1/7 Preview – No Morning Skate + Kings on Line Changes, Road-Trip Rotation, TM on Six Games

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (20-9-6) @ Washington Capitals (18-13-6)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Sunday, January 7 @ 12:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Capital One Arena – Washington, DC
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings kick off a six-game roadtrip this afternoon in Washington, as they look to snap a four-game losing streak.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Arthur Kaliyev scored the team’s only goal when the Kings hosted Washington in November, a 2-1 Capitals victory. Defenseman Matt Roy leads the Kings over the last three years with three assists from five games played versus Washington.

KINGS VITALS: With the earlier than usual puck drop, the Kings did not hold a morning skate today in Washington

Without the morning skate, no sign on exactly will start tonight’s game, but we’ll assume that the Kings will turn back to goaltender Cam Talbot to kick off the six-game trip. All-time against Washington, Talbot has posted a record of 5-8-1, with a .909 save percentage and a 2.63 goals-against average.

The Kings made some line changes before last game against Detroit, with those lines continuing into practice yesterday. Those combinations are shown below –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence – Clarke

Rittich / Talbot

The Kings have defenseman Brandt Clarke and forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan should they opt to make any lineup changes. Clarke will play on this trip for sure, just unsure if that will come tonight. Certainly a decent chance that he does. Will find out soon.

CAPITALS VITALS: Washington has dropped six of its last seven games entering today’s action, with a 1-4-2 record over that stretch.

Per Tom Gulitti of NHL.com, expect to see former Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper in net this afternoon against his former club. Kuemper has posted an all-time record of 9-7-3 against the Kings, with a .927 save percentage and a 2.20 goals-against average.

Via Sammi Silber of the Hockey News, here’s how Washington lined up last time out –

Capitals lines vs. Hurricanes:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Pacioretty-Strome-Lapierre
Protas-McMichael-Mantha
Malenstyn-Dowd-NAK

Fehervary-Carlson
TVR-Bear
Edmundson-Jensen

Kuemper

— Sammi Silber 🏒 (@sammisilber) January 5, 2024

Forward Alex Ovechkin is a “game-time decision” to play against the Kings, but is heating up offensively, with a four-game point streak entering the day. The Capitals were led by multi-point games from the forward line of Anthony Mantha (1-1-2), Connor McMichael (1-1-2) and Aliaksei Protas (0-2-2) when these teams met earlier this season.

Notes –
Line Adjustments
A full 60 minutes down now for a revamped Top-9.

After the 4-3 shootout defeat against Detroit, much of the talk was on the line of Pierre-Luc Dubois skating between Adrian Kempe and Alex Laferriere and rightfully so. That line was responsible for two of the team’s three goals, with all three forwards involved on both goals.

All three players are heating up. It was the second multi-goal game of the season for Kempe, who has now scored five goals from his last five games. For Dubois, it was his first multi-point night since November and he’s got four points (2-2-4) over his last six games. For Laferriere, it was his first ever multi-point game in the NHL and he’s tied for fifth in the league in rookie scoring since December 13.

The changes have to go beyond one trio, though, it has to be what works best for the entire group.

As far as the other two lines go, Trevor Moore is a new linemate for Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield, but he’s not a new teammate. He’s also the team’s leading goalscorer, so he’s not exactly a chump. That line was responsible for a goal as well on Thursday, with Byfield’s stretch pass finding Kopitar and defenseman Matt Roy activating to put home the rebound.

That line led the Kings in shot attempts and scoring chances at 5-on-5 and although it was a bit new, it’s not as new as it could be.

“They’re all NHL players, they all have a skillset,” Todd McLellan said. “Kopi and Q have played together, Mooresie is obviously a new addition there, he plays a little different than Juice does, but not dramatically different, it’s just the tendencies. You may not have played with your new linemate, but you’ve watched him now for a long time. You should understand what to expect from him and we’ve got to give it a little bit of time.”

The other impacted line involved Phillip Danault and Kevin Fiala. Carl Grundstrom started as the third member of that unit, with Arthur Kaliyev hopping on during the third period, as part of an impactful night in his return to the lineup. That line had the worst metrics, on paper, but Fiala found Danault for arguably the best chance of the first period, with Danault denied from the slot.

In the third period, that line posted excellent numbers, not allowing a shot on goal compared to four of their own, three of which were scoring chances.

