1/16 Preview – Lizotte “Doubtful” + Fagemo Recalled, Kings Talk Strong PK, Back-To-Back

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (21-11-8) @ Dallas Stars (25-12-5)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, January 16 @ 5:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ESPN+ / Hulu – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: Coming off yesterday’s win over Carolina, the LA Kings conclude a six-game roadtrip this evening in Dallas.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Kevin Fiala collected three points (1-2-3) from three games played against the Stars last season, leading all skaters. Fiala has 14 points (6-8-14) overall from his last 10 games played versus Dallas, dating back to his time in Minnesota.

KINGS VITALS: With the travel into Texas and the back-to-back set, the Kings did not hold a morning skate today in Dallas.

Off of David Rittich’s victory last night, expect to see the Kings turn back to Cam Talbot in goal tonight, on the second half of the back-to-back set. Talbot has a career record of 4-7-1 against the Stars, with a .879 save percentage and a 3.43 goals-against average.

The Kings will likely have at least one lineup change tonight, with forward Blake Lizotte “doubtful” to play in Dallas. Lizotte left yesterday’s game in the first period with a lower-body injury, with Todd McLellan noting the Kings will get a better look at his injury when the team returns to Los Angeles.

The Kings now have two forwards – Arthur Kaliyev and Samuel Fagemo – at their disposal, as well as defenseman Brandt Clarke, should they opt for an 11/7 look. Fagemo was recalled from AHL-Ontario this morning. More on him below.

So, sharing yesterday’s lineup for reference, but expect at least one change to that group –

Today's @LAKings Line Rushes –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence

Rittich
Talbot

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) January 15, 2024

STARS VITALS: Dallas has won three of its last four games entering tonight’s action, including a pair of wins over Minnesota and a 3-1 victory over Chicago last time out.

With two days in between games, and goaltender Scott Wedgewood leaving his last start with an injury, expect to see Dallas turn back to starting goaltender Jake Oettinger tonight on home ice. Oettinger has faced the Kings three times throughout his NHL career, posting a record of 1-2-0, with a .924 save percentage and a 2.73 goals-against average.

Per Mike Heika of DallasStars.com, the Stars made in-game adjustments last time out, with their forward lines ending the game with the following alignment –

Current lines:

Steel-Johnston-Pavelski
Benn-Hintz-Smith
Robertson-Duchene-Seguin
Marchment-Faksa-Dadonov

— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) January 14, 2024

Additionally, the Stars have used the following defensive pairings –

Lindell – Hakanpaa
Hanley – Harley
Suter – Lundkvist

Over the last two months, since November 16, Dallas forward Tyler Seguin has scored 13 even-strength goals, tied for the second most in the league in that span. Dallas is currently without number-one defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who is out “week-to-week” with a lower-body injury. Among active skaters, Dallas’ Joe Pavelski and Ryan Suter rank in the top five in games played against the Kings, with no one scoring more goals versus LA than Pavelski’s 24.

Notes –
Penalty Kill Prowess
As the Kings approach Game 6/6 on their current roadtrip, an area of consistent success has been the team’s penalty kill.

Even as things have gone against the Kings in the win/loss columns, the Kings have been relatively stable on the PK, allowing just two goals in total over the first five games of the trip. The PK was especially impactful last night in Carolina, with a 5-for-5 performance, including a 6-on-4 against late in the third period, with the Hurricanes adding an extra attacker while down by two goals. A big factor in the game, against strong opposition.

“It probably made the difference, when it was all said and done,” Head Coach Todd McLellan said. “You put that type of power play – they’ve really been humming lately – on the ice for eight and a half minutes on home ice, you have a tall task in front of you, but we stuck to our structure, we relied on the goaltender when we needed it and we blocked a lot of shots.”

Of the two goals the Kings have allowed over the last five games, neither came 5-on-4. The Kings allowed a 5-on-3 goal in Detroit and a 4-on-3 goal in Florida. Certainly both situations could have been handled, but the deck is especially stacked against team on the kill when you get into those types of moments.

At 5-on-4, the Kings have generally been sound, as they were last night in Raleigh. Carolina presents a difficult test for opposing penalty kills, as McLellan alluded to. Strong opposition. The Kings felt they answered that challenge quite well.

