2/22 Preview – Kings Are Back + Doughty expected, 11/7, Anderson/Gavrikov

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (29-17-7) vs. Utah Hockey Club (24-23-9)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Saturday, February 22 @ 6:00 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 back in action for the first time since February 9 as they host Utah Hockey Club to begin a stretch of three straight gameson home ice.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings skated to a 3-2 victory over Utah when these teams met for the first October.

Defenseman Joel Edmundson led the team with two goals in the first matchup of the season, while defenseman Brandt Clarke (1-1-2) and forward Adrian Kempe (0-2-2) each collected multiple points in the victory. Edmundson is one of two defensemen around the NHL with multiple career goals against Utah, along with Anaheim’s Pavel Mintyukov.

KINGS VITALS: After a week’s worth of preparation, the Kings held an optional morning skate today in El Segundo, in advance of their return to the ice.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper appears set to make his return to the net tonight, after missing the final two games before the break. Kuemper made 24 saves on 26 shots in the 3-2 Kings win back in October, his first ever appearance against the first-year Utah Hockey Club.

Based on practices over the last handful of days, as well as the optional skate today, here’s a potential lineup for tonight’s game against Utah –

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

Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Doughty
Moverare – Spence
Clarke

Kuemper
Rittich

The Kings are set to welcome back defenseman Mikey Anderson tonight. Anderson missed the last four games with an upper-body injury but has skated in full since his return from break and will play tonight. Updating now that he has been formally activated from injured reserve, paving the way to playing tonight.

Defenseman Drew Doughty is also expected to play, upon his return from the 4 Nations Face-Off. Based on practices and today’s skate, the Kings could go 11/7 tonight, something Jim Hiller alluded to yesterday. More on that below.

As far as the defensive pairings, I am expecting an 11/7 alignment tonight and with that, I’d expect a steady rotation, so nothing formal with those groups above. Could easily see a number of different combinations beyond Anderson/Gavrikov, so we’ll have to wait until warmups for sure.

UTAH HC VITALS: Similar to the Kings, tonight marks the first game back after the break for Utah as well, after winning three of their final four games going into the time off.

Per Brogan Houston of the Deseret News, here’s how Utah lined up during practice on Thursday –

Today's lines:

Keller – Kerfoot/Cooley – Schmaltz
Carcone – Hayton – Guenther
Crouse/Maccelli – McBain – Doan
O’Brien – Stenlund – Bjugstad

Sergachev – Marino
Määttä – Durzi
Cole – Kesselring
Välimäki – DeSimone
Bortuzzo

Vejmelka
Ingram
Stauber#UtahHC

— Brogan Houston (@houston_brogan) February 20, 2025

Former Kings defenseman Sean Durzi is expected to play tonight, his first game back in the lineup since October 14. Durzi has been on injured reserve since mid-October with a shoulder injury that has cost him all but four games played so far this season. Durzi scored once against his former team over three games played last season, as a member of the Arizona Coyotes.

Storyline Of The Day – Good To Be Back
The break came at the right time for the Kings.

10 of 12 on the road heading into February, a good regroup at home, but a team that was definitely in need of some time off.

“A lot of games, especially on the road, so it was nice to be home a little bit and not have to travel and all that stuff,” forward Anze Kopitar said. “Sometimes breaks come at the wrong time, but I think for this group it was pretty good, just to get away and recharge, take the mind off hockey for a little bit.”

Practices over the week back were certainly reflective of a recharged team.

Jim Hiller said he was pleased with the performances during practice throughout the week. The team went really hard on Tuesday and Wednesday, took Thursday off the ice and had good team skate yesterday with everyone present, minus Drew Doughty. In Hiller’s mind, the team got what he hoped they would from those first practice days. On the ice, the players seemed to feel the same way.

“We definitely got the energy back, three good practices and back at it [tonight],” forward Phillip Danault said. “We’re recharged emotionally, should play with passion [tonight], bring that back from the three games. Play hard, push for the playoffs and get ready to go.”

All good to say those things, right?

