3/9 Preview – Kempe a “possibility”, his path back + Anderson out, winning through injuries

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (32-19-11) vs. Dallas Stars (38-17-9)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, March 9 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: KCAL Ch. 9 – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Stars are out in Hollywood as the Kings host Dallas in a Saturday evening showdown at Crypto.com Arena.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Defenseman Drew Doughty scored his team’s only goal when these teams met back in January in Dallas. Over the last three seasons, forward Arthur Kaliyev has four goals from five games versus the Stars.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team practice day yesterday in El Segundo and really did not take a morning skate today, with only defenseman Mikey Anderson and goaltender David Rittich on the ice.

Tonight’s lineup has a couple of wrinkles to it.

First things first, Adrian Kempe is “definitely a possibility” for tonight, per Jim Hiller, while Mikey Anderson will not play.

“Mikey no, Adrian is closer,” Hiller said. “There are still some things that are going to have to go on this afternoon and we’ll get a sense of things. Adrian is definitely a possibility.”

With that in mind, assuming that Kempe is good to go, the Kings could at the very least make a change to the group. That much is dictated by numbers as much as anything. With a look at jersey colors over the last couple of days, here’s a possible alignment for this evening –

Byfield – Kopitar – (Kempe)
Moore – Danault – Fiala
Laferriere – Dubois – Turcotte
Lewis – Lizotte – Kaliyev

Moverare – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence

Talbot / Rittich

Regarding the above lines, there’s a bit of wait and see, unclear exactly who might fill the winger positions in the bottom six. Defenseman Brandt Clarke was assigned to AHL-Ontario yesterday, along with forward Samuel Fagemo. That would leave 12 forwards and six defensemen available, should Kempe be able to go.

With how today’s morning went, it could go either way with regards to tonight’s starting goaltender. Initially, it points towards Cam Talbot in net tonight, who brings with him a 4-8-1 record, a .875 save percentage and a 3.74 goals-against average in his career against the Stars. Should Rittich return to the net, though, he has a lifetime record of 2-2-1 against Dallas, with a .923 save percentage and a 2.20 goals-against average.

STARS VITALS: Dallas enters tonight’s game on a four-game winning streak, including a pair of victories over San Jose over the last six days and last night’s win versus the Ducks.

Jake Oettinger got the nod yesterday evening in Anaheim, so that points towards former Ontario Reign netminder Scott Wedgewood tonight against the Kings. Wedgewood has faced the Kings five times throughout his professional career, posting a record of 3-2-0, with a .919 save percentage and a 2.60 goals-against average.

A potential Dallas alignment for this evening’s game –

Robertson – Hintz – Pavelski
Marchment – Duchene – Dellandrea
Benn – Johnston – Stankoven
Faksa – Steel – Smith

Harley – Heiskanen
Lindell – Tanev
Suter – Hakanpaa
Lundqvist

Wedgewood
Oettinger

Dallas went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen last night in Anaheim, with Craig Smith out, but opted for a 12/6 alignment the game before in San Jose, without Nils Lundkvist. Couple of options for what we might see from the visitors. Defenseman Chris Tanev, recently acquired from Calgary, scored his first goal with the Stars last night against the Ducks. Dallas has six 20-goal scorers, the only team in the NHL with more than four.

Notes –
Finding Ways To Win
Something that forward Blake Lizotte said the other day struck a chord with me.

He spoke about the difference when the Kings get scored on now, versus maybe January, when they were “on a slide”. He said right now, the mentality is a “hey, let’s get going, we’re right back in this thing”, versus what he called a “mope around” before. That mindset was perhaps ever-so important against Ottawa on Thursday, as the Kings came from behind in the third period to collect the two points.

“I think the attitude has changed quite a bit in our room,” Lizotte added.

There was a point in this season where the Kings don’t win that game. In speaking with Adrian Kempe, who did not play last night but is well-engrained in where the group was at earlier this season when things weren’t going well, he put it pretty bluntly.

“If this game was earlier in the season, that would have been a game that we didn’t get the two points, that’s what it felt like.”

On Thursday they did win that game. They got the two needed points.

The Kings have certainly needed that attitude and mindset over the last five games, as they’ve played without Kempe and Mikey Anderson, on top of the already injured Viktor Arvidsson and Carl Grundstrom. Kempe and Anderson are both first-line regulars, who play in lots of different situations, against the opposition’s top players. When they’re in, they set the lineup as it’s designed to be slotted.

