11/8 Preview – Optional Morning Skate + Projected Lineups, A Tussle At The Top, PP Progress

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (7-2-2) @ Vegas Golden Knights (11-1-1)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Wednesday, November 8 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: T-Mobile Arena – Las Vegas, NV
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: TNT – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings conclude a stretch of four straight games away from home, as they visit the Vegas Golden Knights for a divisional battle.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Nine Kings players collected a point when these teams met last month at Crypto.com Arena, including defenseman Drew Doughty, who tied the game late in regulation to earn his team a point. No blueliner has more points all-time versus the Golden Knights than Doughty, who has 19 (4-15-19) from 29 games played against Vegas.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held an optional morning skate today in Vegas, following a full day of practice yesterday at home before the travel to Nevada.

All signs point towards goaltender Cam Talbot making the start tonight against Vegas, in what would be his fifth consecutive start. Talbot made 27 saves on 30 shots versus the Golden Knights last time out, as the Kings were defeated in overtime. All-time, Talbot has posted a record of 7-7-3, with a .899 save percentage and a 3.24 goals-against average.

Today’s morning skate did not indicate any changes to the Kings lineup this evening, with the same group that played on Saturday in Philadelphia expected again tonight. That lineup, for reference –

Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Kaliyev
Fiala – Dubois – Laferriere
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Lewis

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence

Talbot
Copley

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) November 2, 2023

Assuming all goes according to plan, this would mark the ninth consecutive game the Kings have rolled out the same lineup. Should there be a change, forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan and defenseman Tobias Bjornfot are eligible to check into action if needed.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS VITALS: Vegas saw its season-opening, 12-game point streak come to a close on Sunday, as they fell 4-2 against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center.

Goaltender Adin Hill was off first this morning for the hosts, making him tonight’s projected starter against the Kings this evening. Hill has faced the Kings eight times throughout his NHL career and brings with him a record of 4-2-1, along with a .923 save percentage and a 2.31 goals-against average.

Per Sin Bin Vegas, here is how the hosts are expected to align tonight against the Kings –

VGK have recalled Jonas Rondbjerg, seemingly to play for Stephenson tonight.

Whitecloud is in a normal jersey but not taking part in line rushes for those expected to play tonight.

Here's the projected lineup based on practice rushes…

Barbashev-Eichel-Marchessault…

— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) November 8, 2023

The Golden Knights were without forwards Chandler Stephenson and Nicolas Roy, as well as defensemen Alec Martinez and Nic Hague during their practice yesterday, while defenseman Zach Whitecloud skated in a red, non-contact jersey. Stephenson is out tonight with an upper-body injury, though reports have suggested that Martinez could potentially play tonight.

Notes –
Tussle At The Top
The first and third placed teams in the Pacific Division square off tonight in Las Vegas. The NHL’s best home team versus the NHL’s best road team.

Vegas is the top dog in the league right now, not only because their success last season in winning a championship, but in how they’ve come out of the gates this year as well. The Golden Knights are 11-1-1 overall and boast a mark of 7-0-1 on home ice so far this season, taking 15 of a possible 16 points.

The Kings come into T-Mobile Arena with a perfect 6-0-0 record away from home and they’ll look to turn that six into a seven this evening. The Kings became the 14th team in NHL history to win their first six away games to begin a season, accomplishing that feat for the first time in franchise history.

When these teams met in late-October, it was arguably the best contested game of the season to date, from both teams. Ice was hard to come by and both teams capitalized on rare mistakes from the opposition. It was a game that deserved overtime and got it, with Vegas eventually earning the extra point via the shootout. It was a game that everyone seemed happy with, stylistically, even if there was a disappointment in not getting the second point at the time.

“When I look at that game, I think of 40 players that played hard, heavy, calculated hockey and that’s on both teams,” Todd McLellan said this morning. “Sometimes your opponent drags you into a real good match, I think that’s going to happen here again tonight. The ability to get the lead against this team is important, obviously, we couldn’t hold it, but that’s something that we’d like to do.”

So what did the Kings like about the way they played in that first game against Vegas, that they’d like to see continue here into tonight’s game?

First things first, they felt they played with pace. A strength of the Kings so far this season has been their depth throughout the lineup and the on that night, team speed and team pace was present throughout all four lines.

“I think our energy was there and I think we played with speed and we tried to get pucks to the net, which was good,” defenseman Matt Roy said this morning. “I think if we can shoot and break them down, it helps us and just playing fast, playing as a team, helps.”

