1/9 Preview – Kings Reunite Kopitar/Danault Lines + Leaning on Leadership, Kaliyev’s Play, B&W

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (20-10-6) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (19-17-5)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, January 9 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Amalie Arena – Tampa Bay, FL
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are in the state of Florida for the first of two games, beginning tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Phillip Danault led the Kings with two goals against the Lightning a season ago, while forward Kevin Fiala and defenseman Drew Doughty each had two assists. Danault has four points (3-1-4) from four games played against Tampa Bay since he joined the Kings organization and has tallied nine points (3-6-9) over his last 11 games overall versus the Lightning.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held an optional morning skate today in Tampa Bay, following yesterday’s full-team practice.

Goaltender Cam Talbot did not take the morning skate today, which points to him being in net tonight in Tampa Bay, his second straight start on this trip. Talbot has posted a lifetime record of 4-1-0 against the Lightning, with a .907 save percentage and a 2.59 goals-against average.

The Kings have shuffled their lines around a bit over the last couple of games, but we could see a return to their usual configuration tonight, shown below –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence

Talbot
Rittich

Up front, McLellan noted that Kopitar and Danault would go back with their regular lines, listed above. Unclear exactly how that could impact the other two lines, if at all, so consider those a projection for now.

Defenseman Jordan Spence will check back into the lineup in place of defenseman Brandt Clarke, per Todd McLellan this morning. McLellan said in advance of the trip that there would be rotation on the backend, with all seven defensemen playing over the course of the six games. He confirmed this morning that this move is rotation-based, not performance based, as was the decision to get Clarke in on Sunday. Not a permanent thing and assume we’ll see Clarke back in action in due time.

LIGHTNING VITALS: Tampa Bay has trended on the right side of the .500 line in the first half of the season, winning five of its last nine and nine of its last 16.

Should Tampa Bay turn back to usual staring netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy tonight, he brings with him a lifetime record of 8-3-0 versus the Kings throughout his NHL career. Vasilevskiy has a .916 save percentage and a 2.79 goals-against average in those games.

Per Chris Krenn of TampaBayLightning.com, here’s how the hosts lined up during yesterday’s practice –

#Bolts practice lines and D-pairings:

Stamkos-Point-Kucherov
Hagel-Cirelli-Eyssimont
ABB-Paul-Sheary
Watson-Glendening-Motte

Hedman-Raddysh
De Haan-Cernak
Lilleberg-Perbix
Myers-Thompson

— Chris Krenn (@Chris_Krenn) January 8, 2024

Tampa Bay winger Nikita Kucherov leads the NHL in scoring entering tonight, with 67 points (28-39-67) from 40 games played. Kucherov has 22 points (9-13-22) from 15 games played against the Kings throughout his NHL career. Former Kings draft picks Erik Cernak and Mikey Eyssimont are expected to play tonight against their former organization.

Notes –
Leadership
“It takes an A+ effort from everyone, a complete team game from everyone, to bust out of a slump.”

That was Anze Kopitar talking this morning about what it will take for the Kings to get back on track here tonight.

It hasn’t been a string of five disastrous performances from the Kings as of late. The Toronto game outstanding, the mistakes made and the reasons for the losses have generally come more from individual mistakes within the game, or individual moments and momentum swings, that large-scale team issues. Still, you don’t get bonus points for playing 58 good minutes. The Kings know that. The only way to get through it is execution, from everyone, and that’s the focus here tonight.

“It’s obviously a game of inches and game of details,” Kopitar added. “We haven’t been able to execute to the fullest. Like I said before, we’re going to need an A+ game to get out of this.”

In stretches like this, it’s important to rely on your leaders to steer you in the right direction.

After the loss in Washington, it’s something that Todd McLellan touched on, noting that the Kings believe in their leadership group in these moments and the players in the room will lean on those guys for getting out of it the right way.

“A lot of them have lived through stretches like this and they can draw upon what they, or others ahead of them, have done,” McLellan added yesterday. “A lot of it comes down to more than words, it comes down to actions and executing, doing things right in certain situations. We had a lot of that [in Washington], but there were, again, moments where we didn’t finish the play or execute it properly. The leaders can help clean that up and a lot of it is done through their play and their execution.”

As McLellan said, it’s about a combination of words and example.

Kopitar is a guy who speaks when needed and in moments like this, he tries to lead as vocally as he can, to instill confidence in the group. He’s also focused on doing his job to the best of his ability, because as McLellan noted, it’s about looking to your leaders for execution as much as anything. In Kopitar, the Kings have a recent Mark Messier Leadership Award winner and a high-level centerman, who logs difficult matchups and plays in difficult situations.

Saying, and doing, the right things is where his focus is at coming into tonight’s game.

“You try to be as vocal as you can be and try to do all the right stuff on the ice, really,” Kopitar added. “That’s always what it comes down to. I think the group is feeling good today and we’ll be getting ready for tonight. Hopefully we can stop the bleeding and get it going in the right direction again.”

Easier said than done, but the Kings feel confident heading into a building that has proven to be quite difficult for them over the years. An A+ effort is what’s needed and that’s what the Kings are hopeful to achieve.

Work Of Art(hur)
Consecutive strong games from forward Arthur Kaliyev.

Over the last two outings, Kaliyev has been on the ice for 41 shots attempts for, compared to just 16 against. 21-8 in scoring chances and 8-2 in high-danger chances. Individually speaking, Kaliyev is largely known for his shot and he’s used it willingly in those two games, totaling 14 shot attempts and nine shots on goal. He set a new season high with four against Detroit and bettered it the next day against Washington.

“Very productive night for Arthur,” Todd McLellan said of his game on Sunday. “We’re going to look at the scoresheet and we’re going to say well, he had five shots, whatever it was, and he did, but there was a lot of other work that went into his night. Corner work, puck retrievals for his linemates, physicality, pretty darn good night for him. We found a player there, let’s keep that going now.”

As McLellan has spoken on Kaliyev’s game throughout the course of the season, it’s been repeatedly about the other areas in his game that he wants to see come along.

To Kaliyev’s credit, it’s clear that he worked hard on trying to implement them, even if they don’t show up every night. With his ability to shoot the puck, nights with four or five shots on goal are eventually going to translate into production. Not every look was a Grade-A chance, but Kaliyev’s radius of beating a goaltender clean is wider than most.

He’s confident that if he keeps at it, and continues to commit well in other areas, it’s going to go in for him.

“I’m just trying to do other things besides just trying to score,” Kaliyev said this morning “A lot of chances are coming by playing well in other areas, other aspects of the game. I’ve just got to keep it consistent every night, winning battles, playing fast, playing hard, getting to the net more. I had a lot of shots, it has to go in soon.”

Kaliyev’s ultimate profile is as a goalscorer and eventually it feels as if the goals will come.

Now, the task is consistency, which is arguably the hardest thing to master.

“I’m just trying to do those things and do those things with more confidence,” he added. “Just trying to do those things more, every single game. Wherever I am [in the lineup], just play the same way and play hard, play like I can.”

Lastly, Insiders, sharing the most recent episode of the LA Kings Black & White Series.

Expanded episodes this season, with longer looks inside the Kings’ season. While things as of late have not gone the way they were earlier in the season, there’s a lot of good stuff in there, including a couple of cameos from yours truly.

Kings and Lightning, 4 PM faceoff Pacific time, 7 PM here in Tampa Bay. Expecting wind and rain here locally, so hopefully that doesn’t impact much inside the arena. Game coverage to follow, plus a couple of more feature-y stories tomorrow, win or loss.