3/28 Preview – Lizotte INJ, Andersson in + Maatta’s performance, Vilardi & Line, McLellan 1K

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (36-22-9) vs. Seattle Kraken (20-39-6)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Monday, March 28 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings and Kraken meet again this evening in Los Angeles, concluding their set of two games over the last three days.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings bring a 2-0-0 record this season against the Kraken into tonight’s action. Forwards Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar lead the Kings this season with three points (1-2-3) from two games played versus Seattle. Forward Phillip Danault has two goals, while Trevor Moore and Alex Iafallo each have a pair of assists.

KINGS VITALS: Following yesterday’s full-team off day, the Kings returned to action for a full-group skate earlier today.

Goaltender Cal Petersen was solid in Saturday’s win over Seattle and is expected to get the nod again this evening, continuing the recent rotation of two starts per goaltender. Petersen is 2-0-0 on the season against the Kraken, bringing a .930 save percentage and a 1.50 goals-against average into tonight’s action.

The Kings welcomed back defenseman Tobias Bjornfot into the fold on Saturday against Seattle, after the team saw forward Viktor Arvidsson make his return to the lineup in the game prior against Chicago. Forward Blake Lizotte is not expected to play tonight, following an injury suffered late in the game against Seattle on Saturday. Lias Andersson is expected to check in on the fourth line.

Here’s how the Kings lined up this morning –

Iafallo – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Vilardi – Byfield – Kupari
Grundstrom – Andersson – Kaliyev

Maatta – Stecher
Bjornfot – Durzi
Moverare – Spence

Petersen
Quick

Should the Kings decide to make any roster moves, defensemen Alex Edler and Austin Strand are options to check back into the lineup. Forward Brendan Lemieux and defenseman Drew Doughty both skated today, but neither appear set to return this evening.

KRAKEN VITALS: While the Kings have faced the same opponent in consecutive games three times this season, in addition to several times last season, the Kraken have yet to do so in their inaugural season.

Seattle will change goaltenders in tonight’s rematch, with Chris Dreidger expected to be between the pipes. Dreidger has faced the Kings once so far this season, as he made 19 saves on 21 shots when the teams met in Washington, his first career start against the Kings. Including relief appearances, Dreidger is 0-1-0 all-time, with a .920 save percentage and a 1.74 goals-against average.

Per Scott Malone of Root Sports Northwest, the Kraken are expected to keep the same lineup tonight versus the Kings. Lines embedded below –

#SeaKraken lines looking like this with no sign of Schwartz (* = new):

*Donato-Wennberg-Eberle
McCann-Geekie-Lind
*Rask-Gourde-Kuhlman
Sprong-Sheahan-Donskoi

Oleksiak-Soucy
Dunn-Larsson
*Pouliot-Borgen

(thanks to @JTBrown23, @JohnForslund & co.)

— Scott Malone (@ScottMaloneTV) March 26, 2022

Forward Jaden Schwartz and defenseman Haydn Fleury both remain day-to-day with an upper-body injury, with forward Brandon Tanev on injured reserve and out on a longer-term basis.

Ono-Maatta-poeia
With all that has changed on the backend over the last month, one of the few things that has stayed the same is the consistency and level of play provided by defenseman Olli Maatta.

Dating back to December 14 – the first game following the injury to Alex Edler – Maatta trails only the Colorado duo of Cale Makar and Devon Toews in plus/minus. While that stat is discarded by many, he’s showing up on the ice for goals for, bringing a steadiness and high level of play, regardless of the metrics used. A comfortable, confident and effective player.

It took some time, and it hasn’t always been perfect, but Maatta has been a very important piece for this team over the last stretch of games.

“He’s played very well over the last little bit,” McLellan said. “His responsibility has gone up a lot more, with the injuries, different partners, different situations. He’s confident and I think that shows in his play. He’s played very well for us.”

Maatta shared this morning that while he’s experienced injuries around him during his career, it’s never been anything like what the Kings are experiencing now. With those injuries, Maatta’s role has evolved on and off the ice. He’s relied upon to be a steady and consistent option for the coaching staff each and every game, but it’s also important to have a pulse on the younger group of defensemen playing alongside him.

He shared with us that each of them has shown that he belongs at this level, and explained his thoughts on bringing consistency, night after night, at such a young age.

