3/19 Preview – Kings Look To Play “Their Way” + Latest on Arvidsson, Talbot in Net, AnderSONS

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (34-22-11) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (19-44-5)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, March 19 @ 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 return home for a pivotal, three-game homestand, beginning tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings were led by multi-point nights from six different players when these teams met in Chicago last week, a 5-0 victory for the Kings. Anze Kopitar scored twice, while forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Laferriere had a goal and an assist. Defenseman Jordan Spence scored his first goal of the season, and added an assist, in the win over the Blackhawks.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a highly optional morning skate here today, following a full-team practice day on Monday at Toyota Sports Performance Center.

Goaltender Cam Talbot was not on the ice this morning, which points towards him as tonight’s projected starter in net against the Blackhawks. Talbot stopped all 28 shots he faced in a 5-0 victory over Chicago last week, improving his overall record versus the Blackhawks to 10-7-1, with a .934 save percentage and a 2.05 goals-against average.

Here’s how the Kings lined up during yesterday’s practice, in what could foreshadow tonight’s game against Chicago –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Moverare

Rittich / Talbot

So, the number-one question pertains to Viktor Arvidsson, who was a sight for sore eyes at yesterday’s practice. Arvidsson is on LTIR and has not yet been activated to play, with yesterday’s practice showing a player who is “close” but perhaps not ready to go just yet. A promising sign to keep an eye on, but unclear that he will be in tonight’s lineup.

“He’s close, he’s back out there skating again today,” Head Coach Jim Hiller said. “We’ll get reports, I don’t know the exact game, but I know he’s very close.”

Hiller said there’s a “possibility” it could be tonight for Arvidsson, but was far from committal. Assuming Arvidsson cannot go, we could see the Kings return to the 11F / 7D look they used in both St. Louis and Chicago to begin the trip. That would see Jacob Moverare checking in, in place of Arthur Kaliyev, if the Kings opt for that approach.

BLACKHAWKS VITALS: Chicago has won four of its last six games, including a 5-2 win last time out over San Jose, which came after they were defeated by the Kings in the prior game.

Veteran goaltender Petr Mrazek was the first netminder off this morning at Crypto.com Arena, making him tonight’s projected starting goaltender against the Kings this evening. Mrazek, who entered in relief against the Kings on Friday, has a lifetime record of 3-2-1 versus LA, with a .957 save percentage and a 1.32 goals-against average.

Per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times, here’s how the Blackhawks lined up during their 5-2 win over San Jose on Sunday –

Blackhawks lines in warmups vs. Sharks:

TJohnson-Bedard-Kurashev
Foligno-Athanasiou-Reichel
Blackwell-Dickinson-Anderson
Slaggert-Donato-Raddysh

Vlasic-Jones
Korchinski-Megna
Tinordi-Zaitsev

Mrazek

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 17, 2024

Chicago forward Connor Bedard leads all first-year players in goals (21) and points (53), ranking tied for first in assists (32). Bedard was named as the NHL’s second star of the week last week, with seven points (2-5-7) from three games played. Bedard’s 13 points this month are tied for the second-most in the NHL, behind only Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.

Notes –
Final 15
I’ll be the first to admit the standings are tighter than I thought they were.

The Kings enter tonight’s game sitting at 79 points in the standings. They’re tied for third in the Pacific Division with Vegas, with a five-point gap upwards to Edmonton in second and a four-point gap down to St. Louis as the first team out of the playoffs, with Minnesota a point back of the Blues. The Kings have a couple paths to the postseason, the simplest of which being accumulating more points than Vegas the rest of the way home. If that doesn’t happen, the Kings would find themselves in a Wild Card race where they do have a small cushion, but also a few teams within a stone’s throw back.

That begs the ultimate question – over these 15 games, how do they get in?

For the Kings, right now, it comes down to consistency and execution.

When they play the way they set out to play, results follow. When they deviate from that plan, we’ve seen what happens. In speaking with Mikey Anderson and Drew Doughty about their thoughts on where things are at, their answers were strikingly similar.

