12/6 Preview – Iafallo Activated, Will Play Tonight + New Lines, Copley To Start, Kempe at Center

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (13-10-4) @ Ottawa Senators (10-13-1)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR SEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, December 6 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Canadian Tire Centre – Kanata, ONT
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back on the road, as they open up a six-game trip against the Eastern Conference, beginning tonight in Ottawa.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Ottawa took the first game in the season series with a 3-2 overtime victory on November 27 in Los Angeles. Forward Arthur Kaliyev scored twice in that game, while forward Phillip Danault had two assists. Danault has 17 assists versus Ottawa since the 2015-16 season, tied for eighth most in the NHL in that span.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings traveled across the country yesterday and did not practice. The team saw the full group hit the ice for morning skate today.

Goaltender Pheonix Copley was off the ice first this morning and appears to be tonight’s starter versus the Senators, his first regular-season appearance in a Kings jersey. Copley has faced Ottawa twice all-time, bringing with him a 2-0-0 record, a .971 save percentage and a 1.00 goals-against average, as well as his only career NHL shutout.

Today’s line rushes are listed below, indicating a new alignment from how Saturday’s game versus Carolina opened –

Fiala – Kopitar – Kaliyev
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Iafallo – Kempe – Vilardi
Anderson-Dolan – Lizotte – Grundstrom
Fagemo

Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker
Bjornfot – Clarke

Copley
Quick

The Kings appear set to run with their lineup from practice on Sunday, which saw several changes to how the team lined up the day prior. In terms of personnel, the change up front will be forward Alex Iafallo’s return from injury – more on that below – with forward Samuel Fagemo checking out. On the backend, look for defenseman Alex Edler to return in place of defenseman Tobias Bjornfot.

SENATORS VITALS: Ottawa has won four of its last five games entering tonight’s action, including the 3-2 overtime win over the Kings in late-November.

After he got the night off in a 5-2 win over San Jose last time out, expect to see regular starting goaltender Cam Talbot return to the net today for Ottawa, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. Talbot has faced the Kings 24 times in his professional career, with a 13-9-0 record, a .916 save percentage and a 2.62 goals-against average. Assuming he starts tonight, Talbot’s 25th appearance versus LA would be his most against any NHL opponent.

Per Claire Hanna of TSN Sports, here’s how Ottawa aligned during yesterday’s practice –

Lines at #Sens practice:

Tkachuk-Stutzle-Giroux
DeBrincat-Pinto-Batherson
Motte-Brassard-Joseph
Kelly-Gambrell-Kastelic

Chabot-Zaitsev
Hamonic-Sanderson
Brannstrom-Holden

No Artem Zub or Austin Watson at practice.

— Claire Hanna (@clahanna) December 5, 2022

Per Garrioch, forward Derrick Brassard will replace forward Dylan Gambrell in the lineup embedded above. Forward Claude Giroux has five points (1-4-5) from his last three games versus the Kings, including the overtime GWG when these teams met nine days prior.

Notes –
ActIvated
After 22 games out with a lower-body injury, forward Alex Iafallo is set to make his return to the lineup tonight in Ottawa. Iafallo will flank Adrian Kempe and Gabe Vilardi on a new-look third line, an alignment that gives the Kings the best look at getting the players they want in the Top 9. More on that below.

In Iafallo, the Kings are returning a trusting player and a player who excels in several of the areas that the team feels have lacked this season. Consistency, defensive play, structure, all words that are a part of Iafallo’s game, even though it would be a lot to ask of a player to impact things so greatly in his first game back.

“Before I [summarize Alex Iafallo] I’ll qualify that he’s been out for, what, eight weeks, it’s been a long time, so for us or anyone else to think he’s going to come in and wave the magic wand and be the savior, I think that’s very unfair for him or any other player coming back in that in that situation,” Todd McLellan said this morning. “When he is up and running, and playing to his capacity, he’s a very trusting player on both sides of the puck, he can play on both special teams. Interestingly enough, when you’re talking to teammates about who would you like to play with, sometimes coaches ask that question, number 19 comes up an awful lot. I think that’s a real compliment that one teammate can pay the other.”

