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4/10 Preview – Kempe In, Turcotte “really close” + 6/8/10 Latest, Home-Ice Magic Number, Congrats To the Kempe’s

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WHO: Los Angeles Kings (44-24-9) vs. Anaheim Ducks (34-35-8)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Thursday, April 10 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ESPN+ / Hulu – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings continue on a four-game homestand this evening against the Anaheim Ducks, in search of a quick bounce-back from Monday’s defeat against Seattle.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Tonight is the final Freeway Faceoff of the season, with the Kings bringing a 2-0-1 record into the matchup, on the back of three, low-scoring games between the two clubs so far this season.

Forward Alex Laferriere leads the Kings so far this season with three points (2-1-3) in the season series against the Ducks, while forward Phillip Danault has tallied three assists across the three games. Forward Adrian Kempe had two goals from three games played against Anaheim. Over the past five seasons, no player in the NHL has more goals versus the Ducks than Kempe’s 16.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held an optional morning skate today, following a (mostly) full-team practice yesterday in El Segundo.

Look for goaltender Darcy Kuemper to get the nod in net tonight against the Ducks, his fifth consecutive start in total. Kuemper has 17 career starts versus Anaheim, with a lifetime record of 9-6-0, a .912 save percentage and a 2.49 goals-against average.

Here’s how the Kings lined up on Monday versus Seattle –

Same lineup is expected tonight versus Anaheim.

On the updates front, Alex Turcotte didn’t play on Monday but did practice yesterday. Adrian Kempe played on Monday, left the game early for the birth of his first child and did not practice yesterday. Defensemen Joel Edmundson and Drew Doughty did not play on Monday or practice yesterday.

Below is a full injury picture update to give us a better sense as to why the same lineup is expected tonight against the Ducks.

DUCKS VITALS: Anaheim comes into tonight’s action off a 4-3 overtime win last night against Calgary in Orange County.

Per Derek Lee of The Hockey News, here’s how the Ducks lined up yesterday versus the Flames –

Anaheim has four players between 20 and 21 goals this season – Mason McTavish, Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry and Frank Vatrano. Terry leads the Ducks with 53 points on the season, while McTavish hit the 50-point mark for the first time in his NHL career. Defenseman Jackson LaCombe ranks fifth in the NHL this season in points by defensemen under age-25.

Storyline Of The Day – Updates……Updates……Updates
The laundry list is growing here.

Here’s the latest on five Kings players who either did not play on Monday against Seattle or left that game early.

Easiest one here is a congratulations to forward Adrian Kempe!

Kempe left the game early on Monday, at the second intermission, for the first of his first child. Congratulations to Kempe and his wife, Sian, on the birth of their daughter, Stellan!

Kempe was here this morning and is “all good to go” tonight, per Jim Hiller. Expecting him in his usual spot with Kopitar and Kempe.

On the injury front, forward Alex Turcotte is “really close” to returning to the lineup, but it won’t come tonight, per Hiller. Turcotte has been out of action since March 23 with an upper-body injury and tonight will be the ninth straight games he’s missed. He’s progressed really well over the last five days or so, skating yesterday as a full participant during practice. Turcotte skated on Anze Kopitar’s line during yesterday’s practice, in Kempe’s spot, but was on late after today’s practice. It won’t be long here, but it won’t come tonight.

“We want to be sure, we want to be patient and not rush him,” Hiller said of Turcotte. “He’s really close.”

More from Turcotte HERE. He feels he’s very close as well, perhaps even ready to go. But it’s the time of the year when it makes no sense to take a risk. We look ahead to Saturday for Turcotte’s potential return.

On defensemen Joel Edmundson (upper-body, day-to-day) and Drew Doughty (lower-body, maintenance), both players missed Monday’s game against Seattle and neither player will go tonight either against the Ducks.

With Edmundson, his day-to-day timeline says this isn’t anything particularly serious here. Edmundson did practice on Sunday but missed Monday’s game due to injury. He also did not practice yesterday, nor did he skate this morning.

For Doughty, I don’t know if you want to call it day-to-day, because nothing has really changed, so I’m going with maintenance. He missed a game in late-February and he missed Monday’s game against Seattle. Both times came down to management and maintenance with regards to his ankle, which is not quite 100 percent, but it’s largely been good enough for him to play, minus those two games. He skated on his own this morning and looked to be moving just fine. When it’s time, it’s time.

The priority for both defensemen is Game 1 of the postseason. Both players are around the facility and their availability for the postseason doesn’t seem to be in doubt right now. But they’re going to be managed between now and then.

