11/12 Preview – Petersen in Net + Finding Consistency, PP Zone Entries, Pushing Purple

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (9-6-1) vs. Detroit Red Wings (7-4-3)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR SEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, November 12 @ 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 conclude a four-game homestand this evening as they host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings skated to a 5-4 overtime victory over Detroit back in October, with forward Phillip Danault leading the way with two goals in the win. Forwards Anze Kopitar (1-1-2), Kevin Fiala (0-2-2) and Trevor Moore (0-2-2) each had two points in the victory, while Adrian Kempe and Gabe Vilardi also scored.

KINGS VITALS: As has been the case throughout the week, the Kings held a full practice yesterday, followed by an optional morning skate today.

This morning’s skate pointed to the notion of a change in net for the Kings, with Cal Petersen not on the ice this morning and goaltender Jonathan Quick with the optional group. Petersen was then confirmed to start for the first time since 11/1 in Dallas and brings with him a 1-0-0 record versus Detroit, courtesy of a 21-save shutout when these teams met in Los Angeles last season.

“He doesn’t have to play, but he has to play and he’s played better when he’s been back in the net,” Todd McLellan said this morning. “Quickie had a real good run, you don’t mess with a shutout in my opinion, so maybe Cal would have been back in earlier, but tonight’s his night, so make it count.”

The Kings do not appear to be in line for any changes beyond Petersen, coming off of this morning’s skate, but today was extremely lightly attended.

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

Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker
Clarke

Quick
Petersen

Riding a good run of form, the Kings are not expected to make any changes to their lineup this evening, with forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan and defenseman Brandt Clarke on late this morning and therefore the projected scratches.

RED WINGS VITALS: Tonight’s game begins a four-game roadtrip for the Red Wings, as they head to Anaheim, San Jose and Columbus following tonight’s game.

Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic is expected to get the nod between the pipes this evening for the visitors. All-time versus the Kings, Nedeljkovic is 0-2-0 with a .929 save percentage and a 3.10 goals-against average, with the goaltender facing an avergae of 42 shots per game in that small sample size.

Per Max Bultman of The Athletic, here’s how the Red Wings lined up during their morning skate today in El Segundo –

Lines this morning in LA

Suter Larkin Raymond
Kubalik Copp Perron
Erne Rasmussen Sundqvist
Berggren Veleno Czarnik

Chiarot Seider
Määttä Hronek
Oesterle Lindström

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) November 12, 2022

Detroit will be without former Kings forward Matt Luff, who is out 10-12 weeks after he was hit from behind against Montreal, requiring surgery. Former Kings draft pick Dominik Kubalik is expected to play tonight, along with former Kings defenseman Olli Maatta, who is returning to Los Angeles for the first time as a visiting player since departing the organization this offseason. Forward Tyler Bertuzzi is out tonight as he recovers from a broken hand.

Notes –

Finding Consistency
As the Kings have settled into the season, consistency is starting to come around.

It has not been perfect, as the team has been quick to admit, but it’s been more consistent in terms of style of play here over the last few games. Defensively, we’re seeing a stronger overall effort from the net out, with all three positional groups taking on accountability at that end of the ice. While the offensive totals have dropped, the Kings are still generating chances and with an improved skill level from last year’s team, there’s a hope of being as steady defensively as they have been lately, but with an increased offensive output.

“At this point, we have played consistently over the last little bit,” Todd McLellan said this morning. “We were dramatically inconsistent for a while, but consistently we roll out, we have an idea of what we’re going to expect from each other and that’s important. Are we playing at the top of our game, I don’t think so, I think there are areas of the game we still have to work on, but there’s a good chance we’re sitting here at game 82 and I’m still telling you the same thing. There’s no such thing as perfection and that’s where we want to be, but there is no such thing.”

As Phillip Danault said after the last game, it’s starting to feel more like “Kings Hockey” than it was earlier. The result has certainly been seen on the ice, with a 5-1-1 record over the last seven games. That includes a 5-4 win over Florida, a back-and-forth contest, and a 5-2 loss in Dallas on a night when the Kings conceded three times on the penalty kill. Overall though, it’s been more and more consistently the way they want to play.

