1/22 Preview – Goals, Goals, Goals + Thomas in, Defensive Changes, Doughty in full-contact jersey

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (25-14-5) vs. Florida Panthers (28-17-3)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Wednesday, January 22 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: TNT – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings complete a short, two-game homestand this evening as they host the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers, tonight at Crypto.com Arena.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Panthers played a pair of one-goal games last season, including a 2-1 Kings victory over Florida on home ice last November.

Forward Kevin Fiala led the Kings with three points (1-2-3) in the season series, while forwards Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore each collected a goal and an assist. Throughout his career, Kopitar is exactly a point-per-game player against Florida, with a 26 points (8-18-26) from 26 career games played.

KINGS VITALS: Following a full practice day yesterday, the Kings held an optional skate today, with 11 players taking the ice in El Segundo by my count.

After a night off on Monday, look for goaltender Darcy Kuemper to be back between the pipes this evening against Florida after he did not skate this morning. Kuemper has a lifetime record of 3-6-1 against the Panthers, with a .910 save percentage and a 2.92 goals-against average.

Here’s how the Kings lined up yesterday, previewing what we see tonight against Florida –

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

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

Kuemper
Rittich

Expecting forward Akil Thomas to draw back in tonight, skating on a line with Phillip Danault and Kevin Fiala. More on Thomas below.

Today’s skate gives the impression that the Kings might go 12/6 tonight, with defensemen Kyle Burroughs and Andreas Englund both on late along with the injured duo of Drew Doughty and Alex Laferriere. That would point to a fourth line of Samuel Helenius between Tanner Jeannot and Trevor Lewis. See if the Kings go that route this evening.

PANTHERS VITALS: Florida began a four-game roadtrip last night with a 5-2 victory in Anaheim over the Ducks.

Per Jameson Olive of FloridaPanthers.com, here’s how the visitors lined up last night against the Ducks –

#FlaPanthers in warmups ⬇️

Tkachuk – Barkov – Reinhart
Luostarinen – Bennett – Samoskevich
Verhaeghe – Lundell – J. Boqvist
Greer – Nosek – Rodrigues

Forsling – Kulikov
Mikkola – Schmidt
Bjornfot – Balinskis

Bobrovsky
Knight

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) January 22, 2025

Forward Aleksander Barkov is riding an eight-game point streak against the Kings, dating back to 2019. Barkov has 13 total points (3-10-13) in that span.

Defenseman Tobias Bjornfot played last night in Anaheim and could be in line to face the team that drafted him tonight. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad is expected to return at some point on this trip, but unclear at this time whether or not it will be this evening.

Storyline Of The Day – Biscuit In The Basket
Over the last seven games, the Kings have scored two or fewer goals in six of those games. One goal or less in three.

Seven games isn’t a tangible sample size, as far as metrics go. But it also isn’t like the Kings aren’t aware of what’s going on. Anze Kopitar said as much after the loss to Pittsburgh. Several others concurred. The Kings know they aren’t scoring right now the way they’d like to and while there isn’t concern yet, it’s something they’re aware of and focused on.

Yesterday’s practice, in the team portion, wasn’t designed specifically to work on scoring. After the Pittsburgh game, when nothing went well, the focus was on tracking back defensively, first and foremost. After the formal skate, though? The majority of the team’s forwards stayed on the ice later than everyone else, simply working on finishing. Guys like Kevin Fiala, Warren Foegele, Phillip Danault. Veteran players, on the ice for as long as I’ve seen them, simply working on putting the puck in the net. Drills in high-danger areas, the slot, the circles.

“Guys in the room are aware of their own individual droughts, but we don’t really kind of address that, we’re more focused on what we can do to get back in the win column and the things that we do right to be successful,” Foegele said. “Don’t be gripping the stick too much. [Yesterday] was a good practice, a little bit of a change up, some different drills, maybe gain some confidence. A couple more shooting drills than maybe we’ve done in the past, so it’s nice to have those kind of touches.”

That seemed to be the message.

It’s obviously an awareness of the need to score more goals. Doesn’t take a sleuth to see that the goals are down. But it’s not proactive to dwell on it either. The extra work was done mostly with Assistant Coach Newell Brown, not involving defensemen. It was optional, it felt like, but so many of the team’s forwards stayed on for the extra work. Nothing crazy, but lots of touches in dangerous areas of the ice.

“Just being able to get practice reps in areas where hopefully you are in the game, it definitely helps to be able to bear down and finish them,” Byfield added. “That was the mindset, just to get reps.”

