2/26 Preview – Rittich Off First, 11/7 Expected + Offensive Balance, Edmundson on Break Return

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (31-17-7) vs. Vancouver Canucks (26-20-11)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Wednesday, February 26 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: TNT, MAX – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings complete a three-game homestand this evening as they host the Vancouver Canucks for another Pacific Division showdown.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Canucks have already played twice this season, with each team winning on the road.

Forward Alex Turcotte led the way with three points (1-2-3) in British Columbia last month while five other Kings – Quinton Byfield, Kevin Fiala, Warren Foegele, Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore – have two points from two games played this season against Vancouver.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings did not practice yesterday and held a full-team morning skate this morning at Toyota Sports Performance Center.

Goaltender David Rittich was off first today, making him tonight’s projected starter against Vancouver. Rittich has made 11 career starts against the Canucks entering tonight’s action, bringing with him a 5-3-2 record with a .899 save percentage and a 2.66 goals-against average.

From this morning’s skate, here’s how the Kings lined up –

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

Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Doughty
Moverare – Spence
Clarke

Kuemper
Rittich

Coming off consecutive victories, not expecting any changes for the Kings. 11 forwards and seven defensemen has been the preferred alignment over the last two games at home and the Kings appear set for the same look here tonight. Forward Akil Thomas and defenseman Kyle Burroughs are healthy and available should the Kings look to make any additional changes.

CANUCKS VITALS: Vancouver is in the middle of a five-game trip out of the break, dropping its first two games in Vegas and Utah to kick things off.

Per Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650, here’s how Vancouver aligned last time out against Utah –

Projected #Canucks lines vs. @utahhockeyclub

DeBrusk. EP40. Sherwood.
O’Connor. Chytil. Boeser.
Joshua. Suter. Garland.
Bains. Blueger. Höglander.

Marcus. Myers.
Elias. Hronek.
Forbort. Mancini.

🥅#ArtyParty 🥅

5pm on @Sportsnet650 https://t.co/KAgpi3goGL pic.twitter.com/FwMoOyruR0

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) February 24, 2025

Goaltender and California native Thatcher Demko is on injured reserve and won’t feature tonight against the Kings, while former Kings defenseman Derek Forbort is expected to be in the lineup for the visitors. Defenseman Quinn Hughes is a “game-time decision” to return from injury tonight.

Forward Brock Boeser has 17 goals and 23 points in his career from 22 games played versus the Kings. Since he entered the league, no player in the NHL has scored more goals against the Kings in the regular season than Boeser.

Storyline Of The Day – Dry January -> Wet February
Working title there.

In the month of January, the Kings ranked dead last in in the NHL in goals as a team.

In the month of February, with two games remaining, the Kings have a player tied for the NHL lead in goals and a different player tied for the NHL lead in assists. In six games played, sandwiching the 4 Nations break, the Kings have scored at least four goals five times and at least five goals four times, including Monday’s 5-2 win over Vegas. Averaging 4.17 goals-per-game, the Kings rank sixth in the NHL in February.

Insane what the flip of a calendar can do.

Since February has been a month with fewer games played on account of the break, look at these flips in terms of points-per-game.

Byfield – 0.31 -> 1.67
Danault – 0.31 -> 1.17
Fiala – 0.54 -> 1.50
Foegele – 0.15 -> 1.00
Moore – 0.17 -> 0.83

Additionally, in January, the Kings got three goals from their defensemen in 13 games. They already have five in February with two games remaining.

To see so many names up there is what’s exciting. that’s, initially how the Kings were built to perform.

“We thought that’s the way it would be coming into the season, but we had a number of guys really get off to slow starts, which surprised us” Jim Hiller said. “We hoped, or we knew, that at some point, the guys who weren’t scoring as much would start to score and balance us out. I think that’s what we’re seeing now.”

Now, Byfield and Fiala are still the two players at the top of the scoring charts right now and they deserve their praise.