With wins of 1-0 and 2-1 this week, the Kings have allowed just nine goals 5-on-5 in that seven-game stretch. More like the Kings we’ve come to know.

“Yeah, I mean every day since camp started, it’s been a work in progress for us,” defenseman Matt Roy said. “I think we’re getting back to the things that we do well, that we did last year to get us into the playoffs. Hopefully we can keep that going.”

A large part in that has been a reduction of the higher-quality chances against off the rush, which is something that the Kings have focused on. A lot of that has also been getting the saves that are needed, which Jonathan Quick took ownership of after the game against Minnesota.

It’s all come together as of late, with an improved defensive performance in front of the goaltenders, and the resulting saves being made.

“Yeah, I think that we’ve done a good job in taking ownership of our structure and making sure that we’re responsible, not turning as many pucks over,” forward Trevor Moore said. “Less odd-man rushes against and we’re making it easier on our goalies. If we’re not giving them all of those odd-man rushes, making them make spectacular saves, they’re making all of the first saves. That’s good.”

Zone Entries
A lot of talk as of late about in-zone power play execution and rightfully so – that’s where you score goals.

However, the Kings have been equally disappointed with the process of getting to that in-zone execution as well. Part of that comes down to faceoffs and specifically against Chicago, faceoffs were an issue. Jonathan Toews had an outstanding night, as both Danault and McLellan noted.

Toews went 18-of-21 in the faceoff circle for a ridiculous 86 percent on the evening. Chicago as a whole won 3-of-4 faceoffs on the penalty kill, meaning that the Kings frequently had to go the length of the ice to get into the zone. It was more prevalent against on Thursday specifically, but entries are a clear focus entering tonight’s game.

“When the opposition gets on the ice and they win a draw and you’ve got to start continually from behind your net and get up ice, it can be frustrating,” McLellan said this morning. “Nobody bats 1,000, so you come up and it doesn’t work the first time, now you’re even more frustrated. So, to play well in the offensive zone, you’re either going to do that by winning a faceoff and establishing or by breaking out and entering. Those two pieces go together and before the puck movement and rotation happens in the o-zone, you have to do those things. We’ve worked on that over the last little bit as well.”

We spoke about the power play as a whole yesterday and there are areas of focus and areas for improvement for when things do get setup. Polling the locker room a little bit over the last two days, there’s also been a sentiment of needing to do a better job of getting setup offensively sooner, whether that is related specifically to winning the faceoff of getting setup on entry number one.

Arthur Kaliyev – Probably getting into the zone and getting setup, getting to more pucks, retrieving them and having more of the puck in the zone and trying to get setup off the breakout.

Trevor Moore – I think that entries are important, because if you’re getting in on the third try, you’re tired and it’s hard to do what you want to do. I feel like when we’re in there and we get in there earlier, we win the faceoff, we have some good looks and we’re trying to be a shooting power play. I think if we can get in the first time, it’s going to make everything a lot easier.

Something the Kings are certainly focused on improving and against a penalty-kill unit that is just 0.2 percentage points outside of the top ten in the league, it will be important.

Pushing Purple
You ever really, really, really think you did something but then wake up in a panic at 7 AM in realization that you did not?

That would be yours truly with the purple story published very early this morning. Could have sworn that sucker was scheduled last night, offering reactions from around the locker room of Kings players to their newest sweater, which is debuting this evening versus Detroit, as well as Luc Robitaille’s input on how the jersey came to be, and the future of forum blue and gold in the Kings jersey family.

Alas, I did not schedule that story but here we are. Some cool notes in the piece leading into the first Reverse Retro game of the season, that I would appreciate you all read to make me feel better for my mistake. The Purple Article is available HERE. Please click to appease me, thank you for your understanding.

Kings and Wings, love a good rhyme….Puck drops tonight, 7:30 is the time. See you there!