10/26 Preview – Kuemper Available, No Skate Today + Cutting Down on Penalties, Burroughs, DebUt(ah)

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (4-2-2) vs. Utah Hockey Club (4-3-1)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Saturday, October 26 @ 1:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN 710 & LA Kings App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings will play on home ice for the second time in three days, as they host Utah Hockey Club this afternoon.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Utah have never met during a regular-season game, with today’s meeting the first since Utah became a franchise in advance of the 2024-25 season. Per NHL PR, the Kings are 19-9-4 all-time when facing a franchise for the first time.

KINGS VITALS: Today’s game caps a short, two-game homestand, though the Kings will play 3-of-4 and 5-of-7 in this building overall over a 16-day span.

In terms of today’s starting goaltender, it’s unclear without the morning skate today. Darcy Kuemper is an option to go, as confirmed by Jim Hiller yesterday, after he was activated off injured reserve on Thursday. If he does get the nod, it would be his first start since October 14. While Kuemper has never faced Utah, he posted excellent career splits against Arizona, with a 6-2-3 record, a .942 save percentage and a 1.45 goals-against average. Should the Kings turn back to goaltender David Rittich, he’s made five consecutive starts to date, posting three victories, including Thursday versus San Jose.

Here’s how the Kings lined up during yesterday’s practice –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Moore
Foegele – Turcotte – Laferriere
Lee – Lewis – Jeannot – Thomas

Anderson – Spence
Gavrikov – Burroughs
Edmundson – Clarke
Englund – Jones

Kuemper / Rittich

The defensive pairings appear set to remain the same as what we saw on Thursday versus San Jose, though it remains to be seen with regards to the forwards. All four forwards participated in line rushes on the fourth line. Nothing firm on whether or not Akil Thomas checks in today for what would be his season debut. With a back-to-back coming up next week, I’d be surprised if he didn’t make his debut at least by that point in the season, but we’ll see.

UTAH VITALS: After collecting points in five of their first six games, Utah has dropped its last two, before heading into Los Angeles for the first time.

Per the Utah main account, here’s how the visitors this evening aligned last time out versus Colorado –

Tonight’s starting lineup! pic.twitter.com/3oCpD0doRk

— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) October 25, 2024

Utah is without former Kings defenseman Sean Durzi, who has yet to play this season and is out for approximately 4-5 months following shoulder surgery. Fellow veteran defenseman John Marino is also out multiple months following back surgery.

Since entering the NHL, forward Matias Maccelli has seven points (2-5-7) from six games played versus the Kings. On the season, forward Clayton Keller leads the team with eight points (4-4-8), while forward Nick Schmaltz has collected seven assists from eight games played.

Notes –
Storyline Of The Day – Penalties……Penalties
When the Kings have played 5-on-5 hockey, they have played very well. Especially when that 5-on-5 hockey has come over extended stretches of play.

Per Natural Stat Trick, they’re a Top 10 or even Top 5 club in the majority of 5-on-5 categories early in the season, including percentage of scoring chances and high-danger chances controlled in those situations, with the Kings placing fourth in the NHL in both categories. They’re +4 in goal differential when playing 5-on-5 and are averaging nearly three goals per/60 in those situations.

That’s all good.

What has gone the other way, thus far, has been the number of penalties. Only two teams in the NHL have taken more minor penalties than the Kings have this season. For a team that introduced a new penalty-killing structure this season, staying out of the box especially early in the season is paramount. The Kings are killing at 72.2 percent, which isn’t a great number, but personally I think that number will get better with time. For now, though, the penalties are just far too high, especially for a team that is better than most when playing even.

“Especially early on in the season, I feel like the refs are really watching, they’re doing their job, and for us, we’ve got to watch our stick infractions,” forward Warren Foegele said. “They disrupt the flow of the game and it gets guys out of rhythm. The less we can take those kinds of penalties and try to play 5-on-5, I like our chances on the ice.”

Foegele used the term stick infractions and typically, those are the types of penalties that are within your control. Against San Jose on Thursday, the Kings took seven minor penalties and all seven were stick infractions.

“Clearly it’s a problem, they’re all stick penalties, right,” Head Coach Jim Hiller said immediately after the game. “We have to address it. Sometimes you talk about it too much and it gets worse, we try to take the approach hands off, but I think it’s time to address it.”

Hiller noted that should there be repeat offenders, taking the same types of penalties, the biggest thing he can do is impact icetime. If players are costing the team, and penalties continue to add up, especially the ones that turn into goals, he’ll make changes accordingly. Perhaps the issue, though, is that the Kings have 5 players in the NHL’s Top 42 in terms of penalties taken, per/60, so it’s not as if it’s just one player.

