the forecheck. The trio of Brendan Lemieux, Blake Lizotte and Arthur Kaliyev continues to force turnovers, which leads to second and third offensive opportunities, while almost as importantly limiting what’s going against them the other way.

With now more than 200 minutes of 5-on-5 time together this season, that line has controlled nearly 58 percent of shot attempts this season. The consistency has applied to the higher-quality chances as well, with like totals on scoring chances (58%) and high-danger (56%) chances as well. With 10 goals for compared to 6 against, those percentages have effectively translated onto the scoreboard as well.

Getting that consistent, honest effort each and every night has been a key to success for that line, and a major benefit to the Kings as a group. Getting it tonight, with Lemieux visiting Madison Square Garden for the first time as a visiting player since he was traded to the Kings, in an area where Kaliyev lived for a part of his time in the United States, is the next step forward.

Kings and Rangers, tonight at 7 PM here in New York, 4 PM Pacific. Fingers crossed for a strong effort from the team on the ice, and a fully functioning LAKI website off of it, Insiders!