3/20 Preview – Kings Seek “Emotionally Ready” Start + Arvidsson Activated, Playoff Implications, Dubois’ Game & Line

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (35-22-11) vs. Minnesota Wild (34-27-8)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Wednesday, March 20 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: TNT – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings complete a back-to-back set here tonight, with the Minnesota Wild in town for a game with playoff implications.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings last faced the Wild in Game 4 of the regular season, when they scored seven times in a 7-4 win in Minnesota. LA was led by two goals from forward Pierre-Luc Dubois in that game, while Adrian Kempe (1-1-2) and Kevin Fiala (0-2-2) each tallied multi-point games. Since he was traded to the Kings in the summer of 2022, Fiala has five points (1-4-5) from four games played against his former club.

KINGS VITALS: Considering the back-to-back, the Kings did not hold a morning skate in advance of tonight’s game.

With Cam Talbot getting the nod last night against Chicago, consider goaltender David Rittich to be the projected starter this evening versus the Wild. Rittich has played four games throughout his NHL career against Minnesota, with a record of 3-1-0, a .917 save percentage and a 2.89 goals-against average.

For reference, here’s how the Kings lined up last night against Chicago –

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Moverare

Talbot
Rittich

11/7 tonight, with Jacob Moverare returning to the lineup.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 20, 2024

Tonight’s lineup decisions likely center around the status of two players – Viktor Arvidsson and Alex Turcotte.

On Arvidsson, he has officially been activated from long-term injured reserve. Head Coach Jim Hiller called him a “possibility” for tonight’s game and today’s move certainly seems to imply it’s a strong possibility. Arvidsson has skated each of the last two days with the full group, including a full-contact practice on Monday. All lining up for him to play tonight.

The other player in question is forward Alex Turcotte, who left last night’s game late with an apparent injury. Hiller did not have an update immediately after the game, beyond that “it didn’t look good, he had to leave the bench”. Another player we’ll check in on later today.

The unknown status of both would leave tonight’s lineup in question. Not sure if the Kings would be comfortable putting Arvidsson in as one of 11 forwards in his first game back. If Turcotte is unable to go, and Arvidsson is ready, forward Arthur Kaliyev is the team’s lone scratched player who is available to check in. Will update closer to game time once we learn more. We’ll hear from Hiller around 4:45 today for further updates.

WILD VITALS: Minnesota has climbed back into the playoff race with four wins from its last five games and six from its last eight entering tonight’s action.

Goaltender Filip Gustavsson earned the victory for Minnesota last night in Anaheim, which points towards veteran netminder Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes tonight in Los Angeles. Fleury has faced the Kings 27 times throughout his NHL career, posting a record of 12-10-4, with a .912 save percentage and a 2.67 goals-against average.

Per Joe Smith of The Athletic, here’s how the visitors lined up last night in Anaheim –

Projected #mnwild lines:
Kaprizov-Hartman-Boldy
Johansson-Rossi-Zuccarello
Foligno-Khusnutdinov-Gaudreau
Shaw-Lucchni-Beckman

Middleton-Faber
Brodin-Bogosian
Merrill-Chisholm

Gustavsson

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) March 20, 2024

No team in the NHL has more points during the month of March than Minnesota. The Wild have also been the NHL’s second-best defensive team in March, allowing 1.78 goals against per game. Forward Kirill Kaprizov leads all NHL players with ten goals this month. Former Kings draft pick Brock Faber is set to play in Los Angeles for the first time since he was traded to Minnesota.

Notes –
Big One Ahead
Big one on tap tonight, Insiders.

With last night’s win over Chicago, the Kings cracked 80 points, moving to 81, as they created a two-point lead over Vegas in the Pacific Division standings. Minnesota also won, over Anaheim, moving to 76 points, three points back of Vegas for the second wild-card position. With 14 games left for the Kings, each game matters. Minnesota has played desperate hockey all month long, moving themselves firmly back into the mix for the postseason. That creates a big game tonight, with two teams pushing for a finite number of playoff berths.

“It’s going to be a good hockey game, I’m looking forward to it,” Head Coach Jim Hiller said. “They play a defensive brand of hockey, they’re physical, they’re a big team, so we’re going to have to be ready emotionally, probably a little more emotionally ready than we were [against Chicago]. We know they’re chasing us and it’s a big game.”

The emotionally ready line from Hiller is important, because the Kings weren’t in last night’s win over Chicago.

