1/10 Preview – Playing For LA, Thoughts Back Home + Morning Skate Notes, LAFD Stickers, Donation Opportunities

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (23-10-5) @ Winnipeg Jets (28-12-2)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Friday, January 10 @ 5:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Fan Duel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings begin a five-game roadtrip this evening, as they visit the Central-Division leading Winnipeg Jets.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: In one of their finest performances of the season, the Kings skated to a 4-1 victory over Winnipeg when these teams met in Los Angeles back in November.

Forwards Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar led the Kings in that game with a goal and an assist, wihle forward Alex Laferriere added two assists. Throughout his NHL career, Kopitar has 38 points (17-21-38) from 35 career games against the Jets. His 1.09 points per game is his third highest total against any one opponent.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held an optional morning skate in advance of tonight’s game.

Coming off being named as the NHL’s Third Star of the week, goaltender Darcy Kuemper was not on the ice for morning skate today, making him tonight’s expected starting goaltender against the Jets. Kuemper brings a lifetime record of 6-2-0 against Winnipeg, with a .917 save percentage and a 3.00 goals-against average.

For reference, here’s how the Kings lined up during yesterday’s practice –

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

Anderson – Gavrikov
(Edmundson) – Clarke
Moverare – Spence
Englund – Burroughs

Kuemper
Rittich

Regarding defenseman Joel Edmundson left Saturday’s game against Tampa Bay in the third period after an awkward collision with Lightning forward Zemgus Girgensons. Edmundson traveled to Winnipeg and progressed to a full-contact jersey today, after skating in a non-contact jersey over the last three days. Unclear regarding Edmundson’s availability for tonight.

The Kings should welcome back defenseman Kyle Burroughs, however, after the veteran missed Saturday’s game for the birth of his son. Burroughs appears set to return to the lineup tonight against the Jets.

Should Edmundson be unable to go, the Kings will need to decide between what has been their preferred 11/7 alignment, with Andreas Englund remaining in the lineup, or a 12/6 look with forward Samuel Helenius returning to action. From today’s skate, the 11/7 appears to be the look for tonight against Winnipeg, with Edmundson out and Englund in, but we’ll wait for warmups to confirm.

JETS VITALS: The Jets are currently in the middle of an eight-game homestand, with a 1-1-1 record over the first three games.

Per the Winnipeg team account, here’s how the Jets lined up on Tuesday versus Nashville –

The boys 'round here 🤠@PlayNowManitoba PREDICT 🔽https://t.co/PWhlvntLqv pic.twitter.com/toNVaxwEQD

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) January 7, 2025

Three former Kings – Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari – are in the above lines for the Jets, with the expectation that all three could feature against their former club tonight. Vilardi has five points (2-3-5) from four career games played against the team that drafted him, including the lone Winnipeg goal back in November.

Storyline Of The Day – Playing For LA
As the Kings prepare to play tonight’s game against Winnipeg, they’re certainly doing so with Los Angeles in mind.

As announced earlier today, the Kings will wear LAFD stickers on their helmets throughout the duration of their five-game trip. The Winnipeg Jets will also wear stickers on their helmets tonight, in support of the Kings and Los Angeles.

“We’re thankful for all the women and men fighting the fire right now,” forward Phillip Danault said this morning. “We’re trying to support them the only way we can really. I think [wearing the stickers] is one detail we can do.”

For LA 🖤

We honor the heroic @LAFD firefighters and first responders with this special helmet sticker which we will wear throughout this roadtrip.

Tonight, our friends at the @NHLJets will join us in support of our heroes back home. pic.twitter.com/deZJR2MjLv

— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 10, 2025

Jim Hiller had similar thoughts, making to note that while the Kings are in Winnipeg right now, not Los Angeles, the thoughts of everyone are with the people at home.

“The men and women on the front lines that are fighting, saving lives, saving homes, we just want to make sure that even though we’re not back in town, that we’re still thinking about what’s going on there,” Hiller said this morning.

As noted yesterday, it’s a very difficult balance right now for so many on this trip. The NHL doesn’t stop because of what’s going on in Los Angeles and the Kings won’t get a do-over on tonight’s game. They have to be dialed in and ready to play. On the other hand, members of the Kings family have been impacted by what’s happening right now in Los Angeles.

As Anze Kopitar put it yesterday, this is not a situation he’s ever experienced in his nearly 20 years in Los Angeles. Trevor Moore, who is a California native and has lived here for basically his entire life, said the same thing today, that he’s never seen anything like this. Same goes for so many more.

And yet, the Kings play tonight. They play again tomorrow and they’ll play three more games on the road before ultimately returning home next weekend. It’s an uneasy time. But it’s the time we’re all living in. The Kings understand their place and they’re trying their best to balance both worlds, starting tonight against the Jets.

