2/18 Preview – Light Skate Today + What’s Up In Net, High-Danger Chances, Keeping Everyone Engaged

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (31-18-7) vs. Arizona Coyotes (19-28-8)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, February 18 @ 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 on home ice this evening to complete a weekend back-to-back, with the final meeting of the season with the Arizona Coyotes.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Anze Kopitar leads the Kings this season with two goals from two games played versus the Coyotes. Forward Kevin Fiala (1-1-2) and defenseman Sean Durzi (0-2-2) each have multiple points against Arizona as well. Since Kopitar entered the league, no player has more points than his 89 (24-65-89) versus the Coyotes.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a highly optional morning skate here today, consisting mostly of those who did not play yesterday evening.

Neither goaltender was on the ice this morning and no indication on a starter from Head Coach Todd McLellan. Should Jonathan Quick get the start, after playing just over 20 minutes last night, he brings with him a career record of 23-20-6 against Arizona, with a .905 save percentage and a 2.47 goals-against average. Should the Kings turn to Pheonix Copley, who played just shy of 40 minutes yesterday, he’s faced Arizona once in his NHL career, posting a win with 27 saves on 29 shots. More on the goalies below.

For reference, here’s how the Kings aligned yesterday in Anaheim –

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker

Copley
Quick

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) February 18, 2023

Per Todd McLellan, the Kings will make at least one change amongst the skaters, with defenseman Toby Bjornfot checking in for Alex Edler on the backend. There could be one change up front as well, with Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Brendan Lemieux the healthy options to check back in should that come to fruition.

COYOTES VITALS: Arizona is currently playing some of its best hockey of the season, entering tonight’s action with a seven-game point streak (4-0-3).

Per Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports, goaltender Karel Vejmelka will get the nod between the pipes this evening. Vejmelka has faced the Kings four times to date in his NHL career, including twice so far this season, posting a career record of 2-2-0, with a .919 save percentage and a 2.67 goals-against average.

For reference, here’s how the Coyotes lined up last time out on Wednesday evening –

The lines are in. ✨ pic.twitter.com/PL3a5V4AAl

— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) February 16, 2023

Former Kings defenseman Troy Stecher skated on the third pairing on Wednesday and appears to be in line to play again tonight against his former club. Arizona forward Clayton Keller has five points (2-3-5) from five games against LA over the last two seasons. Defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere (injury) and Jakob Chychrun (trade-related) are not expected to play tonight against the Kings.

Notes –
So What’s The Goaltending Situation?
To (briefly) recap last night’s game from the perspective of in net. Goaltender Pheonix Copley was assessed a match penalty late in the second period for throwing a punch with the blocker hand. Jonathan Quick entered the game late in the second period and eventually picked up the win as the Kings closed out a 6-3 victory in Anaheim.

As with any match penalty, an automatic one-game suspension comes along with it, which would rule Copley out for tonight’s game, should the suspension be upheld. However, Todd McLellan indicated this morning that Copley is “available, will dress and be ready to go”. He did not share, however, which goaltender will play.

Should the game last night have played out as designed, there would likely be no debate. With back-to-back games and Copley starting in Anaheim, it would naturally point to Quick going tonight on home ice, almost without question. However, it did not go according to plan and both goalies played in Anaheim. McLellan said last night that he would “absolutely” be comfortable going back to Quick after he played yesterday in Anaheim. He was also asked that question without knowing Copley’s availability as it was minutes after the game had ended.

What it creates is a bit of a question, simply because of workload. Copley has logged the bulk of the games since he was recalled from the AHL in early-December, though Quick has faced Arizona twice this season and has twice put in a strong performance. He’s 1-0-1 from those two games, with a goals-against average of 1.92 and a save percentage of .911. Either way, the Kings have confidence they’ll have a goaltender who is ready to roll.

Regarding Copley’s ejection last night, there’s a balance between happiness to see a player stand up for himself and concern with your goaltender not being able to finish a game and being in a situation that could lead to an injury. McLellan elaborated on that balance this morning.