Anderson – I think if we stay on top of the details that make us who we are, we’re a very good team. We’ve lost a couple of games that maybe we got a little laid back on the things we need to do consistently, but I think everyone’s got a good idea of what we want to do. If we’re able to do it and stick to it, it makes us a pretty good team.”

Doughty – I think when we play the way Jimmy wants us to play, then we’re a really good team and then when we get away from that, that’s when we lose games. I’m in a good place with the team, I think we see what we can do when we play the right way. As long as we have everybody sticking to that, I think we’ll be just fine.

Kevin Fiala has generally been happy with the team’s play since the break as well, but used the word “inconsistency” to describe the games where the Kings have fallen short.

“We’re good, overall, after the break, some inconsistency in some games, but overall, I think we’ve had good games,” Fiala said. “There’s [15] more games, so we have a lot of games left, so we just have to keep it up, win our games and we should be fine.”

When the Kings have won – which they’ve done in 12 of their last 20 games – they’ve generally done the right things, at least defensively. In those 12 games, they’ve allowed a total of 16 goals and four of them came in the 5-4 overtime win thriller in Boston. In the other eight games? They’ve allowed 32 goals, a deviation from the plan.

Offensively, things have been less defined and more of a mixed bag.

In 11 of the 20 games, the Kings have scored two or fewer goals, excluding the team goal awarded for a shootout win. They’ve actually won three of those games, forcing a fourth into overtime, but the team’s record when hitting four goals this season is undeniable. Even scoring three more regularly would have them in a more comfortable position heading into this homestand.

The message, though, is clear. More offense is desired, but the Kings won’t cheat in order to find it.

“We always want to create more offense for sure, but never at the cost of defense,” Hiller said. “It’s so hard to score, it’s so hard to outscore your mistakes in this league, that if you start trying to focus on the wrong things, you’re going to find yourself behind and then trying to claw back, it doesn’t work very often.”

The Kings still believe they have a checking-first identity and they plan to stick to that, even if it means winning more games 2-1 or 3-2.

Chicago, Minnesota and Tampa Bay on the docket this week at home, followed by a big roadtrip in Canada, with four games against teams in or fighting for a playoff position. Find that style of play, with consistency, and the Kings will be just fine. Without it, a nervewracking road will bring the team into April.

AnderSONS
For the second time in a week, Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson will play against his brother Joey.

“It was super cool, I think that might be that third time ever we’ve played against each other, so pretty fun to have it,” he said. “I think he got a little hit on met last game, so I think I’m going to try and get him back [tonight]. It’s fun for the family and everyone involved.”

Mikey’s NHL debut came with Joey on the other side of the ice, then a member of the New Jersey Devils. The only time previously they faced each other in a legitimate game was in the USHL, when Joey was with the USNTDP an Mikey was the Waterloo Blackhawks.

What’s most special about it, though, is the family element.

After the game in Chicago was a nice moment when everyone could be together, before Mikey and the Kings departed for Dallas. Moments like that in the NHL are rare. There’s not a ton of time for personal travel or family during the season, so the opportunity to be together, even for just a bit, is special.

“We were lucky that everyone got to come, I think everyone was there besides my sister, so it was fun to have family and friends, people that have done a lot for us growing up and throughout our whole whole lives,” he added. “It’s fun to share it with all of them and have them be a part of it.”

Tonight, we’ll get Round 2. The second time the brothers have squared off this season and the second time they’ve squared off here in Los Angeles, though it’ll be a different logo on the front for Joey. Hopefully not the last time they’ll face each other, with Joey establishing himself as more of an NHL regular this season. On a Chicago team that has conceded far more goal than they’ve scored, Joey has a +8 rating, the best mark on the team, and has played in a career-high 41 games this season.

Kings and Blackhawks, Mikey and Joey, two important points on the line. First of three here at home this week, Kings need to continue to put points in the bank with 15 games left on the schedule.