12/10 Preview – 2 Power Plays, 1 Kevin Fiala + Optional Morning Skate, Hiller in NY, Kopitar Stat, Kaliyev to ONT

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (16-8-3) @ New York Islanders (11-11-7)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Tuesday, December 10 @ 4:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: UBS Arena – Elmont, NY
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings begin a seven-game roadtrip this evening on Long Island, as they take on the New York Islanders for the first time this season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings posted a record of 1-0-1 against the Islanders last season, with New York winning 3-2 in overtime when the teams met in this building.

Forward Adrian Kempe led the Kings with two goals from two games played, while forwards Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore each had a goal and an assist and forward Kevin Fiala added two assists. Moore has six points (3-3-6) over five games against the Islanders over the last two seasons.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held an optional morning skate today, following yesterday’s full-team practice day.

Look for the Kings to turn back to goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who was not on the ice for today’s optional morning skate at UBS Arena. Kuemper brings with him a lifetime record of 6-6-2 versus the Islanders, with a .904 save percentage and a 2.76 goals-against average.

Likely expecting a return to the 11/7 alignment at this time, with a projection shown below, based on practice yesterday and today’s morning skate –

Moore – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Byfield – Jeannot
Fiala – Danault – Laferriere
Helenius – Turcotte

Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Moverare – Spence
Burroughs

Kuemper
Rittich

All signs point towards the same lineup for the Kings, which means the third straight game with an 11/7 alignment. Should there be any moves, forward Akil Thomas and defenseman Andreas Englund are both healthy options to check back in for the Kings.

UPDATE – Forward Arthur Kaliyev is on his way to Ontario on a conditioning loan. The clock is now moving on what I believe should take him into the holiday break, with Ontario in action four times between now and then.

ISLANDERS VITALS: The Islanders enter tonight’s game off of back-to-back victories over Carolina and Ottawa over the weekend, their second set of two straight victories this season.

Per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News, here’s how the hosts were set up during morning skate today –

#Isles lines at Tuesday's morning skate:

Tsyplakov-Horvat-Pageau
Lee-Nelson-Palmieri
Holmstrom-Cizikas-Wahlstrom
Engvall/Martin-MacLean-Fasching

Romanov-Pulock
George-Dobson
Cholowski-Hutton

Sorokin
Hogberg

— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) December 10, 2024

Look for Ilya Sorokin to get the nod between the pipes tonight for the Islanders. Sorokin has as lifetime record of 1-3-0 versus the Kings, with a .911 save percentage and a 2.79 goals-against average.

New York captain Anders Lee scored twice when these teams met in this building last year, while also injuring Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov with a knee-on-knee hit. Defenseman Ryan Pulock has three assists over his last three games played versus the Kings.

Storyline Of The Day – PP1…PP2…Kevin Fiala
The LA Kings are tied for 26th in the NHL on the power play this season at 16.9 percent. In road games specifically, that total drops to 31st at 11.4 percent, ahead of only the Buffalo Sabres.

Not exactly revealing state secrets to say the Kings have identified that area as one of the weaker points of the team over the first 27 games this season. You can’t say they haven’t tried to fix it, though.

We saw the five-forward approach earlier this season and now, the Kings are leaning into perhaps their most creative offensive player in Kevin Fiala. Yesterday’s practice report took a look into players who have gotten more shifts, more time on ice, when the Kings go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Fiala was included in that bunch. Some of his additional minutes, at least on Saturday, came on the power play, as he skated with both units. Looks like Fiala will continue in that manner in tonight’s game as well.

OMG what a shot Laf pic.twitter.com/3VRB80enEM

— LA Kings (@LAKings) December 8, 2024

The move was made with two outcomes in mind.

One, Fiala is one of the best offensive players on the Kings. He doesn’t penalty kill and he’s a player who can help spark a power-play unit. Secondly, the second unit entered Saturday’s game with zero goals. They now have one, after Alex Laferriere’s goal against the Wild, with Fiala collecting an assist. One game in, job well done.

“Well, he doesn’t penalty kill and obviously he’s one of our best offensive players, so in games that there’s penalty kills, he sits quite a bit and if you asked him, he could stay out there on a five-minute power play,” Hiller said. “We’ll monitor it a little bit. If they’re going up and down the ice, breaking the puck out, we might have to bring him in early, but if he’s relatively fresh, we’re going to keep him out there. We think he can help that second unit, they scored for the first time, and he was on it, so there were some positives that came out of it already.”

