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11/5 Preview – Full Team Skate + Striving For Consistency, Ras-matazz, #BaileyIsBack

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WHO: Los Angeles Kings (6-6-1) vs. Florida Panthers (6-4-1)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR SEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, November 5 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back in California this evening to begin a four-game homestand against the Florida Panthers, a trip which continues with games on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of next week.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings swept the season series in 2021-22, including a 3-2 shootout victory over the Panthers here on home ice. Defenseman Sean Durzi led the Kings with two points (0-2-2) from the two head-to-head matchups, while Jonathan Quick led the way in net with a 2-0-0 record, a .959 save percentage and a 1.46 goals-against average.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings were back on the ice this morning, following a team off day yesterday after the travel home from Chicago.

Quick was the first goaltender off this morning, following his stout performance in two games on the recent road trip. As mentioned above, Quick won both games he played last season versus the Panthers and throughout his career, the veteran has posted an 11-4-0 record with a .924 save percentage and a 2.27 goals-against average.

Below is how the Kings aligned this morning during rushes –

Kempe – Kopitar – Vilardi
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Kupari – Grundstrom
Lemieux – Lizotte – Kaliyev
Byfield, Anderson-Dolan

Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker
Clarke

Quick
Petersen

The Kings made one lineup change in Chicago on Thursday, with forward Brendan Lemieux returning to the lineup in place of defenseman Brandt Clarke as the tam shifted back to a traditional 12F, 6D alignment. This morning’s skate appears consistent with what we saw against the Blackhawks, which is unsurprising as the Kings were happy with their defensive effort in Illinois. Forward Quinton Byfield did skate today, which is a great sign, but will not play tonight. Todd McLellan indicated that he lost a good amount of weight throughout his illness and will need to regain strength. Byfield’s illness was not related to his illness earlier in training camp.

PANTHERS VITALS: Florida is on stop three of four on their Western swing, which concludes in Anaheim tomorrow evening. The Panthers fell in Arizona on Tuesday but defeated San Jose on Thursday evening in Northern California.

With a back-to-back today and tomorrow, the Panthers will likely split their goaltending tandem, with veteran Sergei Bobrovsky expected to get there start this evening in Los Angeles, per Katie Engleson of Bally Sports Florida. All-time versus the Kings, Bobrovsky is 3-8-2, with a .901 save percentage and a 2.90 goals-against average.

Per Curtis Pashelka, here’s how the Panthers aligned on Thursday in San Jose –

In the group above, forward Patric Hornqvist left Thursday’s game with an injury after a hit from San Jose forward Luke Kunin, which was assessed a match penalty. Forward Colin White is expected to check into the lineup today. Florida is also currently without defenseman Aaron Ekblad and forward Anthony Duclair, who are both currently on LTIR. Florida has both Eric and Marc Staal on their roster after the veteran forward signed a one-year contract with the Panthers in late-October.

Notes –
Consistency
“I think your team is in one of two spots – You’re repairing and trying to fix a few things or you’re adding and you’re moving ahead, I don’t think you’re ever in one spot. We have been probably more on the repair and fix side, so when you’re on the repair and fix side, you’re focused on two or three things that you’re trying to really polish up, if you will. When you’re playing really well and you’re on a roll, you start to add new stuff and then your attention goes differently. So the two or three things that we pick can be on both sides of the equation, if you will.”

A few times over the last couple of weeks, we’ve heard Todd McLellan reference the notion of focusing in on certain details for specific games, typically with 2-3 for a specific game. Typically, the reference has been to doing those things well. The Kings brought up concepts via video, they went over them, they saw those things show up in the game. It hasn’t always been that way, however, and from night to night, perhaps as some thing have been sured up, others have arose that have needed fixing.

That stems back in many ways to the notion of consistency, which is what the Kings are striving to achieve. For the most part, early in the season, the Kings have been inconsistent, sometimes within games and not playing a full 60 minutes, or sometimes from game-to-game, following up an excellent performance with a lesser one. The high-end is there, it’s just not there every night. It’s something you really can’t practice, but something the Kings are aware of nonetheless.

“I think a big part of it is having the trust in each other, knowing that your linemates and everyone is trying to do the right thing and do their jobs,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said ths morning. “Obviously, a lot of our momentum and our play comes from structure, so if we have everyone on the same page within the structure, usually it leads to positive momentum for us. I think that’s something we’ve got to continue to work on, making sure that every shift we’re all on the same page.”

What Anderson said is a notion that jives well with a few of the larger narratives this season.

The Kings, last season, were internally predictable, meaning that everyone knew what their teammates were going to do, play-to-play, shift-to-shift, and everyone knew how the team wanted to play. The latter appears to be sinking in more and more and the Chicago game, at least defensively, was a good example of it. The former is one part of the game that is taking some time to come together, the predictability portion, which has led to some inconcistencies.

“I think you can always get better with it,” Anderson added “I feel that the last couple games we’ve had more streaks of doing what we need to do, to play a more complete game. I think it’s continually having to think about what we got to do and what’s going to bring us success, then making sure that we trust it and try and do it every shift if we’re able to.”

Ras-matazz
The Kings made a pair of roster moves, negating each other, over the last 24 hours. As such, we enter tonight’s game exactly where we started as it pertains to the active roster. Yesterday morning, the Kings assigned forward Rasmus Kupari to Ontario. Earlier today, the Kings recalled Kupari from AHL-Ontario, returning him to the group this morning. Line rushes show that he appears likely to play tonight against Florida, centering the same line he’s centered for the last four games, between Kevin Fiala and Carl Grundstrom.

Kupari, 22, has appeared in four games with the Kings this season, earning an assist and a +1 rating. The 6-2, 200-pound forward has also skated in six contests for Ontario, earning six points (3-3-6) with a +5 rating. Despite missing a game, Kupari ranks tied for second on the Reign in goals, tied for third in points and fourth in assists and plus-minus rating.

“For the most part he’s done, defensively, the things that we want from him,” Todd McLellan said this morning. “His ability to break up plays, hunt on the way back using his legs, defending in those situations have been really good. We’re working with him on his offensive production and the ability to create there. We’re working on faceoffs with him and we think that he can help us on the penalty kill, so there’s been a lot of positive things. But, like every player, there’s still more to accomplish.”

When he was recalled from Ontario originally, in advance of the win over Toronto, Kupari said that the instruction given to him early in the season was to work on the physicality in his game. Kupari isn’t a small man and the Kings wanted to see more involvement in battles, keeping plays alive offensively, winning 50/50 pucks.

He’s focused on that, along with his responsibility defensively, and he’s been good in those areas. With Fiala as a winger, the focus is now on adding offensive production to that base, which he’s shown he has in his arsenal. Likely another test, and another opportunity, this evening versus Florida.

“I think Kup has some offensive skills, he’s got tremendous legs and the ability to drive the puck to the net, or even drive deep and delay,” McLellan added. “Just a little more confidence in those situations and he does have a real good shot. I think he’s a very unselfish individual, so he feels like he wants to be not always shooting, play a give-go game. You’re quick, have good legs, dish it and jump to a hole. Some of it is experience, some is instincts.”

MascoTransaction
Lastly, a little fun for tonight.

The LA Kings mascot, Bailey, is expected to make a full return this evening against Florida. While he’s been bandaged up during his visit to SportsCenter studios, rumor has it that he’ll shed them during tonight’s game.

A lion versus 20 Panthers, Bailey will look to defy the odds. Thankfully he’s got 20 players on his side who will look to take down a formidable early-season opponent. Kings and Panthers, tonight at 7:30 from Crypto.com Arena. See you there!

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