11/4 Preview – Bouncing back from losses + Danault snaps his drought, Clarke’s hot play, Jeannot returns to the Music City

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (6-3-3) at Nashville Predators (4-6-1)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Monday, November 4 @ 5:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @ShafReign & @lakings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings begin an early-week trip that has them in the central time zone for back-to-back road contests starting tonight in Nashville against the Predators.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Los Angeles and Nashville open their 2024-25 season series today which consists of three games. A year ago, the Kings went 1-2-0 against the Predators, winning the lone matchup at Bridgestone Arena by a 4-1 score despite losing both games contested at Crypto.com Arena.

Kevin Fiala led the Kings with three points from the three matchups against his former team, while Alex Turcotte scored his first NHL goal and added an assist in the win on Jan. 31 and Adrian Kempe posted two assists in the series. Goaltender David Rittich started in all three of the games against the Predators a year ago, allowing two goals in each despite posting a 1-2-0 record. With 88 saves on 94 total shots, Rittich recorded a 0.936 save percentage to go along with his 2.00 goals-against average.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings return to the road, a place they’ve been familiar with to begin the season, with 10 of their first 14 games coming away from Downtown LA, part of a season-opening stretch where 21 of 36 will be played on the road over the first three months of the year.

Darcy Kuemper was the first goaltender off the ice at morning skate in Nashville this morning, with signs pointing towards him getting the nod in the crease this evening. Kuemper has a lifetime record of 6-2-3 against Nashville, with a 0.918 save percentage and a 2.52 goals-against average.

Here’s how the Kings lined up during Monday’s morning skate –

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

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

Kuemper
Rittich

It appears that Kyle Burroughs will re-enter the lineup tonight on the back end and was skating with Vladislav Gavrikov this morning. If the Kings go with the formation listed above, it would serve as a promotion for Jordan Spence, and get Gavrikov back to his natural side of the ice on the left. There didn’t appear to be any changes up front, with Andre Lee still waiting for his chance to get back in. That opportunity may present itself tomorrow, with LA traveling to Minnesota after tonight’s game for a back-to-back.

NASHVILLE VITALS: The Predators will complete a three-game homestand against Pacific Division foes this evening, which began with a 5-1 loss to Edmonton on Thursday before a 5-2 win over Colorado on Saturday.

Per Alex Daugherty of the Tennessean, here’s how the Predators lined up at morning skate earlier today –

Looks like same Preds lines as Saturday.

Forsberg ROR Nyquist
Stamkos Parssinen Marchessault
Jankowski Novak Evangelista
ZLH Sissons Smith

Skjei Josi
Lauzon Carrier
Del Gaizo Schenn

Saros

— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) November 4, 2024

Via Daugherty, goaltender Juuse Saros is expected to start between the pipes tonight for Nashville. Saros has appeared in nine games this year for the Preds and earned a record of 3-5-1 with one shutout. He has also faced the Kings nine times in his professional career, posting a record of 6-2-1, with a 0.924 save percentage and a 2.52 goals-against average.

Colton Sissons paced the Preds in scoring against the Kings last season with four points in the three meetings (1-3-4), highlighted by a three-point effort in LA on Feb. 22 which included a goal and two helpers. Despite his success last year, Sissons is off to a slower start on the offensive end this season with just one assist in 11 appearances.

Filip Forsberg leads Nashville’s offensive attack with a team-leading 10 points and six goals this year along with four assists, while Ryan O’Reilly has earned nine points on three tallies and six helpers. Defensive stalwart Roman Josi has also added seven points on a goal and six assists while leading the club with an average time-on-ice of 25:57.

Storyline Of The Day – Bouncing Back From Losses
The Kings are looking to get back on track tonight after they let one get away in Los Angeles on Saturday. Although there were individuals who performed well and the statistics showed they controlled play, they weren’t able to hold on to multiple leads, allowed Chicago to hang around and eventually fell victim to some highly skilled shooters in the shootout.

But since Jim Hiller was promoted to interim head coach in February, he’s been able to help the team right the ship quickly after those types of losses. Last season under Hiller, the Kings were 10-3-0 after a loss. The quick turnarounds have continued this year, with the team performing to a 3-1-1 record in the games immediately following a defeat.

It’s been especially notable recently after a lopsided loss to Toronto during the long opening road trip that the Kings found a way to respond in Montreal. Then after getting outplayed in Vegas, they turned things around to get a win over San Jose in the home opener. And most recently when it didn’t go well the following week in the Bay Area, the Kings had their most complete effort of the season against the Golden Knights less than 24 hours later.

It seems like one of the best tactics Hiller has used in these situations is not to overreact, instead allowing the leadership and veteran presence in the locker room to hold teammates accountable for their play.

Hiller explained another example of that Saturday when asked about what his response was to a segment of play he didn’t particularly like late in the first period.

“We were all over them for the first 10, and I thought if we would have continued to play the second 10 of the first the way we played the first 10 of the first, we might have been able to create separation and not put ourselves in the position we ended up in.”

Despite some clear frustration in that moment, he didn’t overreact. He trusted his team and although they only ended up with one point from the game, he liked the response they came out with immediately following that intermission for the second period.

“The players talked amongst themselves mostly, and they understood that, I don’t think it was just the coach who saw that the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes in the first contrasted. I think the players saw that, so they took it in their own hands. I don’t think it carried over and we got ourselves back together.”