They were able to find their game as it went along, but the first period especially was not that of a team playing urgent, desperate hockey. Adrian Kempe said that the passing in the opening 20 minutes was the worst he’s seen all season. Vladislav Gavrikov talked about how slowly the Kings moved the puck early, speeding things up as they went along. In the second half of the game, the Kings found it, eventually skating to a lopsided victory. Against sterner opposition, however, they might not have that same luxury.

“We’re going to play some better teams here at the end of the stretch and we can’t give a period away, that could be a huge difference in the points and all that stuff,” Kempe added. “So, we’ve got to be on for 60 minutes here going forward.”

For both teams tonight, resilience will be tested.

Both teams played the night before, with the Kings winning at home and Minnesota winning just down the road in Anaheim. Back-to-backs are a commonplace in the NHL, so it’s not as if this is uncharted waters, but Minnesota has had their backs against the wall for a while now. The Kings have been on a different path, but a back to the wall mentality is what Hiller is looking for.

The Kings know they need to find that desperation level to get into the postseason. A good test against a hot team comes this evening.

“It’s only natural to see where you’re at, you’re ahead of people, that’s great, but you have to be desperate to stay ahead,” Hiller added. “To me, desperation, will, is who can raise their game consistently. You get to this part of the season, it’s been a grind to get here, that’s part one, give yourself a chance. Part two is what are you going to do with it. This is really where you separate.”

Puck-Driving PL
Thought it was a good night for forward Pierre-Luc Dubois yesterday against Chicago.

One where the eye-test matched the numbers too. Especially early, it looked like a game when Dubois was transporting the puck efficiently from zone-to-zone, regularly gaining the offensive blue line with possession. The numbers agreed. No Kings player had more defensive-zone exits with possession than Dubois did and no Kings player had more controlled offensive-zone entries. Dubois also led the Kings in possession-driving plays throughout the game, while collecting a pair of assists, extending his point streak to three games with multi-point nights in both wins over Chicago.

While the Kings, as a whole, really struggled early in yesterday’s game, Dubois and his line were one unit that was going.

“I thought that line was probably our best line out of the gate, with [Dubois], Laf and Liz,” Hiller said. “Then, we get some penalties and now you lose your rhythm a little bit, but that line, I thought from the drop of the puck, probably the line that was executing the best.”

In the first period alone, Dubois had arguably the team’s best chance offensively, as he attacked the slot with possession and hit the post with a shot. He also had a controlled zone entry on Alex Laferriere’s game-opening goal, as he collected a secondary assist.

Hiller liked the way that Dubois was willing to shoot the puck, first and foremost, because when he’s willing to shoot, it’s another way to create offense, either for himself or his teammates.

“He made some good plays,” Hiller added on Dubois. “What I liked about the Lewis goal is PL shot it. He hit the post early and we try to encourage him to shoot, he’s got a really good shot. There’s times he looks to over-pass, but [last night] he was pretty direct with those shots……if he shoots more, more pucks to the net, you’re going to end up with more points, whether it’s you or rebounds or deflections like we saw today.”

Dubois has been a regular linemate of Alex Laferriere this season, with the two combining on a few goals as of late, including Laferriere’s 11th of the season last night. The third member of that line has been a revolving door, with that likely to change again once Viktor Arvidsson re-enters the mix up front.

Laferriere has called Dubois a strong influence on his own rookie season, pointing to him as a teammate who has taken him under his wing, helping him to navigate what is on pace for 81 games as a rookie, after playing fewer than that combined in his last two seasons at Harvard. While there are a lot of opinions on how Dubois’ debut season with the Kings has gone, a part of the game we don’t get to see as much of is the impact that he has on his teammates.

It’s clear that Dubois is an individual who has had that for Laferriere.

“I think he’s helped my transition to the pro game, being able to rely on him and he’s such an incredible player and such a special talent,” Laferriere said of Dubois. “Just knowing that he’s out there with me every time, it gives me a lot of confidence. He’s an incredible player, but he’s also an incredible person and he’s very vocal to me about things that I need to do or things that we can do better.”

Good signs from that line.

With Arvidsson close to coming back, expect to see the most complete version of the Kings we’ve seen yet and that will include yet another winger with Dubois. With the foundation Dubois and Laferriere are starting to put together, hopefully we see them hit their stride here over the last 14 games, into what is hopefully a postseason appearance.

Kings and Wild, important one tonight starts at 7 PM!