The Kings were also were happy with their commitment and performance defensively in that game, as they tightened the screws off from the two games versus Arizona coming into that one. Since then, the defensive game has remained, as the Kings have hit their stride with consistency over the last week. In a lot of ways, it started over a full 60 minutes in that first game against Vegas.

“It was a good game and we fought hard, I think we did a better job of not giving them too many Grade A’s and when we did, Talbs was there to shut the door,” forward Trevor Lewis added. “It was a good effort, we just wish we had both points.”

Heading into tonight, the Kings know they’ll need their best across 60 minutes. Roy and defenseman Mikey Anderson pointed to “long chances” and how adept Vegas is at converting them. That requires a five-player effort to retain focus at all times. McLellan and the players are valuing the importance of every shift tonight and the Kings are expecting that to show up again, as it did last time against this opponent.

“I think that the understanding of how the game is played against them is the most important thing,” McLellan added. “Every shift, every moment is important and it may be something that’s 150 feet away from your net, but it matters. You can’t take anything for granted and I thought that night we were pretty good with a lot of that.”

PPProgress
The Kings have put in a lot of work on the power play in the early stages of this season.

Overall, we’re seeing some signs of growth after a slow start. In some ways, it’s mirroring last season’s Kings team, which ended the year as a Top 5 unit in the NHL. Phillip Danault’s unit was the stronger of the two early last season and they’ve been the more productive unit in the early goings this season as well.

Of the nine power-play goals the Kings have scored through 11 games, Danault’s unit has scored five, compared to three for Anze Kopitar’s unit and one from Carl Grundstrom late in the game versus Boston. We touched on why Danault’s unit is starting to click in the preview on Saturday, which came before that unit scored again, through forward Arthur Kaliyev, to make it a goal in every game on the roadtrip.

For the other unit though, the one that typically starts power plays and typically gets more of the ice time, they believe they are taking some strides forward, even if the goals aren’t yet following.

Last season, from the start of the year through December 31, Danault’s unit outscored Kopitar’s by a 19-13 margin. It was clear that the top unit needed some more time to gel together and it took them a little longer than perhaps expected. From January 1 on? Kopitar’s unit specifically buried 21 goals from 42 games, on top of six power-play goals from six postseason games, carrying their weight, and then some down the stretch.

With a similar start here this fall, it’s obvious that there is still some work to be done. That work is being put in though, working towards turning chances into goals.

“If you’re getting one scoring chance every four power plays, even if you score, statistically it’s good, but over the 82-game season, you’re probably not going to do too well,” forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said of his unit. “We’re getting chances, we’re moving the puck. I’m new to the net front, so I bring something different than say Arvy last year, so it’s a little different, but as long as we’re getting scoring chances, the goals will come.”

Dubois is the piece that is different from last year’s unit to now. In terms of handedness, it’s been a change, as the Kings are without their two right-shot forwards from last season’s units in Viktor Arvidsson and Gabe Vilardi. There’s also developing and learning tendencies, as we also saw last season when Kevin Fiala was integrated into the group. The second-half surge in goals came in part due to that unit being comfortable with those tendencies, roles and systems. That’s been a part of the process this year as well.

“Juice, Kopi, Kev, Dewy, they all have tendencies that you’re trying to learn,” Dubois said. “Where they like to be, spots they like to go to and shoot from. Being the new guy, I’m just trying learn and get to know where they are. You want to play fast but to play fast, you have to not think sometimes, you just have to know, so I’m trying to get there. It’ll happen. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we’re talking, doing video, talking on the bench and it’s helping a lot.”

Speaking with Todd McLellan, he admitted that for all the work the Kings are putting in during practice – and there’s been a substantial amount, whether it be in a full team setting or individual players working on specific parts of the power play – there’s nothing that can replicate game intensity. The Kings pride themselves on their practice level, but it’s still Kings vs. Kings and certain elements just aren’t replicated in a practice setting.

For now, the Kings are sticking with the personnel on each unit as they have it presently, that doesn’t mean there aren’t tweaks and adjustments being made. Expect to see the same players on the ice, but the Kings are playing around with different players in different areas, as a result of the handedness of the players on both units.

“We’re looking to do some of those things, you may have seen some of that in the games already, with different rotations, but it is a work in progress and a lot of it is based around the hands of our players,” McLellan said. “I think that good power plays take advantage of situations with righties and lefties and we’re still trying to work that out.”

We’ve already seen players rotate around into different spots on the ice and could continue to see that as we progress. Something to keep an eye on tonight, as the Kings continue to progress towards effectiveness on the man advantage.

Big one tonight, Insiders! National game, so who knows when it will actually start, but Kings and Golden Knights in a fun one on the strip!