3/24 Preview – Arvidsson Activated + His Recovery Process, Affect on Lines & 31st Opponent

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (35-22-8) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (23-32-9)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Thursday, March 24 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ESPN+ / Hulu – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings continue on a four-game homestand, with the Chicago Blackhawks in town for the first time this season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings haven’t faced Chicago since November 2, 2019, with the Blackhawks being the final new opponent the Kings will face this season. With 27 points from 40 career games versus Chicago, defenseman Alex Edler has his highest points-per-game rate against any one opponent. Phillip Danault is set to face the team that drafted him back in 2011.

KINGS VITALS: It was a full-team skate today for the Kings, following what was an optional practice yesterday morning in El Segundo.

Goaltender Jonathan Quick was the first off the ice this morning, signaling him as tonight’s expected starter against Chicago, his second consecutive start off of Tuesday’s win over Nashville. All-time in the regular season, Quick is 13-16-2 against Chicago, with a .911 save percentage and a 2.65 goals-against average.

The Kings are expected to welcome back forward Viktor Arvidsson to the lineup this evening, with Todd McLellan giving it “99.9 percent chance” of happening. McLellan also indicated that, assuming he’s good to go, Arvidsson will slot back in alongside Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore, with Arthur Kaliyev moving back with Blake Lizotte, where he’s spent most of the season.

With that in mind, here’s how the Kings lined up during today’s full-team skate –

Iafallo – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Vilardi – Byfield – Kupari
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Kaliyev

Maatta – Spence
Moverare – Durzi
Edler – Stecher

Quick
Petersen

Beyond Arvidsson, no changes are expected for the Kings this evening. Tobias Bjornfot skated again this morning, but is not yet ready to return to action for tonight’s game.

BLACKHAWKS VITALS: Chicago has been right around the midway mark as of late, with a 3-3-1 record over their last seven games. After the trade of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury on deadline day, the Blackhawks responded with a 4-2 victory over Anaheim yesterday evening.

Goaltender Kevin Lankinen played last night, in Fleury’s absence, so with the back-to-back set, we’ll assume that Colin Delia gets the nod this evening in Los Angeles. Delia has yet to face the Kings throughout his NHL career, which has consisted of 26 total games. Delia has just 28 minutes of action so far this season, with his lone start against Nashville ending after just 20 minutes.

Per Carter Baum of ChicagoBlackhawks.com, here’s how the team lined up yesterday in Anaheim –

#Blackhawks lines tonight in Anaheim:

DeBrincat – Strome – Kane
Kubalik – Toews – Raddysh
Kurashev – Dach – Lafferty
Katchouk – R. Johnson – Entwistle

McCabe – C. Jones
de Haan – S. Jones
Stillman – Gustafsson

Lankinen in goal

— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) March 24, 2022

The Chicago injury report at this time consists of forward Tyler Johnson, with regular defenseman Connor Murphy on LTIR along with forwards Jujhar Khiara and Andrew Shaw, neither of whom will play again this season.

DJ Viktor 1
99.9 Percent!

Todd McLellan gave us more or less confirmation that Viktor Arvidsson will return to action tonight for the Kings, with that 0.1 figure probably applying to every player at this time of the year. McLellan touched on the potential of not making a lineup change coming off of a victory, but indicated that with a player like Arvidsson specifically, his level of skill trumps any form of lineup consistency after a victory. When he’s ready, he’s ready and the Kings will welcome him back.

“There’s some players, that when they’re hurt and ready to go, they’re coming back in,” McLellan said. “They’re just that important to our team. I don’t mean it in a demeaning way, they just have more experience and Arvi is certainly one of those. We would like to be able to pick from 27 players on any given night, tonight’s situation we’re adding one to the mix, that would be Arvi.”

Perhaps the challenge at this time of the year, as we saw with Alex Edler, is getting a player up to speed during practices that are not as demanding as they were earlier in the season. With the games coming every other day, if not more frequently, the number of high-intensity practices are rare these days.