“It’s kind of a case-by-case, we’ll manage it,” Hiller said, about making sure players are as close to 100 percent as possible before returning. “Certainly, we’re not going to put anybody in any jeopardy, but we want to play good hockey, we want to be as good as we can be right now.”

Lastly, no further update on forward Tanner Jeannot, who remains out week-to-week. Won’t see him tonight and we’ll check in down the road as we approach the playoffs. Anything beyond that is speculation.

So that’s that.

Look for Kempe in. Turcotte close, but out. Doughty, Edmundson and Jeannot out tonight. Will go from there if anything changes.

3 To Watch For –
– The absences of Doughty and Edmundson means the Kings will need to rely on defensemen Jacob Moverare and Kyle Burroughs. Two guys who are outstanding teammates and who have both contributed this season. Both are NHL players and both are capable in this role and they’ll get an opportunity tonight.

That pair was on the ice for a goal in both directions on Monday. Burroughs had the primary assist on the long Kings goal on Tuesday. They were also out for Seattle’s game-tying goal, a play that, in several ways by several players, should have been handled better.

Look, if the Kings go on a playoff run, it’s unlikely they’ll do so with 18 skaters going the entire way. A team’s depth is typically tested in the postseason. So, for guys like Moverare and Burroughs, who could potentially be called upon to play in the playoffs, getting these games is perhaps a silver lining, in that they’ll have reps in April.

“We’d like to be healthy, but those guys have been part of the team the whole way, they’re NHL players who can do the job,” Hiller said. “There’s no excuses, they have to be ready themselves, which is a hard job, to not play regularly and then to be ready when called upon. That’s their challenge.”

It’s not a like-for-like swap, though.

Moverare is a defense-first player, but is more reliant on his hockey sense and positioning, both of which are high-level. He doesn’t have Edmundson’s physicality and you can’t just add that. Burroughs is a bit under-sized but has high compete and takes care of his own zone well, while offering good skating ability. Few players are Drew Doughty, though.

“It’s hard to get 6-5, 225 pounds, it’s hard to be there, you know what I mean,” Hiller said. “You can come in and do what you do well, but you’re still not going to be 6-5, 225 and carry a heavy cross check and Drew’s Drew. We’re not looking for them to do that. What they do well, that’s what they have to be. They just have to be themselves.”

Being themselves is enough for the Kings to get wins. That’s the focus for those two players tonight against the Ducks.

– Here’s the updated home-ice in Round 1 situation.

The magic number is currently 6, between Kings points earned and Oilers points dropped.

Monday’s loss, in the moment, felt really costly in pursuit of home-ice in Round 1 but Edmonton’s defeat in Anaheim gave the Kings a bit of a lifeline, as they saw that number drop from 8 to 6. Still, the Kings want to make sure they are carrying some momentum into that Game 1, even if they secure that game at home.

“Obviously, you want to play at home in the playoffs, with line-matching and just playing in front of your fans, your routine of being at home is a huge advantage, but I think the other thing too is, even though we’re locked into a playoff spot, we need to still continue to bring that momentum to finish the year right and bring that momentum into the playoffs,” forward Warren Foegele said. “You can’t be hitting the brakes right now and then think you can just turn it back on for Game 1.”

Personally, six where I expected it to be anyways, but with wins by both the Kings and Oilers, not losses. Missed opportunity in some ways, but also the teams are a game closer and the gap has shrunk. That is a good thing.

Ideally, the game in Alberta coming up next week doesn’t have a ton of implications. If it does, though, from the perspective of a magic number, it would be a true four-point game. A Kings regulation victory in that game would see the magic number go down by four, if it’s needed at that time.

But that’s for down the road.

Magic Number is 6, opportunity for the Kings to drop it to 4 tonight. That’s the task at hand against the Ducks.

“Every game that we have left here is going to be really important, it’s going to feel like a playoff game,” Kempe added. “You want to finish as high as possible in the standings and if you get home-ice advantage, hopefully we can make something good out of it. Every game is going to be really important here.”

– Lastly, tonight is the 167th regular-season matchup all-time between the Kings and the Ducks. Kind of crazy, isn’t it? That’s not like a round number. It’s not a milestone. It’s just a lot of games played.

“The [fans] are always a little-bit charged up for these games, because of both sides, because of the proximity,” Hiller said. “The Ducks are playing pretty well, I think that’s the important part of this, is we’ve seen them get better as the season’s gone along. Last time they came in here, we didn’t like our game. We try not to build that up too much, but we do understand, based on geography, that it’s a big game. It’s an important two points for us. That’s what’s the priority here.”

Important two points, indeed.

Freeway Faceoff always has a little bit of flare to it, despite the differing situations for both clubs. 7 PM tonight as the Kings look to move closer to securing home ice in Round 1.

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