“He’s played so well for us that you’re standing there and you’re glad that he’s sticking up for himself and he has that emotion, it’s something that our team needs, but you’re holding your breath, that’s our starting goalie,” he detailed. “All of that goes through your head, but it happened so fast that there’s nothing anyone could do about it, or change it. Play the hand you’re dealt and I thought Quickie did a really good job going in, doing the things he needed to do. We’ll be fine there.”

High-Danger Hockey
How’s this for a statline.

The third line last night, made up of Blake Lizotte between Kevin Fiala and Alex Iafallo, had 17 scoring chances for compared to 3 against. They had 10 high-danger chances for and zero allowed. The Ducks as a team only had 18 scoring chances and eight high-danger chances for the entire night. That’s +1 in favor of that line, if you’re keeping score at home.

On 30 separate occasions this season, the Kings had fewer than 10 high-danger chances at 5-on-5 for an entire game. They average 10.1 per game in 5-on-5 situations as a whole. Last night’s total from the third line alone eclipsed that mark against the Ducks, with an exceptionally strong performance that resulted in the game-opening goal and game-icing goal, with several spells of offensive-zone possession in between.

“I thought they played really well,” McLellan said this morning. “Really well isn’t always just getting on the scoreboard, but they were committed in areas that allowed them to get on the scoreboard. Tenacity, getting pucks back, board work by all three of them, support on the breakouts, faceoff circle. A lot of really good things from those three.”

When that trio was initially assembled, it felt somewhat like the best use of the available pieces. With Trevor Moore back healthy and in his usual spot in the lineup, and Gabe Vilardi still unavailable at the time for what was his spot previously, slotting Iafallo alongside Fiala and Lizotte was almost the obvious move. He’s an effective player who plays a style of hockey that can mesh with just about any linemate, in any role on any line.

Initially, Iafallo expressed his excitement to be a part of that line, with a mix of personalities and styles that has the potential to excel all over the ice.

“It’s been pretty exciting and I’m excited to play with them,” Iafallo said. “It’s a lot of support and a lot of little plays, just get the puck to Kevin. It’s a good support line that can fly in every zone and get some offense out of it.”

Last night, it was Lizotte who spoke about it, talking about the tenacity they played with and the aggression they showed in turning first opportunities into second and third looks, as well as generating additional puck possession offensively. Fiala has the ability to create highlight-reel opportunities seemingly out of nothing, while Lizotte and Iafallo both have the awareness and hockey sense to complement a player who plays that way.

Last night was clearly their best night together, but it’s been growing and building towards that point.

“I think we just wanted it, we were passionate [last night],” Lizotte said. “I think when we play with drive, certainly my style is tenacious, and I think the more tenacious we are, the more success we’ll have. I think that correlates with production and [against Anaheim], I felt our aggressiveness was where it needed to be.”

Good signs for the Kings and what depth it creates up front if they can continue at that level moving forward.

Keeping Everyone Engaged
Lastly, sharing a quote from McLellan which pertains to the ongoing battle amongst the forwards right now. Players who deserve to be in the lineup are currently scratched each night and that will be the case again tonight. It’s a good thing to have depth, but it does not make for easy decisions, or conversations, with players. As individuals continue to play well, there’s a need to balance that against keeping everyone engaged and active with playing time. With Carl Grundstrom close to being added into that mix, the decisions will only get more difficult and decisions will have to be made not only with regards to lineup spots, but roster spots as well. Assuming full health until that point, someone will have to be assigned to the AHL when Grundstrom is healthy.

McLellan’s remarks, shared below –

“For as much as has been made about our depth, having all of these groups of players that can play, it’s hard right now because we want to keep all the players engaged. We need Brendan to be engaged, we need JAD to be engaged, we need to think about Grunny when he comes back, because that type of depth is important, not just now, but later on too. So, we’ll have some really hard decisions to make over the next little bit. We don’t want players getting away from us too long and sometimes guys will come out of the lineup just for no reason, other than to make sure their teammates get what they need.”

We’ll see which of the two available forwards to not play tonight, but no matter how you spin it, someone who should be in won’t be. Just where the Kings are at right now.

Kings and Coyotes, tonight at 7:30 PM from Crypto.com Arena. See you down there!