12/27 Preview – Gavrikov Activated, “Penciled In” + Coming Off The Break & Byfield on THAT goal

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (19-7-4) vs. San Jose Sharks (9-22-3)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Wednesday, December 27 @ 7:00 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 in action, coming out of the NHL’s Holiday Break, as they begin a 3-in-4 set to close out 2023.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forwards Anze Kopitar (1-1-2) and Kevin Fiala (0-2-2) led the Kings last time out against San Jose, a 4-1 Kings victory earlier this month. Kopitar’s 70 career points versus the Sharks are the most amongst all active skaters around the NHL. Forward Trevor Lewis also scored in that game, giving him points in five of his last six games played versus San Jose.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate today, coming off a set of three days off for the NHL’s holiday break.

Goaltender David Rittich was off first this morning, making him tonight’s projected starter in net against the Sharks. Rittich stopped 15 of the 16 shots he faced against San Jose earlier this season, earning his first win as a King. All-time, Rittich has a record of 3-2-2 versus the Sharks, with a .892 save percentage and a 3.03 goals-against average.

Line rushes from today’s morning skate are shown below –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Moverare – Bjornfot

Rittich
Talbot

The Kings appear set to make one lineup change, with defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov ready to return from injured reserve. Per Todd McLellan, Gavrikov is “pencilled in” to play tonight, pending conversations with the team’s training staff prior to the game. Gavrikov was formally activated from injured reserve earlier today, which points towards his availability for tonight. We’ll wait until warmups to know for sure, but certainly seems as if he’ll be ready to go tonight.

“He’s pencilled in right now,” McLellan said. “I haven’t checked with the training staff, but I fully expect him to be in.”

Beyond that, the Kings have defensemen Tobias Bjornfot and Jacob Moverare available, as well as forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan, if any additional changes are needed between now and tonight’s game. Moverare was assigned to the AHL on 12/24 and recalled earlier today, rounding out the Kings’ 23-player active roster.

SHARKS VITALS: San Jose has lost five straight games entering tonight, most recently a 7-4 defeat against Vancouver entering their three-day break.

Expecting to see goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen between the pipes tonight for the Sharks, coming out of the break. Kahkonen made 35 saves on 38 shots when these teams met earlier in December. Kahkonen has now faced the Kings six times throughout his NHL career, bringing with him a record of 2-4-0, with .914 save percentage and a 2.69 goals-against average.

Per Sheng Peng of SJ Hockey Now, here’s how the Sharks lined up this morning at Crypto.com Arena –

#SJSharks at practice, looks like Barabanov is back:

Eklund-Hertl-Zadina
Duclair-Granlund-Zetterlund
Hoffman-Kunin-Barabanov
Labanc-Studnicka-Bailey

Ferraro-Burroughs
Okhotiuk-Rutta
Vlasic-Thrun

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 27, 2023

Only Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon has more assists during the month of December than San Jose forward Mikael Granlund. In that same stretch, forward Tomas Hertl has eight goals, tied for the third most in the league. Hertl is also tied for third in the NHL in goals against the Kings over the last four seasons, with nine, dating back to the 2020-21 campaign.

Notes –
Coming Off The Break
“We know what we need to do, we know how to do it, it’s just getting back to it real quick. A three-day break isn’t dramatic, we shouldn’t have forgot how to play, it’s just getting back to it as quick as we possibly can.”

That was Todd McLellan this morning, touching on what he’s looking for tonight from his group, in the early goings, coming off a three-day break.

Now, it’s not like a three-day breaks is anything wild or crazy, they’ve happened throughout the first three months of the season. This one is a bit different though, coming with no practice time and with holidays in the middle, a time when minds are rightly off the game of hockey and on time spent with friends, families and loved ones.

As such, the Kings held their longest morning skate of the season earlier today at Toyota Sports Performance Center. Typically, a morning skate for the Kings is turn and burn. They get what they need, sometimes for just 10-15 minutes, and get on with it. The full group was on the ice today for longer than 20, with some players on for a half-hour or more. All by design, as the Kings look to recreate a few of those situations they’ll see tonight and tomorrow.

