3/28 Preview – Lineup Changes Expected + Fiala Talks Return, Fast & Furious Starts, Spence to ONT

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (43-20-10) @ Calgary Flames (33-26-15)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, March 28 @ 6:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Scotiabank Saddledome – Calgary, AB
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back on the road for their final, extended trip of the season, beginning this evening against the Calgary Flames.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: This is the final matchup of the season between the two teams, with both sides holding serve at home in the previous three meetings. Forward Adrian Kempe leads the Kings with four goals and five points from the first three meetings, while forward Viktor Arvidsson and defenseman Drew Doughty lead the way with three assists apiece.

KINGS VITALS: This evening’s game begins a four-game trip for the Kings and is the first of six consecutive games against opposition from the Pacific Division.

The Kings will likely return to Joonas Korpisalo between the pipes this evening in Calgary, who was the first goaltender off the ice during morning skate. Korpisalo has faced Calgary seven times throughout his NHL career, posting a record of 1-2-2, with a .925 save percentage and a 2.55 goals-against average.

The Kings held a full team skate this morning in Calgary, line rushes from today are below –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Arvidsson
Moore – Lizotte – Iafallo
Grundstrom – Kupari – Kaliyev
Anderson-Dolan – MacEwen

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Edler – Durzi
Walker

Korpisalo
Copley

The Kings appear set to make three lineup changes, based off of this morning’s line rushes. Up front, the team expects to have forward Blake Lizotte back in the lineup this evening, coming off his one-game suspension. Based on rushes, expect Lizotte to slot back into the center spot on the third line, between Trevor Moore and Alex Iafallo, while forward Arthur Kaliyev is expected to play on the fourth line. Forward Gabe Vilardi did not travel with the team to Calgary due to an upper-body injury, while Kaliyev looks likely to go in for forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan. The duration of Vilardi’s absense is not known at this time, with a potential return on this trip neither confirmed nor denied.

On the backend, defenseman Alex Edler looks set to re-enter the lineup this evening on a pairing with Sean Durzi, in place of defenseman Sean Walker.

FLAMES VITALS: Calgary is concluding a three-game homestand this evening, coming in with a record of 1-1-0 from the first two.

Goaltender Jacob Markstrom was off first this morning, making him tonight’s projected starter for the Flames. Markstrom has been the goaltender of record in 14 of Calgary’s last 15 games. All-time versus the Kings, Markstrom has posted a record of 9-4-4 against the Kings, with a .911 save percentage and a 2.96 goals-against average.

Per Derek Wills of Sportsnet 960, here’s how the Flames lined up this morning –

#Flames projected lines, pairings and goaltenders vs. #GoKingsGo:

Mangiapane-Lindholm-Toffoli
Huberdeau-Backlund-Coleman
Ritchie-Kadri-Dube
Lucic-Lewis-Duehr

Hanifin-Andersson
Zadorov-Weegar
Gilbert-Stecher

Markstrom (Starter)
Vladar pic.twitter.com/tOkcvLftNz

— Derek Wills (@Fan960Wills) March 28, 2023

Tonight’s Calgary lineup appears to have four ex-Kings involved – Trevor Lewis, Milan Lucic, Troy Stecher and Tyler Toffoli. Toffoli and forward Elias Lindholm each have five points from three games played against the Kings this season. The Flames enter tonight’s action four points behind Winnipeg for the final wild card position in the Western Conference.

Notes –
Can’t Stop The Fial-ing
“I felt pretty good, actually, from the start to the end, the whole game I felt fast, I felt strong. For sure a good game and looking forward to tonight.”

That was forward Kevin Fiala speaking this morning after he returned to the lineup for the Kings last time out versus St. Louis. It took Fiala all of 27 seconds to get back on the scoresheet versus the Blues, as he set up Viktor Arvidsson’s game-opening goal on the first shift of the game. Fiala added another assist later in the evening to reach the 70-point mark for the second straight season.

Kings Head Coach Todd McLellan called Fiala “dynamic” in his first game back, noting that he looked confident and strong on his edges, while displaying the usual playmaking ability that he’s come to be known for here with the Kings this season. Just because it looked easy though, doesn’t mean that it was easy for Fiala, who missed right around two and a half weeks with a lower-body injury.

