2/5 Preview – Doughty evaluates first 3 games + No Changes Tonight, 8/84 Pairing, 11/7 vs. 12/6

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (27-17-6) vs. Montreal Canadiens (24-23-5)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Wednesday, February 5 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings are finally back at home, opening a three-game homestand heading into the break and the first of six straight at home in total, tonight against Montreal.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings won by a 4-1 margin against the Canadiens on the road earlier this season.

Kings forward Adrian Kempe led the team with a goal and an assist in the victory, while defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov chipped in with a pair of assists. Throughout his NHL career, Kempe is a point-per-game player with 12 points (8-4-12) from 12 games played against Montreal.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team practice yesterday and went with an optional morning skate today in El Segundo.

Back at home, look for goaltender Darcy Kuemper to get the start tonight against Montreal. Kuemper, who did not play in the win over the Canadiens earlier this season, brings a lifetime record against Montreal of 5-3-1, with a .900 save percentage and a 2.65 goals-against average.

With the optional skate today, there were no formal line rushes, but here’s the alignment we saw yesterday in practice –

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

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

For tonight, expecting 12 forwards and six defensemen, with Englund and Burroughs likely out. Jim Hiller said yesterday that the 11/7 will return “before too long” but with the schedule being what it was, he felt a 12/6 alignment was the right decision on the trip.

On defenseman Mikey Anderson, he remains out day-to-day. He has skated on his own over the last three days and while he is progressing – and will not require surgery – he’s not expected to play in tonight’s game.

CANADIENS VITALS: While Montreal vaulted itself back into playoff contention with a 13-3-1 run, the Canadiens had dropped their last five games before winning 4-3 last night in San Jose.

Per Rocket Sports, here’s how the Canadiens lined up last night against the Sharks –

#Habs lines vs #Sharks

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Dach – Anderson
Laine – Evans – Armia
Beck – Dvorak – Gallagher

Hutson – Matheson
Struble – Carrier
Xhekaj – Savard

Montembeault (starter)
Dobes#GoHabsGo #NHL #Hockey @RocketSports pic.twitter.com/F9n0VgTzJV

— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) February 5, 2025

Montreal enters tonight’s game five points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Forward Nick Suzuki, who collected an assist when these teams met back in October, is a point-per-game player since January 1 with 16 points (4-12-16) over 16 games played. Defenseman Lane Hutson ranks tied for fourth in the NHL with 14 points (1-13-14) among all blueliners in that same span.

Storyline Of The Day – Doughty’s Self-Evaluation
Some ups and downs.

That was Drew Doughty’s 10,000 foot assessment of his first three games back in the lineup after he returned to action in Florida last week.

“I think with the puck, for the most part, I feel good, but defensively I’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said in advance of his home debut this season. “I’m still doing a decent job but not as good as I know I can do. Pretty good, I think, considering how long I missed, but I’m going to improve and get better.”

Doughty’s statline, overall, isn’t the prettiest. One assist and a -4 rating. He took accountability for the goal he was on the ice for in Carolina, calling it a “mistake” on his end, as he lost the puck at the offensive blueline, leading to an odd-man rush the other way. Ultimately that mistake was magnified as a goal against but he said the team coming back to win the game, with Doughty collecting an assist on the game-winning goal, boosted him back up.

He’s been out for four months, but his expectations haven’t waivered. That’s why that play hit him like it did. Two of the goals he’s been out for were empty netters. One came of a turnover elsewhere in the zone. The Carolina goal against aside, it hasn’t been particularly glaring.

Defensively, Doughty did not feel that anything is systems based. It’s more situational. When you’re injured, the hardest thing to replicate is live, game situations. As much as you practice, as in-shape as you are, as many drills that you do, you can’t replicate the intensity and the unpredictability of a game. In those moments, it’s instinctual and fast.