“It comes down to attitude, details of the game,” Maatta said. “There’s so many games right now in this stretch that we’re in, we’re basically playing every other day, so it’s hard to keep up on it. At the same time, I just think that you can’t overthink it, just go out there and play. I think that’s a big part of the process and those guys have that. They go out there and play, everybody is a part of it.”

The other element to this season has been winning.

It’s more fun to come to the rink when you’re winning, something Maatta emphasized this morning when asked about his own enjoyment of the game, and his own level right now. He threw the question back to the team element, focusing on your own play, but only within the greater good of the Kings as a whole.

“Yeah, that’s an important part, enjoying the game, and winning is a big part of it, that just ups the confidence. We have a great group of guys, it’s fun to be a part of and I think it’s shown up on the ice. You don’t even think about your own game, you just want to win, make sure that the team wins. That’s what feels great about this team.”

Vilardi & The Kid Line
Gabe Vilardi was pretty blunt when asked about the areas of his game that he was told needed to be worked on when he was assigned to AHL-Ontario back in November.

Defense.

Vilardi understood that the defensive side of his game wasn’t there earlier in the season, and with a transition to playing on the wing at the AHL level, he put a lot of work into improving at that end of the ice. He shared that he does feel his game in that area has gotten better, and Todd McLellan said the same thing earlier today.

“Yeah, the point production hasn’t quite been where we hoped it would be, but that’s okay, he’s been a lot more solid defensively,” McLellan said. “Maybe that’s because he has wing responsibilities, or he’s paid more attention to it, he’s worked at it, there’s so many reasons why it’s improved, and good for him. He was assigned that task and he’s done a pretty good job of it.”

Vilardi is still an offensively gifted individual, however, so seeing him get on the scoresheet on Saturday was a great sign for him and the Kings.

“I feel like my defensive game has improved, but at the same time, I still do want to contribute offensively,” Vilardi said, after the game. “Nice to see one go in for me.”

Now, it’s about consistency for both Vilardi and his line, with fellow young players Quinton Byfield and Rasmus Kupari. The first period on Saturday was a massive “up” for that group, playing with energy, forechecking well and creating offensive-zone opportunities.

They didn’t quite reach those heights the rest of the game, but that’s the consistency that a young line, consisting of three young players, is currently working through. More good than bad though, that is for sure.

“That line is a work in progress, and they have had outstanding moments in games, for periods, and then it falls off,” McLellan said today. “I thought their start [on Saturday] was really good, they established the way they want to play and carried themselves, had some control of the puck, went to the net, kept plays alive, that first goal, Kup and Olli looking at Gabe’s deflection. As the game went on, they needed to maintain that. If you talk about first, or you talk about the whole, you talk about the ups and downs and that’s called being inexperienced, the way it goes up and down like that. I know they were all disappointed in the last goal, and they should be, those are situations that they can handle and need to handle, but they will respond. They’re confident right now and they’re a good group, they will respond. It would be huge stretching out the up part of it, for longer periods, the better off they’ll be.”

McLellan 1K
Tonight’s game is set to be Todd McLellan’s 1,000th as an NHL Head Coach.

McLellan is set to become the 31st coach in NHL history to reach the milestone, coaching games with San Jose, Edmonton and now Los Angeles. He has 520 victories to his name from his first 999, with hoping of making that number 521 this evening on the milestone night.

“We’d all like to do it as a player, anyone who’s put the equipment on, the best job in the game is playing, but to be able to coach that long, it is rewarding,” McLellan said. “It’s been a good run, and the people are the ones that have had an impact on me and hopefully I’ve had an impact on them. It’s about the people, which in turn leads to the wins.”

McLellan admitted a few days back that he really hadn’t thought of the mark all that much, with everything the Kings are facing right now on a day-to-day basis. A mass number of regulars out of the lineup will do that do you.

All-in-all, McLellan mentioned that his brother told him that he has been behind the bench for more than 2,200 games in all roles, at all levels. Between the SJHL, WHL, IHL, AHL and NHL, in both head and assistant roles, McLellan has certainly been through the wringer over the years. A well-deserved accomplishment, with a ceremony to come tonight in advance of tonight’s game to honor the bench boss. A longer story to follow tomorrow, following the achievement tonight.

Speaking of tonight, Kings and Kraken for the final time this season in California. Puck drop is set for 7:30 PM from Crypto.com Arena!