“We’re just going to try to do our thing here and play hockey for everyone back home, give them something to maybe take their mind off of what’s going on, but it’s definitely hard,” Moore said. “I open my Instagram and I see lots of people who I grew up with who lost family homes and stuff like that, so you think about all those people and it’s a tough thing.”

Trevor Moore said lots of people he grew up with have lost family homes. Lots of friends who are first responders on the front line right now.

"We're super grateful for what they continue to do."

As hard as it is to focus, he said the Kings are playing for everyone back home.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) January 10, 2025

For Moore specifically, this is one that hits especially close to home.

He grew up in Thousand Oaks. While he and his family are safe, he knows so many who have lost homes, property, so much more. He has friends who are first responders, on the front lines helping to keep the community as safe as possible. For the Kings, what they can do is continue to show their support and, ultimately, play tonight and maybe give some of the people back in Los Angeles the chance to forget for a couple hours. Take their minds off of things. Then, as Moore said, the Kings will keep doing what they can to support those back home.

“We’re thinking about them a lot, everyone back home,” he added. “Come tonight, we’ll try to play hockey and [help them] forget for a couple hours and then get back to doing what we can to help them.”

For those interesting in donating to help, the Kings have established a donation portal to benefit The Red Cross, The LA Fire Foundation, Cal Fire Foundation, and Eaton Canyon Fire Relief and Recovery Fund. That link is available HERE or by visiting LAKings.com/FireRelief.

3 To Watch For –
– While it’s not what’s most important right now, there still is a game to play tonight for the Kings.

Jim Hiller said he’ll be really focused on the first period, tonight in particular. Usually, Hiller has found that he can get a gauge on where his team is at from the way they start the game. Do they have their legs, their energy. Is the focus and mental engagement where it needs to be. It’s certainly more difficult tonight, though.

“It has an effect, there’s no question, you’ve left loved ones at home and nobody knows exactly how this thing is going to go, where it’s going to end up,” Hiller said. “There will be a distraction for sure, but when the game comes around, you have to do your job as a professional, but you can just put it out of your mind completely.”

If any of those answers are no, Hiller usually has a pulse on it early, which gives him and the group the chance to make adjustments as needed.

It’s not always correctable but getting that early read certainly provides a puncher’s chance. With tonight’s game the first the Kings will play since the fires, he’ll look for an early read to see where things are at.

“I think the first period is really important,” Hiller said. “It’s a little bit of a different rhythm, hopefully we settle into that relatively early.”

Look, there’s really no way of knowing how this one is going to go for the Kings. Everyone is saying the right things and everyone feels ready to go. Still, it’s not always that simple. Sometimes, you don’t know for sure until you hit the ice.

– The last game the Kings played was on Saturday versus Tampa Bay. It wasn’t their finest performance of the season, despite a 2-1 victory.

The Kings gave up a season-high 31 scoring chances 5-on-5. They controlled a season-low 23 percent of the high-danger chances. And they still won the game.

Kings were not at their best against Tampa Bay. Obviously. They found a way to win anyways.

In fact, it was the first game the Kings have won while losing the xG category at 5-on-5 by a full goal since March 25, 2024 in Vancouver. Over the past three seasons, the Kings have only won five such games when they’ve had a full goal disparity or greater, negatively, in terms of expected goals against versus expected goals for.

While the numbers are easy to convey, I don’t think the answer is in the numbers. Spoke about this with Phillip Danault for an upcoming podcast.

Last year’s team seemed to find ways to lose games. This year’s team, so far, is finding ways to win them. Culture counts. For Danault, the culture is the best it’s ever been here. Kings have it right now and they have it in ways they really haven’t in a while.

– The play of the game on Saturday was made by forward Alex Turcotte.

In a 1-1 game in the third period, Turcotte made something happen. He used his speed to gain the offensive zone with a bit of space off the rush before he drove to the slot assertively, drawing the attention of multiple defensemen before dropping the puck to linemate Adrian Kempe, who fired home the game-winning goal.

The Kings needed somebody to make that decisive play and Turcotte stepped up.

Earlier this season, I’m not sure Turcotte would have made that play. He certainly would not have last season. But it’s not last season. Turcotte is a different player. A more confident player. A more impactful player.

“Definitely not last year, but I think this year, it’s been my mindset to do stuff like that,” Turcotte said. “I started on the fourth line, so I don’t know if I would have fully done that at the start of the year, but I’ve just built up enough confidence and now I’m not even thinking out there. I just made the play off of instinct.”

Good stuff from number 15.

Kings and Jets, first of five straight games on the road.