“It was huge, they’ve got a lot of really good players over there and they don’t just kind of pass on the perimeter, they’re working hard, they’re getting in your face on the power play,” forward Trevor Moore added. “Ritter was obviously huge tonight too.”

In Dallas tonight, the Kings will face another strong test, with Dallas sitting just outside the league’s Top-10 at 23.5%, 11th best in the NHL. For what it’s worth, the Stars also rank third on the penalty kill this season, so they’re one of the league’s best on special teams.

Coming in on the second half of a back-to-back, it puts that much more emphasis on special teams, knowing that those moments can swing games one way or the other. While it was the power play that flashed in Detroit, the penalty kill took over with a great mentality and commitment in Carolina. That’s something the Kings want to see carryover into tonight’s game.

“Guys bear down block shots when we need them, get clears,” defenseman Mikey Anderson added. “It’s been a big improvement from last year. We talked about wanting to be better and so far as a group, we’ve been better. That’s something we want to keep building on.”

Making Moves
As noted above, the Kings are expecting to likely be without forward Blake Lizotte tonight in Dallas.

Lizotte took a hit yesterday in Carolina, left the game with a lower-body injury and did not return. Todd McLellan labeled him as “doubtful” for tonight’s game, with an eye on a better look at his injury when the team returns to California tomorrow.

Earlier today, the Kings recalled forward Samuel Fagemo from the AHL’s Ontario Reign. Fagemo met up with the team in Dallas, flying in from British Columbia, where the Reign were staying to take on the Abbotsford Canucks.

It’s been quite the start to the season for Fagemo. After he accompanied the Kings to Australia during the preseason, he was eventually placed on waivers and claimed by the Nashville Predators. Fagemo scored in his first game with Nashville, but was eventually placed back on waivers after four games and re-claimed by the Kings and assigned to the AHL, where he’s been arguably the league’s best goalscorer.

“He’s been great, I can say it over and over that we are so lucky to have him,” Ontario Reign Head Coach Marco Sturm said of Fagemo. “He’s a pure goal-scorer and he wants to shoot, and we don’t have too much of that. I don’t even know why he didn’t make the All-Star Game, but that’s a different story. He’s different because he wants it. Hopefully, he’s going to get a chance here with the Kings because he’s one of those players that’s tough to find, with his shot, he’s very dangerous.”

Fagemo has 20 goals from 24 games, scoring at a blistering pace, ranking second in the AHL as of this morning. He’s got 33 points in total on the season, coming in at well over a point-per-game, sitting sixth in the league in scoring. Though he was held off the board in his most recent AHL game played, Fagemo had two, two and three goals in the three games before. Just five times this season has he gone without a point in a game. The man is humming along and now he’ll join the Kings in their roadtrip finale.

Fagemo brings a total of 17 NHL games in what will be the fourth time the Kings have recalled him, in addition to his time with Nashville. The Swedish-born winger has a career stat line of four points (3-1-4) from 17 games played in the NHL.

Should he check into the lineup tonight, he’d likely join a bottom six that got back on the scoresheet last night, with 5-on-5 goals from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Laferriere. An opportunity to play with Dubois, who is heating up, could be a nice fit for Fagemo. He’s also played on an NHL fourth line before as well, working hard in addition to the scoring touch at the AHL level.

Should he check in tonight, it would be his first opportunity of the season with the Kings and certainly a well-deserved one after his torrid start with Ontario.

Back-to-back for the Kings tonight to close out the trip.

LA has been one of the NHLs’s best teams on the second-half of back-to-back sets over the last two seasons, ranking seventh in 2022-23 (1.36) and fourth in 2021-22 (1.31) in points earned per game with no day off between games. So far this season, the Kings come in at 0.7 points-per-game, with a record of 1-2-2. A tough task tonight, certainly, on the final game of a roadtrip, facing Dallas on a couple days of rest. The Kings put a lot into last night’s win and we’ll see how they meet that challenge later on tonight.

5 PM Pacific on the puck drop, 7 PM here in Dallas, before we finally return home!