Outside of the outstanding Adrian Kempe, the Kings haven’t gotten consistent production throughout the entire season yet from any one player. The player seemingly under the brightest spotlight of the remaining Kings players is the team’s second leading goalscorer Kevin Fiala.

In speaking with Fiala himself – and Jim Hiller about Fiala – both pointed to the law of averages. Fiala brought it up to me last week in Vancouver, when the Kings were struggling for goals both at even strength and on the power play. He acknowledged that the points haven’t been there overall for him or his linemates, though he does have a goal and two assists in the three games since and the Kings have scored a PPG in all three games.

Hiller brought up the same point yesterday. Fiala ranks second in the team in expected goals this season, behind only Adrian Kempe. He has 15 goals in total, also second on the club, and is on pace to match the 29 goals he scored last season. The assists are down, though. Fiala has collected a point on just 57.9 percent of the goals he’s been on the ice for this season. Last season it was over 71 percent and over 76 the season before. Of the 252 forwards with at least 500 minutes this season 5-on-5, Fiala’s on-ice shooting percentage is the 11th lowest at 5.62, substantially down from a season ago. All just numbers, right? But those are the most volatile numbers for scorers. Hiller believes Fiala is set for a huge second half.

It’s about more than just him, though. Kings are a depth scoring team and need that uptick to come in bulk. Has to come from different areas. Another chance tonight to get that part of the game going.

3 To Watch For –
– Akil Thomas appears set to check back into the lineup

Thomas skated yesterday on a line with Danault and Fiala. He hasn’t played in a game since December 28 against Edmonton, when he logged 6:06 in the win over the Oilers. That was a fourth-line role, with limited minutes, the 11th forward out of 11. Today’s opportunity should be larger.

Jim Hiller talked about Thomas as a player who can bring energy and forechecking ability. When he’s on his game, he’s an impactful player in those areas.

“When Akil is playing well, he’s got lots of energy, he’s a forechecker, he can really shoot the puck, he can make plays in tight,” Hiller said. “When all those things are going for him, he really helps us. He’s been out for a while, he’s been patient soldier and so rather than just bring him in and maybe start on the fourth line, we felt like let’s get some energy out of him playing with Phil and Kevin. That’s a big role and see where he can help us.”

In speaking with Thomas this morning, he admitted it’s been challenging at times for him.

He’s been out of lineups due to various injuries but never really as a healthy scratch at lower levels. While acknowledging it hasn’t been easy on him, he has put in the work to be ready to go. He feels he’s in great shape, a little bit faster than he was coming into camp and sharp with his puck skills because he’s been doing specifically targeted drills in those areas. Still, you can’t replicate game situations. Skate, keep things simple and good things should happen.

Expecting Akil Thomas in tonight with Danault/Fiala.

Good chat with him today. Called it a "challenge" after not playing for a bit, but he's excited for the opportunity.

"Not trying to think too much, just going to move my feet. Usually when I do that, good things happen."

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) January 22, 2025

– On the defensive swap, look for defensemen Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke to swap partners tonight.

Spence had a tough start to the season, resulting in a healthy scratch in Game 4. He’s really recovered, though, and is playing some of his best hockey of the season.

“It’s a long, hard season and Clarkie’s done a really good job, played a lot of big, important minutes against higher competition in the lineup, sometimes you just need a bit of a break,” Hiller said “Spenny’s had his troubles, we’ve talked about that, he’s got himself back up again and sometimes just a breath helps you. So we’ll get Clarkie playing with Mo and challenge Spenny a little bit more.”

Spence took on PP1 duties two games back and that unit has scored in both games since, with Spence tallying an assist on Monday on Adrian Kempe’s goal. In total, he has 11 points (2-9-11) over his last 20 games, which is solid production from the backend. Now, the Kings will ask him for more at even strength as well, on the defensive side of the puck specifically. A good time to challenge a younger player who is really finding his stride.

– Lastly, look for defenseman Drew Doughty to travel on the upcoming roadtrip with the Kings.

Doughty will join the team on the flight to Columbus. Unclear if he will play in that first game against the Blue Jackets, but certainly a nice step that Doughty is expected to travel with the group.

Doughty progressed today into a full-contact, white jersey for the first time since September. Tonight won’t be the night, as Doughty was on late after today’s skate, but he’s really getting close. Very exciting to see.

Kings and Panthers, big test tonight for the home side. Last home game until February. See how they respond.