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1/13 Preview – Edmonton……Again + Full Morning Skate, Foegele on EDM Return, Special Teams, Donation Efforts

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WHO: Los Angeles Kings (24-11-5) @ Edmonton Oilers (26-13-3)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Monday, January 13 @ 6:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Rogers Place – Edmonton, AB
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Fan Duel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings have reached the hump day of their five-game trip, with a playoff rematch against the Edmonton Oilers on the docket this evening in Alberta.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forwards Quinton Byfield (2-1-3) and Warren Foegele (1-2-3) each tallied three points when the Kings and Oilers met in December back in Los Angeles, with Byfield adding the game-winning goal in overtime.

In his NHL regular-season career, Byfield has ten points (5-5-10) from 11 games played versus the Oilers, in addition to eight points (1-7-8) from 13 career games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

KINGS VITALS: Coming off yesterday’s off day, the Kings held a full-team morning skate today in Edmonton.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper was off first this morning, making him tonight’s projected goaltender. Kuemper made 24 saves on 27 shots in the 4-3 win over the Oilers back in December. Throughout his NHL career, Kuemper has a record of 11-3-4, with a .916 save percentage and a 2.50 goals-against average.

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

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

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

Kuemper
Rittich

Defenseman Joel Edmundson missed the back-to-back over the weekend due to injury.

Edmundson has been in a full-contact jersey now for the last three team skates, including today. Jim Hiller indicated he’s not expecting any changes to the lineup tonight, so we could be waiting until Thursday for Edmundson’s return.

Forwards Akil Thomas and Samuel Helenius were on late after today’s skate, making them tonight’s projected scratches tonight. Unless Edundson is able to go, that points towards defensemen Kyle Burroughs and Andreas Englund remaining in the lineup tonight against the Oilers. Will check in during warmups to see if anything changes.

OILERS VITALS: Edmonton enters tonight’s game winners of five of their last six, carrying a record of 15-4-1 over their last 20 games.

Per the Edmonton team account, here’s how the Oilers lined up last time out, with Daniel Nugent-Bowman confirming they would have the same lineup tonight –

Tonight will mark forward Viktor Arvidsson’s second game against the Kings since he left Los Angeles as a free agent over the summer, signing a two-year contract with Edmonton.

Edmonton forward Connor McDavid has eight points (2-6-8) over his last five regular-season games versus the Kings. Including postseason games, McDavid has 20 points (3-17-20) over his last 10 played versus Los Angeles.

Storyline Of The Day – Here We Go Again
Edmonton, Alberta.

Back again.

If the season ended today, wouldn’t you know it, the Kings and Oilers would be on track to meet in the first round of the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. Edmonton is currently second in the Pacific Division, on 55 points, while the Kings sit in third with 53. Another season, seemingly headed in the same direction as we’ve seen now three seasons running.

“They’re big games, we’ve played them so much, they’ve played us, I think it’s obviously become a rivalry,” Head Coach Jim Hiller said this morning. “It’ll be a good game, I know that, and we’ll have to be at our best.”

When you consider how well the Kings have played over the last month-plus, it’s even more notable that they’re third in the Pacific. Over their last 20 games, the Kings are 14-4-2. A points percentage of .750, tied for the second-best mark in the NHL. You might think that would see them rise in the standings. Only problem with that is that the only teams with more wins over their last 20 games than the Kings are Edmonton and Vegas.

Edmonton: 15-4-1
Vegas: 15-5-0
Los Angeles: 14-4-2

As such, the three hottest teams in the NHL all play in the Pacific Division. The Kings are five points clear of Vancouver for a divisional spot versus a Wild Card spot and six points clear of Calgary for a playoff spot in general.

Ultimately, outside of games like tonight, what Edmonton and Vegas do is outside the control of the Kings. Can only win your games. So far, that’s been the focus the group is trying to take.

“It’s going to happen like that and the [playoffs] are still a long ways away, so we’ve just got to make sure that we do our part and not worry about too much what’s going on around us,” forward Anze Kopitar said. “Stay focused on our game, going one game at a time, and then just kind of plug away.”

For tonight’s game, though, it’s a rare opportunity for both teams where they do control what’s going on around them.

Both teams can’t walk away from tonight’s game with two points. The Kings will either pull a point or two closer to Edmonton, with the opportunity to pull level in the standings with a regulation victory, or the Oilers will extend the gap.

“All the games now are important, but you look at the three of us and everyone’s tight,” defenseman Mikey Anderson added. “When it’s against each other, they’re already intense games but that adds maybe a little bit more to it. It’s a fun game and everyone wants to be a part of them.”

Big one on tap. They all count the same, but they also don’t. It’s a four-point game for sure in this one.

3 To Watch For –
– For forward Warren Foegele, it’s his first game back in Edmonton since departing the Oilers as a free agent over the summer, signing a three-year contract with the Kings.

“Coming back here has brought a lot good memories,” Foegele said this morning. “Skating here felt very familiar, even just looking up at the banner there, we didn’t get the ultimate goal last year, but in a way at least it’s nice to see that I’ll be up there for some type of reason. A lot of good memories here, everyone treated me really well and it was definitely a second home to me.”

Foegele certainly made his presence felt when these teams met in Los Angeles, scoring a goal and adding two assists in the 4-3 victory at Crypto.com Arena.

Tonight, though, it’ll be his first game back in Edmonton after three seasons with the Oilers organization.

There was a time when it still felt weird for Foegele not to be an Oiler. Game 1 maybe, the home opener perhaps, but 40 games in, he’s at home with the Kings. He’s felt embraced by the Kings, noting he “couldn’t have asked for a better group of teammates to embrace me.” He’s found his stride alongside Quinton Byfield on a fast and difficult to play against pairing.

Kings will need him tonight, as they did in December, with a big test ahead.

– Will dive into the power play in greater detail on a practice day in Vancouver, but special teams will be extremely important tonight.

The Kings have struggled on the PP specifically, coming into the game tonight 29th in the NHL at 15 percent overall and 31st on the road specifically, at 9.8 percent. I think it goes without saying that the Oilers are a threat every time their power play hits the ice and for as good as the Kings have been defensively, they’ll need to get something from their power play eventually in order to get goals.

In the Calgary game, the Kings went 0-for-3 on the power play, while a rare mistake on the PK led to the game-winning goal for the Flames. The Kings had one really strong PP early, with nine shots on goal in a two-minute span, but struggled with zone entries on their second and third opportunities. Ultimately, a goal could have meant a point or even a win. The Kings didn’t get it. Against Edmonton, special teams will play a factor, as it always seems to do. Kings worked on the PP today at morning skate, we’ll see if they can put something together when it counts tonight. A deeper dive to follow.

– Lastly, the Kings are still collecting donation items at Toyota Sports Performance Center until 6 PM Pacific today. Same goes for each day over the next week or so.

LAKings.com/FireRelief has the list of items that are in need. All donations will be delivered to the YMCA to be distributed to those in need. The Kings were able to amass three truckloads of donations by lunch time yesterday, with more coming in later in the day and this morning. The drive is currently set to run through Sunday, January 19 at this time, depending on what items continue to be needed in fire relief efforts.

Kings and Oilers, big one tonight in Edmonton! 6:30 PM puck drop Pacific time, 7:30 local in here in Alberta.

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