With Kempe on the verge of a return, it’ll be one piece back, but in the five games he’s missed to date, the Kings have managed to go 3-1-1, with the only regulation loss coming in Calgary on the second half of a back-to-back. There’s something to be said about winning games when your top-end players are missing. You want them back in, you’d obviously rather be winning with them, but there’s also a bit of a rallying moment when you can get the job done in those adverse situations.

Jim Hiller has talked regularly since taking over as head coach about restoring the team’s mindset, first and foremost. I think we can safely say at this point he’s generally done that and consider Thursday’s game to be a working example of how that’s played out.

“You earn your way back to that type of mindset,” Hiller said. “We were maybe a little bit fragile, I think we feel a little bit more solid now, you know what, this happens, let’s keep going. We’ve got good players, sooner or later if you do the right thing, somebody’s going to get one.”

He added that sometimes when the team isn’t feeling good, isn’t feeling at its best, there’s that “oh no, not again” feeling in certain situations. Exactly what Lizotte referenced was happening earlier in the season.

So, even if you want to downplay Thursday because of opposition, which would be shortsighted, the Kings displayed the proper mindset in grinding their way towards two points. At this point in the process, it’s about wins and losses, points gained. The Kings are 9-4-1 since the All-Star break, so safe to say things are going alright.

Juice Worth The Squeeze
It’s kind of felt like more than five games without Adrian Kempe, hasn’t it?

Kempe went down with an upper-body injury back in Edmonton in late-February. That game feels like weeks ago, but it’s been just 12 days. He left that game in the final minutes, with the Kings pushing for a late comeback, and did not return.

“It was frustrating as soon as that happened, obviously it’s hard to know how long you’re going to be out for, MRI’s, x-rays, is it fractured, do I need surgery, all of that kind of stuff,” Kempe said. “I was happy that I didn’t need surgery and obviously it’s still been healing really fast, faster than I thought it was going to be, so I’m doing well. It feels pretty good out there, it feels pretty good in the glove, which is the most important thing.”

During yesterday’s practice, Kempe took a skate that was more in line with what the team’s healthy players would. He took part in some post-practice drills, but didn’t stay on for conditioning in the way that Mikey Anderson did. As Hiller shared this morning, it’s why Kempe’s timeline feels slightly ahead of Anderson’s.

In Kempe, the Kings get a massive player back in action, whether that be tonight or perhaps on Monday.

He’s already set a new career high with 32 assists and despite missing some time, he’s on pace to exceed his career-best totals should he return to action here over the next couple of games. It’s always about more than just the scoring with Kempe, however. He runs alongside Anze Kopitar more often than not and brings the trusted, 200-foot game that comes along with that assignment. Kempe plays both power play and penalty kill and he’s capable of logging intensive minutes when asked.

“First of all, you think of his speed, we like to think he impacts the other team’s defensemen, forechecking, he keeps you on your toes,” Jim Hiller said of Kempe. “He’s on special teams, he’s a penalty-kill player, he’s a power-play player, he’s got the one timer and he plays with Kopi, so there’s a lot he brings to our team.”

The plan for Kempe tonight is to take warmups and see how he feels. Assuming all systems go, should be the green light for his return to action. He’s a question mark, but there’s definitely a chance he will play and that’s exciting for the Kings.

Kempe said after yesterday’s practice that he felt “pretty good”, though we all know how things can change.

What’s also been exciting, to Kempe himself, is how well the team has played in his absence. The Kings certainly miss Kempe, but they’ve also kept the ship afloat when he’s missed time.

“It’s been great, those first two games they played really well in VAN and then [New Jersey] who they beat 5-1 after that, but they’ve been playing well,” Kempe said. “Tight game against Vancouver and it could have ended either way. [Against Ottawa], maybe not the best start but great battle back and two points is the most important thing……it’s good to get the OT wins and get some confidence in that area. They’ve played really good.”

Looking ahead to tonight, with the Kings facing a Dallas team on the second half of a back-to-back, any potential boost could be big. Until warmups we wait, where we will view with a watchful eye.

Kings and Stars for Game 4 of 5 on this homestand. First of two head-to-head matchups over the next eight days against Dallas. Should be a good one on the docket!