Expecting the Kings to continue with Fiala on both units tonight against the Islanders. He’s not the first player in NHL history to span two power-play units and, as Hiller spoke to, if there are multiple power plays stacked in succession, or if they’re more robust in terms of energy exerted, the Kings will move a player back onto the second unit, likely Trevor Moore, who was the odd-man out during practice yesterday.

“Very exciting, very grateful to get this opportunity and just try to create with both units and obviously score goals,” Fiala said. “You touch the puck a little more, gives me a little more confidence so I’ve been enjoying it. The main goal is just to create chances and hopefully score goal.”

By the numbers, Fiala has been the most productive Kings player on the power play this season. He leads the team, on a per/60 basis, in power-play goals (3.03) and points (7.57). Among regulars, no player generates more shots on goal on the power play than Fiala does. He’s also a playmaking threat, with the ability to find others in dangerous positions. The pass he made on Laferriere’s goal on Saturday wasn’t one you’ll find in many highlight reels. But he was under pressure and found the open man in Jordan Spence, who then worked it to Laferriere with space. The shot and screen from Phillip Danault did the rest.

The Kings don’t need that unit to score every night, but they do need more than 1 every 27 games. Good goal last time out, with both Laferriere and Hiller throwing a lot of credit Danault’s way for the screen and the work he put in to keep possession alive, before the puck hit the back of the net. Laferreire said Danault asked him before the play where he wanted to shoot, and he provided a specific screen for that shot.

Danault joked today that normally, a right-handed shot might say high blocker in that scenario, so he was just happy Laferriere picked the far post as he said, rather than fired right into Danault’s upper body. Good signs on that front, certainly.

3 To Watch For –
– Before joining the Kings in 2023, Jim Hiller was an assistant coach with the Islanders, spending three seasons with the team.

Hiller worked with the power play during his time with the team, bringing a unit that ranked 30th in the league steadily up the leaderboards during his time with the organization.

That wasn’t his primary takeaway, though.

It’s the structure, the stinginess and the culture that stuck with him and that’s what he shared in advance of his first game in his building as a Head Coach.

“I know them pretty well and I don’t think their style or their culture has changed at all,” Hiller said of the Islanders. “Forechecking team, gets to your net, doesn’t give you much and then the obvious one is the great goaltending.”

In four of the last six matchups between the two teams, the winning side has scored three or fewer goals. That’s the type of game Hiller is expected tonight, the type of games we’ve seen the Kings play, generally speaking, of late.

– We typically look at the 11/7 from the perspective of the forwards.

Because, the forwards are at the core of it the reason why the Kings go with an 11/7 alignment. The benefits are mostly up front, where minutes are distributed towards certain players who the Kings want to get more icetime. On the backend, it can sometimes go the other way. With seven bodies as opposed to six, it creates more pairings that are perhaps less familiar and can reduce the minutes of certain players on certain nights.

How does it impact those who play on the blueline?

“We’ve done a good job with it, I think,” defenseman Brandt Clarke said. “Sometimes you’re out there with a guy you haven’t played with too often, but that’s just how it’s going right now and it’s giving some guys a breather too. I think we’ve done a solid job, we’re a tight-knit group back here, we all communicate really well, so I think it’s been going fine and we’ve been winning, so we’re happy with how things are going.”

Clarke, in certain situations, is among those impacted. When the Kings are winning a tight game, he could find himself playing less, but that’s probably the same whether it’s six or seven defensemen. In the alternative, Clarke’s going to be going every other shift. His last point probably speaks for everyone though. The Kings are winning and that’s what makes everyone happy.

– Lastly, how about one more Anze Kopitar stat, per LA Kings PR.

Kopitar is the only player in the NHL who is currently averaging over a point-per-game and does not have a single penalty minute. Kopitar began to establish a reputation as a tough guy with a ten-minute misconduct last season, on route to 22 penalty minutes, his most since the 2018-19 season. 27 games in and he’s yet to record any, closer to his 2022-23 numbers where he collected just two minor penalties all season, winning the Lady Byng Trophy that spring.

Lots of points, check. No penalties, check. Shameless plug for a Kopitar feature story, click here for the check.

Kings and Islanders, 4:30 Pacific time to begin the seven-game trip!