4/4 Preview – Kings Need A Better Start + No Morning Skate Today, Laughton vs. TOR, Standings Watch

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (30-26-19) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (32-31-13)
WHAT: 2025-26 Regular-Season Game 76/82
WHEN: Saturday, April 4 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network So-Cal – AUDIO – ESPN LA 710, ESPN LA App & LA Kings App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: It’s the hump day game of a seven-game homestand, as the Kings host the Toronto Maple Leafs for a Saturday-afternoon faceoff in Los Angeles.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: A pair of Ontario natives – forward Quinton Byfield (1-1-2) and defenseman Drew Doughty (0-2-2) – led the Kings with multi-point efforts in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Maple Leafs in Toronto earlier this season. Forward Scott Laughton will take on his former team for the first time today since he was acquired by the Kings at the trade deadline. He played 76 games with the Maple Leafs over the last two years, between regular season and playoffs.

KINGS VITALS: With the early puck drop, the Kings did not hold a morning skate in advance of tonight’s game.

Unclear on the starting goaltender for today’s game, with Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith saying the decision would be looked at, following Thursday’s defeat. Goaltender Anton Forsberg has a.910 save percentage in his career against Toronto, should he get the nod tonight, while goaltender Darcy Kuemper picked up the victory versus the Maple Leafs earlier this season.

Also means no information just yet on any potential changes for today’s game, so sharing last game’s lineup for reference –

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

Panarin – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Byfield – Laferriere
Armia – Laughton – Wright
Joseph – Helenius – Ward

Dumoulin – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci

Kuemper
Forsberg

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) April 3, 2026

Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith is set to address the media at 2:45 PM and will likely confirm tonight’s lineup then. The Kings made one change on Thursday, with forward Samuel Helenius coming back into the lineup for a “banged up” Alex Turcotte. The Kings have a number of players working through an injury, so there certainly could be changes for today, either injury related or performance driven.

MAPLE LEAFS VITALS: Toronto concludes a four-game roadtrip this evening in Los Angeles, with a 1-2-0 record thus far. The Maple Leafs were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention earlier this week, snapping a nine-year streak of postseason participation.

Per the Toronto team account, here’s how today’s opponent lined up last time out versus San Jose –

Tonight’s Lineup@Molson_Canadian | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/PEaq50gSLp

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) April 3, 2026

Toronto is without forward Auston Matthews due to a season-ending injury. Forward John Tavares led the Maple Leafs with two goals against the Kings when these two teams met back in November. Tavares has nine goals over his last nine games played against Los Angeles, one shy of the league lead over the last five seasons, and he leads his team with 29 goals this season.

Storyline Of The Day – The Start
After Wednesday’s game versus St. Louis, forward Trevor Moore spoke about the way the Kings started the game. After a 6-2 loss versus Utah on Saturday, which saw three goals against in the first period, the Kings came out similarly against the Blues, though goaltender Anton Forsberg’s play kept the game 0-0. Coming off a bad loss, Moore was particularly upset with how his team began the next game.

“We just weren’t competing and I think that was a theme against Utah. It’s unacceptable this time of year.”

It was what you want to hear in response to a start like that. What’s more important, though, is what you want to see in response to a start like that.

The Kings completed the hat trick on Thursday, however, as they went down 2-0 early against Nashville. They were outshot 18-9 by the Predators and high-danger chances through 20 minutes read Nashville 12, Los Angeles 2. If not for a disallowed goal inside the game’s first 30 seconds and a penalty shot miss inside the final 30 seconds, it could’ve been a lot worse. The exact opposite of the response you wanted to see.

What’s crazy is, this hadn’t been a problem pretty much at all under Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith. In fact, it was a strength. From his first game in charge through the 4-0 win over Vancouver, a span of 13 games, the Kings led the NHL with a +8 goal differential in first periods. They ranked tied for fourth in the NHL with 15 first-period goals and tied for fifth in terms of fewest goals allowed, with seven. It was noticeable too, in the way the team played. Starts were fast and aggressive, on the front foot, trying to put other teams on their heels.

As a result, they led after 20 minutes in nine of those 13 games.

Then came this homestand. The Kings have been outshot 40-24 in three first periods on this homestand. High-danger chances have been 26-8 in favor of the opposition. Think those numbers more than support the eye test, which for me – and for Trevor Moore – has been a team that has been outworked and outcompeted off the opening puck drop.

