3/3 Preview – “Kings Hockey” needed to salvage two points + Notes on Moore & Turcotte

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (31-19-8) @ Chicago Blackhawks (18-35-7)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Monday, March 3 @ 5:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: United Center – Chicago, IL
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings conclude a three-game trip this evening in Chicago, as they look to salvage two points after dropping the first two games against Dallas and St. Louis.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings lost the first game of the season against the Blackhawks, a 4-3 shootout defeat in Los Angeles back in November.

Forward Alex Laferriere scored two goals in that game to lead his team while forward Phillip Danault had a goal and an assist against the team that originally drafted him. Throughout his career, Danault has 16 points (8-8-16) from 17 games played against Chicago.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings did not practice yesterday and were on the ice for a full-team morning skate today in Chicago.

Look for goaltender Darcy Kuemper to return to the net tonight versus the Blackhawks. Kuemper has a lifetime record of 8-2-2 against Chicago, with a .921 save percentage and a 2.21 goals-against average.

Here’s how the Kings appeared to align this morning –

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

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

Kuemper
Rittich

No confirmation this morning on tonight’s projected lineup. Jim Hiller noted there could be changes, but did not disclose what they might be. We’ll have to wait until warmups to learn for certain. Should he opt for a change, defensemen Kyle Burroughs and Brandt Clarke were the two extras on Saturday, as the Kings went with 12 forwards and six defensemen.

BLACKHAWKS VITALS:Chicago begins a three-game homestand tonight, coming back to Illinois off a 6-3 victory in Anaheim on Saturday.

Per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times, here’s how the Blackhawks lined up during today’s morning skate –

Blackhawks lines in morning skate before hosting Kings tonight:

Slaggert-Bedard-Nazar
Athanasiou-Dach-Bertuzzi
Teravainen-Donato-Mikheyev
Maroon-Reichel-Smith

Vlasic-Crevier
Del Mastro-Murphy
Kaiser-Martinez
Brodie

Knight
Soderblom
Mrazek

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 3, 2025

Goaltender Spencer Knight, who was acquired from Florida on Saturday in the trade that sent defenseman Seth Jones to the Panthers, is expected to make his first start as a member of the Blackhawks this evening. Knight, a former first-round pick, is 12-8-1 this season with a .907 save percentage. He’s played twice against the Kings, with a 0-1-1 record, a .938 save percentage and a 1.96 goals-against average.

Storyline Of The Day – Getting Back To Kings Hockey
The last two games have not been LA Kings hockey.

For all the talk of goalscoring throughout the course of this season – which has been valid – through it all, the Kings have been as stingy defensively as any team in the NHL.

In Dallas on Friday, though, the Kings allowed five goals in netfront situations. The Stars are among the NHL’s best there as they lead the leaague with 74 high-danger goals this season at even strength, but the Kings have typically not had that as a storyline this season, minus a few outliers. They were not up for that challenge on Friday.

Then came Saturday and while it wasn’t an awful showing, it also wasn’t a Kings showing, either. Rush chances against were up and the Kings allowed far more in that game that they are accustomed to.

“We just didn’t get around to our game for enough time,” defenseman Joel Edmundson said. “The d-zone bit us in the [butt] a bit, we didn’t close quick enough and gave them chances to create offense. We did some good things, but just not enough.”

If you can score your way out of it, you might be able to find something, but the Kings scored three goals over two games with seven high-danger chances each night, which is towards the bottom of the charts for the Kings in that department. Not how the Kings have won all that often and they weren’t able to do it in either of those two games.

So, coming into tonight’s game, the Kings know they need a win. They know that the emotion, the intensity and the desperation needs to be better than it was over the weekend. But they also have to play the way they’ve been successful this season playing.

“We’ve got to get back to competing right now, especially in the d-zone, swarming them, tracking, all of that stuff that makes us a hard team to play against,” forward Trevor Moore said this morning. “When we get away from that, those are the results that we get.”

Forward Alex Turcotte added the word “pride” when talking about what the Kings need to do. He echoed what captain and linemate Anze Kopitar said after last game, which is that the Kings, to a man, “haven’t played at our best the last couple of games.” He owned his own part of that, talking about his individual game and how that factors into the team concept overall. Several others in that boat as well.

“I think when you’re in a rut like this, or struggling a little bit, I think the only way out is to work yourself out of it, give mx effort and eventually, good things will happen,” Turcotte added. “Any time you get the chance to play in the NHL, you’ve got to give it your all and play with emotion for sure.”

The right things said. Now, later this evening, we’ll see if it will be the right things done.

3 To Watch For –
– Here’s a little stat on forward Trevor Moore that I feel like is pretty indicative of the way he’s played over the last month or so, comparing his January to his February.

Per Natural Stat Trick, in January (12 GP) at 5-on-5, Moore had 44 shot attempts, 18 of which were scoring chances, which means right around 41 percent of his shot attempts were classified as scoring chances. In February and March (9 GP), Moore had 38 shot attempts and 24 of them were scoring chances. That’s 63 percent.

When Moore is at his best, he’s among the craftiest players on the Kings offensively. He’s deceptive. He’s got a quick release and a lot of escapability, which leads to his scoring chances. We saw that on his goal in Dallas. Tight turn along the wall to shake his man, eventually scored on a wraparound. A “Mooresie” goal.

To me, that’s extremely encouraging. That line has worked and Moore’s level being where it is feels like a really big part of that.

– For Turcotte, it’s not his first time back here in Chicago, but he will play in front of a decent group of friends and family here tonight.

Turcotte has played two games in Chicago before, one in each of the last two seasons. In some ways, it’s hard to really think that this is Turcotte’s first full tour around the NHL. I don’t think of him as a rookie, but from October through now March, this is his first time experiencing the ups and downs of a full season.

With that comes challenges, as he detailed this morning.

“For me, playing games was the biggest thing, everyone’s body is feeling it, guys are banged up, and just the consistency part is probably the hardest part,” he said. “Playing so many games, every other day it feels like, I think that’s the biggest thing.”

Turcotte entered training camp as a projected fourth-line player but he rose into the Top-9 as the season went along. He’s had spells of production and right now, he’s in one the other way, without a goal since his two-goal, three-point game in Vancouver on January 16. Perhaps earlier in his career, that would’ve really gotten to him. But now he’s better equipped to handle it.

“It’s teaching me to be stronger mentally. When you’re struggling or things aren’t going your way, I think I’m learning how to deal with that type of adversity and pushing through it and trying to get better.”

– Lastly, one last plug for LAKI Suite Night before hopefully sending out info later on this week!

Have heard from so many already and should have ticketing and payment information lined up this week to distribute! zdooley@lakings.com if you’d like to be included in that message. Should be a fun one. March 22, 1 PM game at Crypto.com Arena versus Carolina.

Kings and Blackhawks, 5:30 Pacific start time tonight as the Kings aim to leave the trip with at least a couple of points in the standings.