“When you miss that many games, no matter how much stuff you do off the ice, you’ve got to get in game situations,” he said. “If you’re stuck in the d-zone for 40 seconds, there’s really nothing you can do to not be tired and I’m making most of those defensive mistakes when I’m a little bit gassed on prolonged shifts. It’s just about getting shorter shifts, because when I feel fresh, my defense was there, but I can be a lot better.”

On the point of shorter shifts, three of the goals he’s been on the ice for were shifts of 1:15 or longer. The goal in Carolina was 1:18, his longest shift until late in the third period. Sometimes, getting off at the right point in a shift is hard to do. When the legs get heavy defensively, it’s probably the hardest part of the game. By his own admission, that was there but Doughty also got a lot stronger as he went along.

As far as what he thought went well, he pinpointed his passing. He felt that was a strong area in the first three games.

“My passing was on point all three games, I was kind of shocked myself that I was passing the puck that well,” Doughty said. “Like I said, I’ve got to get some defensive things going, but my competitiveness was there, my energy, all that stuff was good. I’m just going to get better.”

There was certainly no easing Doughty back in. 23:51 in Game 1. A season-high 27:43 in Game 2 and 24:16 in Game 3. Two schools of thought there. Ultimately, Doughty will be in that range for his minutes, though likely not on the 27-minute front all that often, when the Kings have six healthy defensemen for full games.

Overall, while it hasn’t been perfect, it would’ve likely been hard to expect a ton more from Doughty in the first three games. He’ll continue to regain game sharpness and as that comes, it’ll only benefit the Kings. Afterall, it is Drew Doughty. As important a player as there is for the Kings. Give him the proper time and that sharpness will come back as expected.

3 To Watch For
– On Doughty, he’s also partnering with Vladislav Gavrikov right now for one of the first times this season.

Doughty and Gavrikov have played together here and there, but as Doughty admitted, it wasn’t the best for either player. He said they’re working very hard to make it work right now.

“It’s getting better, me and Vlad haven’t played a ton together and when we did last year, we didn’t do great together, to be honest, so we’re both pretty determined to play very well together and create this partnership,” Doughty said. “We don’t know when Mikey could be back and we both relish the job of taking on the other team’s best line, so we’re looking forward to the next challenge.”

With Anderson out, at least for tonight, the Kings will likely rely heavily on those two players to lead the way on the backend. Still learning each other’s tendencies and making it work. Mixed results in Carolina, but a good chance tonight on home ice to continue to build.

– Asked Jim Hiller about the 11/7 versus the 12/6 yesterday. Here was his answer –

“We probably would have went 11/7 had the schedule been a bit lighter. I think this was a little bit more schedule based, going 12 again. It doesn’t affect the defensemen all that much, it’s more so the forwards. You’ll see 11 and 7 again before too long. I don’t know for how long, but that’s going to be continuously evolving. I don’t know how it will end up, but you’ll see 11/7 shortly.”

The Kings had a ton of success 11/7 earlier in the season. As Hiller noted, the switch back to 12/6 recently came down to a condensed schedule. Followed up with a question on if he feels that an extended run of 11/7 could have possibly drained the forwards at all. Hiller said he did not think that was the case. He said it’s seven minutes of ice time spread out amongst five or so players. That’s really not all that much more. 1-2 minutes extra per game and it’s not on guys like Anze Kopitar. It’s guys like Kevin Fiala, Alex Laferriere, Warren Foegele, Quinton Byfield and Trevor Moore. The defensemen aren’t really impacted.

So, TLDR, the 11/7 will return. Probably not tonight. But in due time.

– Lastly, look for a Josh Schaefer / Jared Shafran combo on the radio broadcast tonight. The Ontario Reign broadcast team from the last three seasons will be on ESPN Los Angeles tonight, with Schaefer on play-by-play and Shafran on color. Good to see the AHL duo get an NHL shot.

Kings and Canadiens, three games in four nights at home heading into the break. 7:30 PM puck drop.