It’s not as if D.J. Smith isn’t talking about it. Leading into the Nashville game, he emphasized the start multiple times.

“We have to be ready, right away, right from the get-go, and we’ve got to dictate the pace.”

He used words like urgency after the St. Louis game. He wants the team play fast, especially at the starts of games. Each of the last three have been slow and the Kings have been punished with multi-goal deficits early in two of those three games. I think we saw those things for the bulk of the month of March but they certainly have not shown up in these last three games. The next four games are in Los Angeles on home ice, so if it’s a home/road thing, those three season-ending road games won’t much matter without better starts at home beforehand.

The message going in will be to simplify things early.

“You’ve got to simplify it, start by winning the opening drop and you’ve got to put it in and you’ve got to forecheck and then you get a couple of shifts and you get it going.”

At this time of the year, there just aren’t any excuses, though. Especially playing at home, with no travel, the energy and the compete should be exceptionally high. Maybe the team should stay in a hotel before Monday’s game if the start isn’t there today, because these issues don’t seem to surface on the road.

All of that to say something that is pretty simple. Today’s start should be fast and on the front foot.

3 To Watch For –
– Not exactly a return, but forward Scott Laughton will take on several of his former teammates today as the Kings host Toronto.

The Kings acquired Laughton from the Maple Leafs within the final seconds of the trade deadline, in exchange for a conditional draft pick. Laughton was an extremely well-liked teammate in Toronto and has the same reputation here in Los Angeles.

“He’s been a great teammate, first and foremost,” Anze Kopitar said. “I think he’s a perfect role player. We use him in just about everything, great on faceoffs, he’s a huge part of our penalty kill and he’s working his ass off. He’s been a great addition to our team.”

Laughton has also brought a bit of offensive production, including a goal on Thursday that really seemed to make his team believe they could comeback in that game. In total, he has four goals and six points in 14 games, which is solid production from a third-line player. With Laughton on the ice, the Kings are controlling greater than 61 percent of high-danger chances, which is bolstered in some ways by a small sample size but it’s an excellent number.

Laughton does a lot of those little things that players and coaches like but he’s also producing a bit and the Kings are controlling far more of the puck, playing in the offensive zone, with Laughton on the ice. A good blend, certainly. Any interest in continuing his trade in Los Angeles, as a free agent at the end of the season? Indeed there might be……but you’ve got to listen to the end to find out!

– On the lineup for tonight, I’ll admit I’m not really sure what the Kings will do.

Personally, I think we should see goaltender Anton Forsberg in net, based off of his performance on Wednesday. Forsberg was exceptional during a lackluster first period, making several saves in key areas to keep the game 0-0, allowing the team to settle into the game.

Forsberg did on Wednesday what he’s done for the bulk of the season – give his team a chance to win. He’s not stealing every game he plays but he’s been good when he’s needed to be and made the saves his team has needed most. Can only look at one game he’s started in 2026 that the Kings didn’t have a chance and that was the 4-1 loss in Vegas before the break, which was on a lot of people.

Would like to see Forsberg get the nod tonight, one I think he has deserved, but we’ll see if that is the case.

Beyond that, the Kings have a number of players dealing with some sort of injury at this time of the year. Alex Turcotte is the latest and he sat out versus Nashville for that reason. Not sure if he will be available today or not. Jeff Malott could be an option to check back in, potentially, up front. With regards to those positions in the lineup, Smith has maintained that he will play the guys who are healthy, which is why we’ve seen some shuffling over the last couple games. See what today brings.

– Lastly, today’s standings watch really centers in on two games. The Kings/Maple Leafs game in Los Angeles and the Sharks/Predators game in San Jose. Regardless of what happens in those two games, the Kings will not end the day today in possession of a playoff spot. Los Angeles, San Jose and Nashville are all tied for the second wild-card spot with 79 points and one of those teams will win tonight, thus owning that spot themselves with inside two weeks left in the season. The Kings will lose any tie-breaking situation, so even with a win today, they’ll be behind whoever wins that game at SAP Center. A Nashville regulation win is probably the preferred outcome, since the Kings host Nashville again on Monday and San Jose has a game in hand. If the Kings and Predators both win today, the Kings would still not fully control their fate, but they’d be much closer to doing so, entering what would essentially be a must-win game on Monday.

One to watch for later in the day, with a 7 PM puck drop in Northern California.

Kings and Maple Leafs, the middle game of seven in Los Angeles. 4 PM puck drop in the final game this season against the Eastern Conference.