Now, it’s about taking the rest and using it to their advantage. Every team got a break, so there wasn’t an advantage there. For some teams, though, I’d imagine the break came during a time when they wanted to keep playing, keep momentum going. For the Kings, they needed the time off and now they begin a spring towards the finish line.

The season ends with 29 games in 55 days. That’s less than a game every other night on average. Over that stretch, the Kings will play five sets of back-to-back games, with only three sets of multiple days off. None of those stretches are even three days in between games, all just two. As Danault added, though, 19 of the 29 games will be at home, with no longer than a three-game roadtrip awaiting the Kings the rest of the season. That’s the balancing act right now. Time off will be minimal but time at home will be aplenty.

Regardless of which way things might go in the longer run, tonight is Game 1 of 29 and it should be as well-rested as the Kings have been all season. Hiller is expecting that to translate into a lot of energy tonight as both teams return to the flow.

“Really good, we’ve all said that,” Hiller added. “We’ve all said that it really feels close to the beginning of the season, but I’m sure we’re not the only team that feels that way. I wish we were, but that’s not the case. I think you’ll see some good energy out of both teams tonight. Maybe the execution might not be on, I don’t know, but I think you’ll see some good energy.”

3 To Watch For –
– First things first, Hiller is expecting Drew Doughty to play tonight. He said yesterday that he expected to have Doughty in and reiterated this morning that he’s expecting Doughty to play.

Drew Doughty is expected to be in the @LAKings lineup tomorrow against Utah, per Jim Hiller.

“He’s had plenty of time off, he’d be the first to tell you.”

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) February 21, 2025

He has had plenty of time off and for him, the four games were beneficial both for the Kings and for Doughty himself.

“What a performance by him,” Hiller said of Doughty at the 4 Nations. “I know we’ve talked about it a few times, but I don’t know how many guys can do that, playing defense, miss as much as he did, at that level of competition and play as well as he did. He got better and better as the tournament went on, which makes sense. It’s pretty unique.”

Hiller is “counting on” having Doughty back tonight. Expecting him in for sure unless we hear otherwise.

– On the blueline, this is really the first time all season the Kings have had a full complement of players at their disposal.

The game in Florida on January 29 technically did, but it was the first game back for Doughty and he wasn’t nearly up to speed. Now, Doughty has 10 games under his belt between the NHL and the 4 Nations Face-Off. He’s ready to go. So, what will the Kings do with their pairings?

With Doughty not practicing this week, the Kings paired Mikey Anderson and Vladislav Gavrikov together, as they have for the bulk of the season when Doughty was injured. Hiller said that the Kings like to mix and match back there – perhaps a subtle nod to the 11/7 alignment – but that even with Doughty back, we can expect to see Anderson and Gavrikov together, at least during rushes.

“That can always change, as you know with us, but yeah, we do see Mikey and Gavy [together], at least out of the break here, a little bit, staying together,” Hiller said. “Then, we have flexibility, Smitty mixes and matches a lot back there, but for practice and stuff like that, you’ll probably see Mikey and Gavy.”

So, look for that pairing to remain together, at least to start. The Kings have gotten a ton from the Anderson/Gavrikov duo this season and now with Doughty back, it could give the Kings an additional matchup pairing, depending on where they deploy him. Good problem to have.

– Lastly, to be expecting the 11/7 as a strong possibility is not surprising.

Jim Hiller has said he likes the 11/7 look. It gives him more flexibility behind the bench and adds another element of danger to the team’s fourth line offensively, giving extra shifts to selected forwards throughout the game.

As we progress throughout the season, Hiller said the 11/7 is “always a consideration for us.” Not 100 percent certain for tonight, but the expectation is that the 11/7 will be used down the stretch and it could be used regularly, depending on various factors.

“There’s always different reasons,” Hiller said. “You guys don’t always know the reasons why there’s different things going on. Sometimes there’s injuries, or we want to get somebody else some more ice time up front. It will always be a conversation with us.”

For tonight, looks like the Kings could go that way and off we go.

2 hockey clubs battling tonight in Los Angeles. Feels great to be back at it with three big home games coming up here over the next five days!