Byfield has played 150 feet of hockey really well all season, they’re just not the 150 feet that get noticed. He’s added the offensive zone to his arsenal as of late and he’s creating plays all over the ice. The backhanded assist to Foegele on Monday was sublime as a part of his first career four-point night.

Fiala has been dazzling for awhile now, even back into January, but right now he’s really playing and producing at an elite level. Another goal on Monday and it was another high-level hockey play. Nine goals and 16 points over his last 14 games. No King has been on the ice for more 5-on-5 goals in that span than Fiala, who has also quietly only taken one minor penalty in that stretch.

To see Foegele, Danault and Moore involved as well though is huge. While I didn’t list him above, Alex Laferriere has two goals, three points and a +5 rating this month after he was held without a goal last month. Adrian Kempe was just about the only King producing in January and his PPG has remained steady, with two assists on Monday. Lots of guys who were fighting it a bit are now producing.

“We had that stretch where guys were fighting it a little bit, so I think it’s nice to have different guys contributing, maybe some guys that weren’t scoring a whole lot are now feeling the puck a little bit more,” defenseman Mikey Anderson added. “It’s good. If you can spread out the scoring a little bit, it’s hard for the opposition to defend, it’s hard for them to match lines or do what they want to do.”

Moore as quick to credit the younger players for bolstering the number of options.

Byfield has emerged as a legitimate center while Laferriere took a massive step forward this season. While he hasn’t produced this month, Alex Turcotte is still well ahead of where he was last season. Three guys who have come in and helped push the cause forward, adding to the options this team has up front right now.

“I think it speaks a lot to the young guys, Laf, Turc, Q, these young guys who are able to come in and create such good depth in our lineup,” Moore said. “We have a lot of guys who can play and I think that’s hard to play against.”

I think Hiller put it best. This is the team the Kings expected to have and so far in February, we’re seeing it in full.

3 To Watch For –
– I really liked this Joel Edmundson quote about taking advantage of these first few games coming out of the break.

“It seems like some teams are ready and some teams are kind of behind the eight ball right now. If you can get a couple quick wins, that’s going to help down the line. There’s not that many games left, right? After this break, it’s full throttle. Every game is big. If you can get some early ones, that’s huge.”

I think we’re seeing around the league that some teams have not yet returned from their break. Others hit the ground running, if not sprinting. The Kings have played twice and have two wins. That’s clutch. Games today count as much as the games in a week when every team should be just about back to it. That the Kings have surged out with a pair of wins is huge and they’ve got a chance tonight to make it three of three.

The impact on the standings speaks for itself.

The Kings have won twice, while Edmonton, Vegas and Vancouver have combined for just one victory. The Kings have pulled a point further ahead of the first playoff spot out and moved two points closer to the top. They also have an additional game in hand than they did before the break. By points percentage, the Kings now sit second in the Pacific and their maximum point total is the highest in the division.

Good start, certainly.

– Jim Hiller offered a specific key to the matchup with Vancouver. Winning the game below the goal lines.

“The first time we played them in LA, they beat us under the goal lines, ours and theirs, they were stronger,” Hiller said. “We talked about that going into Vancouver, we have to beat them under the goal lines, theirs and ours. We scored some rush goals, so I don’t know if we [did or not]. We played pretty good defense. That’ll be it tonight. Who’s going to be strong, who can hang onto pucks, who can make sure we’re boxing out, because I think both teams can play a similar style.”

Vancouver does have a number of players who can beat you in that way. The Kings are at their best when they’re winning the forechecking battle, forcing turnovers and outplaying their opponent in those situations. Number of goals last game in that way, as noted yesterday, and clearly a focus again tonight.

– Lastly, for those who missed the story last night, Insider Suite Day is coming back on March 22 against Carolina!

Tickets are $75 each for suite access with some add-ons to come! Email me at zdooley@lakings.com for more information – as many of you already have – and I will include you in the payment process once that is sorted out.