“We wanted them to handle pucks in traffic,” McLellan added. “If you get up against the boards a little bit, take pucks off the walls, even bang and crash a little bit, just to get back to that and for them to understand that that’s coming and it’s going to come quick for six-plus periods.”

That preparation begun even last night from the players’ perspective.

Even though it was a mandated team off day, Adrian Kempe noted that he took some of the onus upon himself to begin his game preparation a day earlier, just getting things moving last night at home. He took a longer-than-usual warmup in the gym and was on the ice longer and perhaps went a bit harder than usual during morning skate. All a part of the preparation process, heading into tonight’s game.

“We had the three days off, so last night I tried to get the body moving a little bit,” he said. “Coming into today, just getting a good warmup in the gym and for me, just trying to sweat a little bit in the morning skate. We haven’t played in awhile, so just preparing myself to not just feel good tonight, but you don’t want to get hurt, so just trying to get [everything] working before the game.”

The other part to consider is that it’s tonight and tomorrow, not just tonight, because the Kings are immediately thrown into a back-to-back. They’ll travel to Vegas immediately following tonight’s game, with tomorrow’s tilt quickly on the horizon. It’ll be six periods of hockey in 24 hours and the Kings know they’ve got to be prepared to handle that.

On night one, there will be a focus on keeping shifts short, trying to roll lines and pass off shifts between units. When you combine some time off with games on back-to-back days, keeping shifts short is important. The Kings will try and execute on that here tonight.

“I think it’s very important having shorter shifts, short and quick and let the next guy do his job as well,” forward Quinton Byfield added. “I think it’s important coming out of a three-day break not to extend your shift length, as much as possible. It’s hockey and anything can happen out there, but I think that’s a big key.”

How About THAT Goal
While we’re talking Byfield……let’s look at his second goal last time out. As empty-net goals go, I’d challenge anyone to find one more impressive than Byfield’s on Saturday against Calgary.

QB said never 👏 give 👏 up 👏 pic.twitter.com/3Wo1m7mGPD

— LA Kings (@LAKings) December 24, 2023

This angle – while super cool – almost doesn’t do it justice in showing how far back Byfield actually was. The player he was chasing down, Calgary defenseman Noah Hanifin, is a heck of a defenseman, too, and a solid skater. Coming from several strides back, Byfield showcased so many of the traits we’ve come to expect from him this season. His combination of skating, length and tenacity have created a player who is so effective in different situations.

On this play, even though he didn’t initially set out to do what he did, he put all of those tools on display in an effective way.

“I was just trying to chase him down, I wasn’t even trying to beat Hanafin there, I know he’s fast and I thought he was going to get it, honestly,” Byfield said this morning. “I was just trying to chase him down and put some pressure on him and halfway through, I realized I might catch him and I just wanted to get body position and ice the game.”

As Todd McLellan detailed after the game, he felt there was a point in that process when Byfield went in and committed to going for the puck, as opposed to his initial intent of just harassing a defenseman to try and rag more time off the clock with a one-goal lead.

In speaking with Byfield this morning, he said that point was about halfway into his pursuit. It was then that he had to make the judgement decision to aggressively pursue the puck or simply try and pressure the play and direct it where he wanted to. He committed and got the job done to cap off a multi-goal night.

“I think like halfway through, you have to fully commit or let off a little bit,” he added. “It was still a one-goal game, so you cant be too aggressive. I fully committed there, I felt like I had a step and it worked.”

It’s really more about the traits than the outcome here, because Byfield is showcasing these things in a variety of different scenarios. The tangible result has been 25 points from 30 games. As he and the Kings keep going, he’ll look to continue those things moving forward.

On that note, it’s off to Crypto!

Expecting to see Nick Nickson back in action tonight on Bally Sports West, great to hear he’s feeling a bit better.

Do want to give a shoutout here to Josh Schaefer, who is a tremendous, young broadcaster and by all accounts did a great job during his first NHL TV call. Working with a three-person booth, sideline reporters, a full-on production truck, pre-game and intermission hosts…..I can assure you that those things do not exist at the AHL level. A big change and a lot to handle. Josh handled it all professionally and showcased his abilities to you all. Stick taps on a great debut.

Tonight, it’ll be the Kings and Sharks, 7 PM from Downtown Los Angeles! See you down there.