10/31 Preview – Quick Expected + Seeking Consistency, Walker’s Comfort, Kupari’s Focal Points

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (5-5-0) @ St. Louis Blues (3-4-0)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR SEASON GAME
WHEN: Monday, October 31 @ 5:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Enterprise Center – St. Louis, MO
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back on the road for three games in four nights, beginning later this evening in St. Louis versus the Blues.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Blues held home-ice advantage last season, with the Kings winning in Los Angeles and the Blues winning twice in St. Louis. Defenseman Alex Edler led the Kings in scoring last season versus the Blues, with three assists from three games played. Since Anze Kopitar entered the league, only Patrick Kane has more points versus St. Louis than Kopitar does (60 from 58 games played).

KINGS VITALS: The Kings opted not to hold a practice yesterday before they traveled to St. Louis, and thus went with a full-team morning skate today in St. Louis.

Goaltender Jonathan Quick appears likely to get the nod tonight in St. Louis, as the Kings go back to the veteran after Cal Petersen took the start on Saturday. Quick was the first goaltender off this morning at Enterprise Center. All-time versus the Blues, Quick has posted a 13-16-3 record, but carries a .914 save percentage and a 2.49 goals-against average against St. Louis.

Below is how the Kings aligned earlier this morning, with no apparent changes from how the team dressed against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday afternoon.

Kempe – Kopitar – Vilardi
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Kupari – Grundstrom
Lemieux – Lizotte – Kaliyev
Anderson-Dolan

Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker
Clarke

Quick
Petersen

Forward Quinton Byfield did not skate today and is set to miss his third consecutive game with an illness, though he was trending a little bit better yesterday, per Todd McLellan. Byfield is not in St. Louis, but is not yet ruled out for the remaining two games on this trip. Forward Rasmus Kupari was recalled from AHL-Ontario on Saturday and made his season debut at the 3C position, usually maintained by Byfield, in the win over the Maple Leafs.

BLUES VITALS: It’s been a tale of two weeks to start the season for the Blues, who opened with three straight wins out of the gate, but have lost their previous four games entering tonight’s action.

St. Louis held an optional skate earlier this morning at Enterprise Center, with goaltender Jordan Binnington the first netminder off, per Jim Thomas of the Post Dispatch. Binnington brings with him a 5-4-2 record against the Kings throughout his career, to go along with a .919 save percentage and a 2.39 goals-against average.

Per Thomas, the Blues did not have the full group on the ice this morning, but here’s how they aligned during yesterday’s practice –

Buchnevich-Thomas-Tarasenko
Schenn-O’Reilly-Kyrou
Neighbours-Brown-Barbashev/Walker
Toropchenko-Acciari-Pitlick

— Jim Thomas (@jthom1) October 30, 2022

Leddy-Parayko
Krug-Faulk
Rosen-Bortuzzo
Mikkola

Binnington

Forward Brandon Saad has an upper-body injury, did not skate this morning and is not expected to play tonight versus the Blues. Per Thomas, expect to see defenseman Niko Mikkola and forward Nathan Walker out tonight, with defenseman Calle Rosen and forward Logan Brown expected to play.

Consistency Coming More Consistently
Say that five times, fast, eh?

Over the last four games, the Kings have looked a lot closer to the way that they want to play. In those games, the Kings have scored 3, 4, 4 and 4 goals, showing that even with minimizing risk defensively, there is still success to be found offensively.

It’s been nine good periods for an available 12 from those four games. Wins over Toronto and Tampa Bay were as complete a performance as we’ve seen all season. 40 minutes against Washington were low event, with the Kings ahead, while the opening 20 minutes against Winnipeg could have seen the Kings out of sight, had it not been for breakdowns the other way. While consistency is still sought, we’re starting to see that desired style of play on a more consistent basis.

“I think we’re getting closer to it, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a Picasso tonight but we’re starting to realize the value of certain things again,” Todd McLellan said this morning. “It’s important and you can hear guys talking about it a lot more, situational decisions. I said the other day, Hockey 101, there’s a lot more talk about Hockey 101 in our locker room right now than there was after games three and four.”

McLellan was happy with the checking effort against the Maple Leafs and there was no shortage of offensive chances in that game, with the Kings also converting on the power play.

The Kings generally believe that if they play the way that they want to play, the approach will lead to points naturally. