10/18 Preview – Petersen in Net & 2/19 Out + First Back-To-Back, Second Line Stands Out

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (2-2-0) @ Nashville Predators (2-2-0)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR SEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, October 18 @ 6:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, Tennessee
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ESPN – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings continue on their five-game road trip with a visit to Tennessee to take on the Nashville Predators to complete their first back-to-back set of the season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings dropped two of three games versus Nashville a season ago, with the Predators winning the lone meeting at Bridgestone Arena by a 2-1 final. Forwards Quinton Byfield (2-1-3) and Anze Kopitar (1-2-3) led the way a season ago with three points apiece.

KINGS VITALS: With the back-to-back set, the Kings did not hold a morning skate today in Nashville, opting instead for a full-team workout at Bridgestone Arena.

With regards to the skaters, the Kings will be without defenseman Alex Edler and forward Alex Iafallo. Edler took a puck to the face during warmups yesterday in Detroit, which caused him to miss the game, while Iafallo left the game in the third period with a lower-body injury.

Sean Walker filled in admirably on short notice yesterday and we’ll assume he would have retained his lineup place regardless of Edler’s status. The Kings have also recalled defenseman Jacob Moverare from Ontario as an additional option on the blueline. Up front Arthur Kaliyev and Jaret Anderson-Dolan are the two players who could replace Iafallo in the lineup, though we’ll have to see how it impacts the lines.

“We’re trying hard right now as a group to find our games within our team game, individually and collectively as lines, we don’t want to throw a lot into the blender,” Todd McLellan said this morning. “I think, then, you’re starting all over again. Our lines will stay pretty much intact. We’ll look at filling that Iafallo spot with somebody else, whether it’s Arthur, Grnuny or Lemieux, someone like that and we’ll make that decision and go from there. There’s always the opportunity for in-game adjustments if it’s not going well.”

Goaltender Jonathan Quick went the distance last night in Detroit and McLellan confirmed this morning that Cal Petersen will get the nod this evening in Nashville. Petersen won his season debut in Minnesota, on the right side of the high-scoring, 7-6 victory over the Wild. Throughout his NHL career, Petersen is 0-2-0 against the Predators, but sports a .918 save percentage and a 3.09 goals-against average.

More to come closer to game time as we get a feel for what the lineup may look like.

PREDATORS VITALS: Nashville has not played since Saturday, when they were defeated by a 5-1 margin against the Dallas Stars. Like the Kings, the Predators enter tonight’s action with a 2-2-0 record.

Expect to see goaltender Jusse Saros between the pipes this evening for the Predators, the typical workhorse goaltender for Nashville. Saros brings an all-time record of 3-1-0 into tonight’s action against the Kings, with a .920 save percentage and a 2.95 goals-against average. Saros

Per Emma Lingan of NashvillePredators.com, here’s how the hosts lined up last time out –

#Preds lines vs. DAL:

Forsberg – Granlund – Duchene
Niederreiter – Johansen – Tolvanen
Trenin – Sissons – Jeannot
Smith – Glass – Sanford

Josi – Carrier
McDonagh – Ekholm
Lauzon – Fabbro

Saros

— Emma Lingan (@emma_lingan) October 15, 2022

Included in that group is Norris Trophy finalist Roman Josi, who led all Nashville skaters a season ago with four points, all assists, against the Kings in head-to-head action. Forward Matt Duchene led the way with two goals from three games played.

Let’s Go Again
For the first time this season, the LA Kings will play back-to-back games, with the second leg to come tonight in Nashville.

Fortunately for the Kings, it comes on the heels of two points on night one, but early in the season, keeping positive momentum rolling is important and coming off of consecutive victories following an 0-2 start, it’s another important game against one of last season’s playoff teams here in Nashville.

Success on the second-half of back-to-backs was something that was a big part of the team’s success last season. The Kings ranked fourth in the NHL with 1.31 points from the second half of back-to-backs last season, trailing only Colorado, Tampa Bay and St. Louis……two cup finalists and a team that lost to one of the cup finalists is not bad company! With 21 points from 16 games played, the Kings were strong in those settings last year. There’s no secret sauce to good performance in those situations – or else it wouldn’t be much of a secret – but the Kings are focused nonetheless on getting a result tonight.

“No [nothing special] it’s just more of the same,” forward Trevor Moore said. “Listen to the training staff, they’ve been great for us in the past and we’ll continue to lean on them. Just take care of your body and all that stuff and we should be good.”

In the words of Todd McLellan, the key to back-to-backs is that everyone is involved. While he admitted there’s some cliche elements to the quote, it makes sense at the same time, especially within context.

Being able to roll lines more frequently means that minutes are being distributed amongst everyone, and it also means that the team is likely staying out of the box. As a game turns into a penalty parade, the bench shortens and heavier burdens are placed on players who kill penalties, which can create heavy legs. McLellan is hopeful to avoid that here tonight in Nashville.

“In those situations, everybody was important, you’ve got to use the full bench and all six D and try to balance it out,” McLellan said. “I don’t recall our penalty totals in those back-to-back games, obviously there’s a lot of data there, but if you can stay out of the box, you do yourself a favor. Goaltending in back-to-back games is huge, it’s the backbone of playing especially early in the year. Other than that, it’s an old cliche, but you need everybody, especially early when your body and mind may not be used to it.”

Second Line On The Third Night
It’s frankly way too early in the season to reference possession metrics with any merit – the sample size is far too small – so we’ll let the eye test power this one here with a few numbers to boot.

Last night’s game, by all accounts, was the most “themselves” the nice line has looked all season. For what was such a huge part of last season’s LA Kings, the second line was held scoreless through three games, but burst out with two goals from Phillip Danault in yesterday’s win, both assisted by Trevor Moore. That line is about so much more than scoring too, and in the eyes of Todd McLellan, they excelled in those other areas as well.

“They did look like themselves,” McLellan said. “They checked, they played very well defensively, they kept plays alive, created when they had to create. They did a lot of things that we witnessed for 82 games last year. You know, for individuals, it takes little time to find your own rhythm, to find your group’s rhythm and then your team rhythm and we’re still not there, but we’re doing our best to get to that point.”

A lot of the focus when it comes to that shifted to Viktor Arvidsson, who played his best game of the season in Detroit. You might want to focus on the play with the empty net, but frankly it had zero impact on the result. By his own words, what the metrics can tell you and what his linemates will tell you, it was a good night for 33.

“I feel like this was the first game I felt like myself again,” he said. “It was a good step in the right direction, I think.”

You play the hand you’re dealt, but Arvidsson hasn’t been dealt a particularly great one to play. Recovering from offseason back surgery, Arvidsson was on the road back before he missed a few days with an illness between Game 1 and Game 3. Not much has come easily to Arvidsson since his surgery back in May, a recovery process he was open about the difficulty of. Now, as he’s trying to readjust on the fly, it’s about getting games behind him and repetitions in to find the rhythm he established last season.

“Yeah, you try to get the pace underneath you and the rhythm of the game,” he said. “It’s a lot of penalties and stuff and you get off rhythm and have to get back on it. It’s been tough, but I think I’m getting there, I’m just trying to build on it every game.”

Moore called it “huge” to have Arvidsson back in the lineup, citing the offensive game he brings to that line, while Danault also pointed out the time that Arvidsson missed, and how they’re really now just getting up to speed. It shook out to was a nice step in the right direction for a line that had as clear of an identity as any last season. As they continue to make progress, and if the line now powered by Quinton Byfield and Gabe Vilardi can continue to roll as they have thus far, it creates a ton of depth up front as the Kings go forward.

Kings and Predators, tonight at 6:30 PM Pacific on ES-PN.

Based on the above quotes, not expecting any changes within the top six as a result of Iafallo’s injury. Off of McLellan’s quote, it sounds as if the Kings will simply shuffle a wing to skate with Byfield and Vilardi, which either shuffles a player onto the fourth line from the press box, or sees someone like Arthur Kaliyev take Iafallo’s place directly. Will have formal lines from the arena later in the day!