“We changed the lines and I think it’s good, if you go 82 games the same way, sometimes it’s not going to go as good, so you have to change it up,” Danault said. “[It’s about finding] chemistry, obviously Kevin has the skill offensively. We just have to work hard as a line, keep things simpler, try to make the 100-percent plays, just the little things we’ve got to fix.”

A work in progress, perhaps, with that unit, but regardless of the third piece, it’s a line that is capable of not only producing, but of playing well throughout the rink.

Expecting we’ll see those lines start again today, though the Kings always have something to fall back on, should they need to adjust.

Road-Trip Rotation
An interesting element of the Kings from a personnel standpoint to watch will be the deployment of the goaltenders of the course of these six road games.

The Kings have had a schedule, to date, that has allowed them to run Cam Talbot perhaps a bit deceptively.

Talbot has played in 25 of the 35 games the Kings have played so far this season. That’s on pace for 59 appearances over the course of an 82-game season. While Talbot did say at the beginning of the year he felt that a 50-55 game workload was within his grasp, pushing 60 is pretty aggressive in today’s NHL. Talbot really hasn’t played at a 60-game pace, though. Days off early in the season allowed Talbot to play perhaps more than he might have otherwise, had the game been tighter together.

The first 35 games this season have come in a span of 86 days. The final 47 games will come in a span of 103 days. That’s 56 off days over those 47 days, after the Kings had 51 in their first 35. Breaks of two or three days were common in the first portion of the season. The only break of three days or more remaining is the ten-day All-Star break. Games will come hot and heavy the rest of the way and the Kings have confidence in two netminders from here on in.

“We had a light schedule there for a while, where we could play one, but it’s always important,” Todd McLellan said. “When we talk about David [Rittich], it feels like the exterior isn’t sure, but we are sure, so far, we’re sure. He’s played in the NHL, that’s what we have him here for, so we have zero problem or issue calling him up or playing him.”

McLellan added that Rittich was perhaps the top performing goaltender of the three during training camp. When he was eventually placed on waivers, there was a lot of internal concern that he’d be claimed. Now, with Pheonix Copley’s season-ending injury, there’s a lot of relief that Rittich passed through when he did. The rest of the way, he’ll be needed.

With that being said, Talbot certainly isn’t looking to cede starts.

He’s played quite well this season, earning his All-Star selection earlier in the week. He’s embraced the workload he’s gotten to date and while this trip is the longest of the season for the Kings, it’s one that Talbot has analyzed and you’ll see there’s a couple of afternoon games, as well as just one back-to-back set, which comes at the end. Whenever his number is called, Talbot is making sure that he’ll be ready.

“There’s a lot of travel coming up on the road trip, but only one back-to-back, which isn’t too tough,” Talbot said. “A lot of those flights aren’t super long, you’re still getting in at a halfway decent time, so as long as there’s a day between games, I’ve played for Todd before, he’s very cognizant of when to give the extra time off guys to play big minutes. He’s very aware of things like that, ice time and workload, so I know the coaching does take that into consideration though and they’ll do as they want accordingly. I’ll just continue to do what I do and I’ll be ready whenever they need me.”

While Talbot has earned the starting role here this season, Rittich is an NHL veteran who has come in and played well in his three appearances with the Kings. As McLellan noted, there’s zero hesitation in playing him whenever he’s needed.

Tonight begins the stretch of six games for this team on the road and both goaltenders will be needed. Both are confident and the team is confident playing in front of both.

Lastly, Insiders, sharing one last McLellan quote from yesterday regarding the start of a trip. It’s two-fold here, because there is the trip as a whole to consider, but there’s also the four-game losing streak the Kings are currently on.

Getting back on track here early is important, with hopes of delivering a winning trip when it’s all said and done.

“Well, we’ve done these before and you always like to be going on a roadtrip on a high note, we haven’t banked as many points as we’ve liked. There’s two challenges. One, we’d like to get through the trip and two, to find our game and re-establish it. So, that’s what we’ll start with and we’ll work our way through it, try to get home with more points in the bank than we’ve lost.”

It hasn’t been all that far off, with McLellan referencing the concept of “moments” within games. It’s all going well until it isn’t. Kings will look to flip the script in that area beginning today against the Capitals. Afternoon matinee from the nation’s capital, as the Kings hope to get right back on track.