McLellan used the qualifier that is needed – It’s been right around eight weeks since Iafallo has played a game for the Kings, coming off of his lower-body injury in Detroit. As such, it’s not fair to expect a peak Alex Iafallo tonight when he hasn’t played in sucha. long stretch.

As is frequently the case with most players, Iafallo said that simplification is an important part of returning to the lineup. Understanding that it won’t be perfect and just trying to control his own game means keeping it simple and playing within himself will be important.

“Just come back, play my game, be consistent with a good, 200-foot game,” Iafallo said. “I just want to keep it simple out there, play how I know and try to do everything right, as best I can, not make many mistakes. I’m just going to play in each zone as hard as I can and be simple with that.”

Helping the cause will be Iafallo’s comfort level with his linemates, Kempe and Vilardi. Iafallo and Kempe played together for much of last season, while Iafallo and Vilardi were two-thirds of a very effective line in the first four games of this season, until Iafallo’s injury.

Having that familiarity makes coming back into the lineup that much easier.

“For sure, I already have good communication with [Kempe and Vilardi] so it’ll be fun playing with them, they’re doing great so far,” he added. “I’ve been playing with them for the last couple of years, it’ll be good to transfer it over and start this game off.”

Good to see you back, Alex!

Back To The Middle
As a part of Iafallo’s return, the Kings needed to rework things a bit to get what they feel is the best possible configuration.

The team appears to have a clear Top 9 with Iafallo’s return, but that group consists of only two natural centermen, Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault. So, to get the players they want in that alignment, someone else has to play center. The obvious options are Adrian Kempe and Gabe Vilardi, who both game through the system as centers but eventually transitioned to the wing as they developed as professional players, with both excelling on the outside. The Kings opted for Kempe as the preferred option to start tonight, emphasizing his blend of size and speed through the middle as positives for playing him in that position.

“Kempe will play [center], he’ll start there tonight, it gives us a little more size through the middle, a little more speed,” Todd McLellan said this morning. “He entered the league in that position, we still believe that he’s a really good winger, but right now we’ve got to spread the depth out a little bit that we have, so we’ll play him there.”

As mentioned, Kempe came through the system as a center, playing there until he was converted to the wing on a full-time basis a few years back. Naturally, he’s excelled on the wing, as shown through last season’s production. However, center isn’t foreign to him and he’s still comfortable playing in that role.

He addressed the move ealrier today from three angles – defensive zone, playing with the puck and taking faceoffs.

Kempe On The D-Zone – I think the d-zone is going to be fine, I’ve played in those situations before and just like any other game on the wing, if you’re the first guy back you take care of that. I don’t think that’s going to be the biggest issue.

Kempe On Playing With The Puck – I played one period as a center last game and it was exciting. I felt like I can get a little bit more speed coming through the middle, where as a winger, maybe you get a little more 1-on-1 with the D and stuff like that. I feel like AI and Gabe are so good with the puck and so good on the walls that if they can find me through the middle with a lot of speed, I think it can be a good thing for the team and for our line.

Kempe On Faceoffs – Obviously, faceoffs, I haven’t been taking them in awhile either, so that’s going to be important. I think having Gabe on the line helps for strong-side faceoffs. I feel comfortable on my backhand already and having him as a righty on other side could probably be a good thing, we’ll talk about it before the game.

Kempe spent some time after practice working with Kopitar on draws and went on to credit him and Phil Danault as players he can ask questions. Having Vilardi to potentially take draws on the othre side is big, with duties potentially shared in that department. It’s a very interesting combination of three players who all have skill, all play within the system and all can play in all situations. We’ll see how it goes!

Pheonix Rising
Lastly, Insiders, Todd McLellan on Pheonix Copley, who will make his first regular-season appearance as a member of the Kings this evening.

“To be quite honest, we haven’t seen a lot of him, obviously exhibition season there wasn’t much. We watched some of the games in Ontario, we’re busy enough that we can’t watch them all, so we rely on our scouting department, our goaltending department, but he has experience. He has experience out East and he’s played against these teams before. He’s big, very athletic, he seems to be very confident. A lot of good, attributes to have in a goaltender.”

Copley gets the nod tonight to begin the six-game trip! Talk soon, Insiders!