“We looked at them and I think there were 19 that we would call stick penalties that were, at minimum, avoidable,” Hiller added yesterday, noting the coaches went back and looked at every call on the season. “Sometimes it’s a tight call, sometimes they’re let go, but of the 19, if maybe we get 10 or 12 of those, but we put ourselves in a bad position. To me, it’s never on the referee, it’s on you. If you don’t want to get called, don’t make it close.”

Last game versus San Jose, the Kings were dominant in the opening period. In the first 15:55, the Kings held a 15-3 advantage in shots on goal and a 3-0 lead on the scoreboard. Looked like they were on route to a blowout win. At the 15:55 mark, though, the Kings took their first penalty of the game, a high-sticking minor on Trevor Lewis, which halted their momentum. It began a stretch of seven minors throughout the night, which seemed to disrupt the flow of the team.

“I think that’s something that’s ruining our momentum,” defenseman Jordan Spence said. “I think in the first period, we played really well, but in the second and third, taking a lot of penalties kind of shot us in the foot a little bit and they got the momentum and almost tied it up at the end. We’ll learn from that and focus on the next game.”

The shame in it is, when the Kings have played 5-on-5, even against the best teams they’ve faced this season, they’ve not only held their own but they’ve largely carried the play. There’s game flow in there, which could skew the numbers a bit, but the Kings posted dominant 5-on-5 metrics against Toronto and Vegas, which we all know were a pair of lopsided defeats. 5-on-5, though, suggests those games were closer than the scoreline wound up.

Typically, 5-on-5 metrics level out throughout the course of the season. So, if the Kings keep up the way they’re playing in those situations, it’ll swing. What can prevent that, though, are the penalties. Can’t rely on 5-on-5 play if you don’t play enough 5-on-5 hockey. These Kings seem to thrive off rhythm and rhythm is established for this group when playing 5-on-5. Get back to that, stay out of the box and good things will happen more and more regularly.

3 To Watch For –
– I think we can all agree the Kings haven’t been perfect early in the season.

Better to be imperfect in a win, though, than a loss.

All-in-all, the Kings are 4-2-2, good for 10 points in the standings, points that you can’t give and and points that you’ll be thankful you picked up down the line.

“Two points in October are the same two points that you’re fighting tooth and nail for in April,” Hiller said. “The thing for the players is, it’s six months down the road, but to understand that they’re just as important. I would say you certanly feel the intensity go up as you’re getting closer, the last two, three weeks, but our job as coaches is trying to have the players have the same type of mentality early, because it’s just as important.”

As far as cleaning something up from last night, Hiller indicated that he’s happy with the record and the win, but singled out a few areas for improvement. Sometimes, it’s easier to get those points across in a win.

“Usually that is the way you look at it, I think people are sometimes a little bit more receptive to constructive criticism when they feel good,” Hiller said. “What I would say is it’s early. I’m not unsatisfied with how we’ve played……it’s going to take a little bit of time. I’m happy with the record, I think we can play better.”

– After his return to the lineup yesterday, I gave Kyle Burroughs what I thought was the best complement a player of his mold can receive. I told him I didn’t notice him at all last night.

He smiled and agreed, generally speaking.

“For me, unless you notice a big hit or playing physical, it’s better to stay off the radar and play low-event hockey,” he said. “Playing with a guy like Gavy, obviously we’re trying to play good defense and with the puck, let our forwards do the work and they did last night.”

After playing in the first four games of the season, Burroughs sat out during wins over Montreal and Anaheim, as well as Tuesday’s defeat in Vegas. He checked back in last night, moving alongside Vladislav Gavrikov on a pairing of likeminded players. Two guys who you would say are defense first, but Gavrikov is a sneaky activator offensively and Burroughs is a strong skater. In 11:37 together last night, the pairing was on the ice for double the scoring chances (10-5) and high-danger chances (6-3) for versus against. Good day’s work.

Still, that better left unseen approach isn’t a bad one.

“What we’ve talked about, being a pair, is playing defense first, moving pucks, distributing pucks and let the forwards do what they’re supposed to do,” Burroughs said of his pairing. “For us, locking down and playing defense is what we take pride in and last night I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”

– Lastly, it’s rare we get a first, but tonight is the first time the Kings will ever match up against Utah Hockey Club for a regular-season game.

The Kings have played in Utah for exhibition games against other teams, they’ve now played in Utah against the Hockey Club specifically, but they’ve never faced off against them in a regular-season game. Today is the day.

Per the NHL, Utah is a new franchise, not carrying over any of the records held by Arizona. The Kings have faced 42 different teams to date and 32 different franchises, which is how the league distinguishes between say Hartford and Carolina. Two teams, one franchise. Tonight marks franchise 33 and team 43.

Puck drop coming up early afternoon in a Saturday matinee!