As McLellan indicated, for Arvidsson, some of that will have to come in a game setting. For his part, Arvidsson is a veteran at this level and knows how to get himself ready as best as he can.

“Yeah, for sure it’s a little bit harder, but I’ve been playing in this league for a while, so I know what it takes to be ready to come back,” he said. “I feel ready and I feel confident that I will be a difference maker in games.”

In a typical team answer, Arvidsson’s focus is on helping the team in his first game back. An important two points on the line, and he’s excited o play for them.

“Good, I’m feeling good. Happy to be back and happy to be able to help the team for sure.”

How Does That Affect The Lineup?
Arvidsson’s return will have an impact on tonight’s lineup. Arvidsson appears set to return to his usual home alongside Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore, with Arthur Kaliyev set to move back with Blake Lizotte, where he’s skated for much of the season.

Arvidsson did note that having that familiarity, that chemistry, with Danault and Moore is helpful in settling back in.

“Yeah, I guess so, yeah I’m just trying to play my game and they’ve been excellent to play with,” he said. “I think we have great chemistry, so for sure it’s easy to step in. Still, I’ve been out for two and half weeks, so it will be fun to get in again.”

The return of Arvidsson bumps Kaliyev, as noted, but not due to his own performance.

A few times earlier this season, Kaliyev got Top-6 looks and wasn’t quite able to hang onto that spot. In the absence of Arvidsson, Kaliyev found himself with another opportunity and he didn’t let it go. The young winger was a nice fit on the line with Danault and Moore, meshing well in the offensive zone and holding his own with the 200-foot game required on that unit. That trio controlled more than 67 percent of shot attempts together, with scoring chances over 65 percent and high-danger chances just under 60.

A good indicator on Kaliyev and his growth over the course of his rookie season.

“Very well, he handled it very well,” McLellan said. “I thought he was a little bit more effective with Danault and Moore, maybe they complemented his game a little bit more. The talk early in the year was, can his engine handle it, and he certainly handled it in that situation. He was just fine, I think that Lizzo’s group has missed Arthur in some sense, it’s missed Lemieux also, yet they were pretty effective the other day, so that’s a nice luxury to have.”

That leaves the Kopitar and Byfield lines intact.

No surprise on the top line, with that touched on before, and that trio has combined for seven points over their last three games. No surprise on the third line either, considering their positive play against Nashville on Tuesday. Perhaps their biggest “up” of the season, with McLellan highlighting them once again today.

“They have been up and down and we’re entering toinght’s game on a real positive for the three of them, I thought they brought something that maybe was missing prior to and they were rewarded for it,” he said. “Like any group of young players, it’s what’s going to happen the next night. They’re extremely talented, they’re great kids, they want to do well. It will eventually begin to happen, time and time again, and then we’ll be in a good spot.”

Back In Black-hawks
We haven’t seen Chicago since November 2, 2019. 873 Days!

Chicago is the final new opponent the Kings will play against this season, and the two teams will play three times over the homestretch. If there’s anything to be figured out, it’ll certainly come soon with the amount of head-to-head matchups remaining.

“It’s been a long time, probably the longest period of any team in the league that we haven’t seen since COVID began,” McLellan said. “We’re playing three times from now through the end of the year, so we’ll figure a lot out about each other. They’re still driven by dominant, offensive performances, DeBrincat, Kane, the way they move around in the o-zone, they’ve got some pretty good offensive guys on the backend. I think they’ve scored 27 goals over their last 7 games, so they’re not struggling to put the puck in the net and produce that way.”

McLellan said the other day that regardless of record, Chicago represents a challenging opponent when you can dress players like Kane, Toews, DeBrincat and Jones. That is the case tonight, with two important points on the line.

7 PM tonight, Insiders, on ESPN+ / Hulu, as the revolving door of puck drop times for games on a streaming service continues.

*Additionally – For those who filled out the interest form for LAKI Suite Night, you should have received an email today regarding payment for the game on 4/4! If not, but you are interested in attending, please email me directly at zdooley@lakings.com to reserve your place!