While there is certainly still the challenge of consistency facing them, the Kings clearly know when they haven’t been at their best and are able to figure out how to get a better result before consistent losses become a pattern.

Turcotte shed light on that mindset after the win against Vegas on Wednesday.

“We were pretty upset about how we played [in San Jose] and honestly, I don’t think we really deserved to win that game. I think we came in with a good attitude the next day, the right mindset and we followed the gameplan. It’s not going to go perfect every night, but there should be a baseline of how we come in. It won’t be pretty every night but that’s a key to me.”

And after today’s morning skate, that point was reinforced by Brandt Clarke.

“We’re definitely a resilient group,” said Clarke. “We don’t waver too much. We don’t let things get out of control. So whether we have a huge win or whether we have a tough loss like last game, we’re always able to bring it back to neutral. I think that’s what allows us to just bounce back whenever things happen like that.

The Kings have another chance to show their response again tonight in Nashville after playing well on Saturday but not doing enough to win the game. Then they’ll turn the focus to another tough test, playing a back-to-back in Minnesota on Tuesday.

3 To Watch For –
– Phillip Danault scored his first goal of the year Saturday afternoon, breaking a long season-opening drought.

In addition to the goal, the attacker had another great look at the net in the first period on a rush down the left wing that ended with a wraparound attempt that hit off the outside of the post. He also assisted on Alex Laferriere’s second goal in the second period.

After the game, Danault said he felt the offense was coming and that he’s been playing the game he wanted to play over the last few weeks.

“I’ve played the same way the last seven, eight games, it just didn’t go in,” said Danault. “Tonight was the night and my wingers were great. The last game as well, it was coming. We want to keep it rolling too, we were in the struggle together and we got out of it so we want to keep it rolling and help our team as much as we can.”

Danault’s game isn’t always predicated on the offensive side of the game though, consistently finding ways to contribute to other areas no matter what his scoring line says with important plays on the defensive end, in the faceoff circle and on the penalty kill.

Since he signed with the Kings in 2021, Danault has elevated his offensive game while finding a home alongside winger Trevor Moore. In his first campaign in Los Angeles, he set a new career-high with 27 goals and eclipsed the 50-point mark for the second time (51). While his second season didn’t feature as many goals, Danault set a new high mark in his NHL career with 54 points. Remaining consistent in 2023-24, the Victoriaville, Quebec native continued his offensive contributions while improving his plus-minus rating by 20, going from a -12 to a +8.

So while his point total isn’t always the most important part of his game, it certainly helps when he’s able to produce. Danault has done enough during his time in a Kings sweater for Jim Hiller and the coaching staff to continue to believe in him logging important minutes. In each of his seasons, his average ice time has been right around 18 minutes per night.

“When Phil finally scored, I felt the relief from the bench,” Hiller said after Saturday’s game. “And now I’m sure he’s going to get going. He played his best game of the year, coincidentally he scored, but he played his best game of the year.”

Now it’s time to see if Danault and the rest of his line with Fiala and Trevor Moore can build on that performance this week starting tonight in Nashville.

– Brandt Clarke leads the Kings with 10 assists through 12 games and sits tied for second on the club in overall scoring with 11 points. Clarke has turned it on since the group returned from the season-opening road trip with seven points over his last five games, including his second three-point effort of the season during Wednesday’s win over Vegas.

Per Kings PR, Clarke is one of five blueliners in team history to record multiple three-plus point games before turning 22.

Hiller echoed what the stats have shown today, that Clarke is looking more comfortable in his role alongside Joel Edmundson during 5-on-5 play and helping to get more chances at the net in his power play minutes.

“It’s a big job for Brandt to step into that role,” Hiller said. “Lots of reps on the power play. I think he’s moving it quicker, you’ve seen him shoot it a few times to establish a threat from the point and it just does take some time.”

Clarke has seen the Predators up close twice before, getting into the lineup against them in each of the last two seasons. He gave a few keys he thought would be important for tonight.

“They’re just a physical team,” Clarke said of Nashville’s play. “Playing in this building two years ago, you just know how loud it is. You know how passionate the fans are, so you’ve got to take them out of it as early as possible. A hot start for us would be key tonight. We’ll try to move pucks up quick, not let their forwards hem us down low and I think that’s going to lead to success.”

– Another LA forward returns to the Music City this evening: Tanner Jeannot.

Jeannot made his NHL debut wearing a Predators jersey in 2020-21 and remained with the club for two more seasons before he was delt to Tampa Bay. In total, the physical attacker played 152 games for Nashville and had the best offensive year of his career here when he netted 24 goals and totaled 41 points during 2021-22.

Tonight won’t be the first time he’s played in Smashville as a visitor, he got that out of the way on Opening Night with the Lightning in October of 2023. But it’s clearly a place filled with a lot of great memories for him.

“It’s always special coming back to places you’ve been before,” Jeannot said this morning. “I just want to come out there and help my new team beat the old one hopefully and just have some fun. I’ll always have those memories coming up through the organization and just growing as a player so it’s cool to come back here and feel some of those memories again but just got to focus on the task at hand and getting the win tonight.”

It’s Kings and Predators tonight at Bridgestone Arena. The game gets underway on FanDuel Sports Network at 5 PM!