12/10 Preview – Road Trip Finale + Battle Of The Best, Laf Factory, Quick(vs)Silver

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (16-4-4) @ New York Rangers (18-6-1)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Sunday, December 10 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings conclude a four-game roadtrip here this evening, as they square off against the New York Rangers for the first time this season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Kevin Fiala led the Kings last season with three points (1-2-3) from two games played against the Rangers, while forwards Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault each added two assists in the season series. Forward Adrian Kempe has eight points (4-4-8) over his last eight games played against New York.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings did not hold a morning skate today, considering the back-to-back on the schedule.

Considering the back-to-back games, look for goaltender Pheonix Copley to get the start tonight against the Rangers, after Cam Talbot played yesterday versus the Islanders. All-time versus the Rangers, Copley has posted a record of 2-0-0, with a .867 save percentage and a 3.73 goals-against average.

For reference, here’s how the Kings lined up last night against the Islanders –

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence

Talbot
Copley

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) December 10, 2023

Per Todd McLellan’s post-game updates, he expected defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and forward Trevor Lewis to be “sore” after taking respective hits last night, but both players did return to the game, with Lewis not missing a shift. Should either player be unavailable, or a personnel change be desired, the Kings have forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan and defenseman Jacob Moverare here in New York as options to check in.

RANGERS VITALS: New York has dropped its last two games by four-goal deficits, though that pair of losses followed a stretch of six wins from seven games.

With Igor Shesterkin making the start last night, it appears as if goaltender Jonathan Quick will make the start tonight, facing his longtime club for the first time as an opponent. More on Quick below.

Per Mollie Walker of the New York Post, here’s how the Rangers lined up yesterday in Washington –

#NYR warmup lines vs. Washington:

Kreider-Zibanejad-Brodzinski
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Bonino-Wheeler
Vesey-Nash-Pitlick

Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Gustafsson-Schneider

Shesterkin
Quick

— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) December 9, 2023

Beyond Quick, look for former Kings forward Jonny Brodzinski to play against his former club tonight. Rangers forward Artemi Panarin ranks fourth in the NHL in points (37) and sixth in the NHL in goals (16) so far this season. Panarin’s 12 even-strength goals are tied for the third-most in the NHL this season. At 1.07 points-per-game, Adam Fox is one of four blueliners around the NHL at or above a point-per-game this season.

Notes –
Battle Of The Best
Tonight’s game features two of the best teams in the NHL by points percentage.

No team in the NHL has won more games this season than the Rangers. No team in the NHL has a higher points percentage than the Kings.

In so many ways, this game represents a look at strength-versus-strength. The Rangers have a .800 winning percentage on home ice, the second-best mark in the league. The Kings are 11-0-1 on the road this season, leading the league in both road victories and road winning percentage. The Rangers are one of four teams in the NHL clicking at or above 30 percent on the power play this season. The Kings come in just shy of 90 percent on the penalty kill, the third-best percentage in the NHL.

Both teams have found a lot of success this season, even if they’ve done so in different ways.

The Kings have been powered by their depth this season, getting contributions from different players, in different situations. The Rangers have players at or towards the top of the league in individual statistics. The Kings have at least nine players with six-or-more goals this season. No team in the NHL has more. The Rangers have Artemi Panarin in the Top-10 in goals scored and Chris Kreider in the Top-5 in power-play goals. The Rangers have a 15-point gap between their leading scorer and their second leading scorer. The Kings have five players between 21 and 25 points on the season. New York’s Adam Fox is one of four defenseman at or above a point-per-game pace this season. All six Kings blueliners have between six and nine assists.

Offensively, the Kings do most of their damage at even strength. The Rangers are one of the NHL’s best on the power play. The Rangers are a Top-5 team in goals per/60 and high-danger chances per/60 on the man advantage. The Kings lead the league in goals per/60 at even strength and are a Top-5 team in scoring chances per/60.

Fine, you get the point.

Two teams that have played extremely well here early in the season, even though they’ve done so in their own way. An exciting one on the docket to conclude the roadtrip.

Laf Factory
With 10 seconds remaining in a 2-2 game, the Kings were in their own zone protecting the opportunity to get into overtime.

On the ice was young forward Alex Laferriere, in a key moment late in the game. When the puck came to the center point with eight seconds remaining, Laferriere got down to block the shot, before he won the race to the resulting loose puck, getting the clear and getting the puck down the ice to relieve the danger. In that moment, it was an important play and a heads-up play, in a crucial moment.

“He sells out, we’ve seen that a number of times from him where he is really willing to lay out in front of a shot,” Todd McLellan said after last night’s game. “Laf did a real good job and in that situation with only a few seconds left. They had a good look into the net.”

As he navigates through his first professional season, Laferriere is experiencing a lot of things for the first time.

I mean, he’s playing four games in six nights here this week and that’s not something you go through in the NCAA. You might play four games in 14 days when in college. Such is life for rookies in the NHL, especially rookies who go the college route.

“It’s definitely a lot different than school,” Laferriere said. “I think the past couple of weeks, we’ve had a lot off days after games and stuff, so now I think it’s just trying to maintain my body and making sure that it’s ready to go every single night.”

That first year, a lot of it is living it for the first time. Laferriere is riding along through stretches that are new for him, but he’s not doing it alone.

He’s spoken in the past about the direct communication he’s received from the coaching staff, especially surrounding the one game he sat out earlier in the season. From that point on, his play has been praised on most nights. He’s also gotten advice and communication from the more veteran players in the room, who are helping him to navigate through his first professional season.

“I think the only way to experience it is living through it,” he added. “I think the older guys here have done a great job of reaching out and asking if I need anything, kind of guiding me in the right direction. They’ve been awesome.”

Though his production has been measured, entering the day with four points from 23 games played, his play away from the puck continues to improve. See last night’s blocked shot as just one example.

It’s been in that area that has impressed McLellan early in the season. He wants to the confident young player shoot the puck as he was earlier in the season, but he’s got that in there. He’s on a line that feels primed to breakout offensively and all things considered, there’s a lot of good things for number 78.

“He’s played with a high energy level, his play without the puck is impressive, his ability to hunt and close important ice off for the opposition has really stood out in our minds,” McLellan said. “He shot the puck a little bit more early in the year, we’d like to see him get back to that because we think he’s got a really good shot, but overall, I think he’s handled it well.”

Quick(vs)Silver
Lastly, Insiders, we know it’s a special one on the docket for at least one reason.

So many in this group will face Jonathan Quick for the first time as an opponent in the NHL. They’ve shot on him thousands of times during practice over the years. They know him and he knows them. But, it’s never happened in a game, until what we expect will be tonight.

Terrific start to the season for JQ32, a start that I think a lot of people here with the Kings are quite happy about. Quick has yet to lose a game in regulation and carries with him a record of 7-0-1, with a .918 save percentage, a 2.34 goals-against average and a pair of shutouts. Quick sits nine wins shy of tying Ryan Miller for the all-time record for most wins by a US-born goaltender. 10 for sole possession of the mark. With perhaps a bit larger than expected workload and seven victories in the first two months of the season, that record feels within reach here in 2023-24.

Seeing him in warmups and in tonight’s game will certainly spark some emotions for a lot of former teammates on the Kings side. In a game preview, on a back-to-back, it’s largely impossible to put into words what Quick has meant to the Kings. One day, when all is said and done, we’ll have that article here for sure. In the meantime, for all of the former-teammate reunions over the years – including several in the early stages of this season – Quick’s stands alone, for sure.

Kings and Rangers, back in the Chromes, tonight at 4 PM Pacific as the Kings conclude their Eastern swing. Fun one lies ahead!