Not being around the group and having to skate on your own every day is tough on a player and Fiala was no exception.

Just skating by yourself and you’re with the guys, but you’re not with them, you know,” he said this morning. “You’re always around them but you miss the game, you miss playing and going into battle with them, helping them win.”

Fiala is back now, however, and he said he’s as close to 100 percent as anyone can really be at this time of the year.

In game one, Fiala slotted back onto the line he left with Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson. Those three players looked like they missed exactly no time together, as they combined for eight points in the win over the Blues. That trio was the Kings most dangerous in McLellan’s eyes and the statline matches the eyetest.

20 shot attempts for, compared to just six against throughout the course of the night, with whopping advantages in scoring chances and high-danger chances as well.

“All three of us I think are hard workers, fast, we all want to be good defensively and also be good offensively,” Fiala added. “We think the game kind of the same, so that helps for sure.”

Another strong effort from that line will be expected again tonight, as the Kings inch closer to a postseason berth. Good to have Fiala back to help to lead the charge in that process.

Fast & The Furious
There have been a lot of common themes so far this month for the Kings. One of them has been the ability to jump out of the gates quickly, early and often.

No team in the NHL has a better first-period goal differential (+9) during the month of March than the Kings have. No team has allowed fewer goals against than the six that have gone in versus LA, which is an average of just over a half goal per night. Compared to the 15 the Kings have scored, that’s a good way to get things moving.

In speaking with Mikey Anderson and Trevor Moore this morning, both players agreed that the starts have been strong as of late, with both players emphasizing the Kings ability to establish their game early, coming from preparation and intent.

Anderson – We’re just trying to implement our game, we want to get after teams, get in on the forecheck and get pucks to the net, try to create momentum. It’s an easy way to do it if you can string a couple of shifts together in the o-zone. Obviously it doesn’t always go that way, both teams are trying to do that to start the game, but I think we’ve been able to give a good push this last stretch.

Moore – I think it’s just coming in prepared, that’s a really important thing. It’s been something we’ve emphasized, just being ready and being on our toes from the start. We can score this year too, which is great, so if we get a chance we can put it in.

Todd McLellan was quick to offer his praise to the group for how they’ve focused in right from the start.

He credited the team’s leaders with having the group ready to go, but good leadership only has that effect on players who have the mentality of wanting to be led. It’s been a team effort for the Kings and it’s showing up right out of the gates.

“The leadership group in the locker room has done a really good job of making sure that the group was alert and ready to go, I tip my hat to them, but the followers are also important,” McLellan said. “You can have great leadership, but if the followers aren’t listening and paying attention, it really doesn’t go anywhere. They’ve all been aware of what’s at stake and our team does, at least in my opinion, play better with a lead than it does in coming from behind. It’s important that we have those good starts.”

That start will be especially important tonight against the Flames, a team that ranks fourth in the NHL in scoring first this season. Calgary has scored the first goal 42 times, trailing only Colorado, Carolina and Dallas. The Flames also have the NHL’s third-lowest winning percentage when not scoring the first goal (.188). A good start will be paramount at the Saddledome.

Spence Loaned
Lastly, Insiders, the Kings announced one roster move here this afternoon, with defenseman Jordan Spence being loaned to AHL-Ontario.

Spence was recalled immediately after defenseman Sean Durzi was injured earlier this month, but with Durzi now back in action, the Kings had eight on the blueline. There’s no roster limit at this time of the year, and the Kings were cap-compliant, but with Spence as the likely eighth defenseman on this trip, and the Reign in action three times before the Kings return home, it makes sense to have him playing games in that span. Spence is a first-pairing defenseman with the Reign and logs upwards of 20 minutes per night alongside Tobias Bjornfot on what is typically the team’s most-used pair.

Ontario is in action tomorrow evening at home against the Colorado Eagles, as they look to build upon their recent three-game winning streak. Expect to see Spence in that lineup tomorrow night.

That’s all from the Saddle, Insiders! Kings and Flames tonight, as the Pacific Pow Wow begins at 6 PM LA time.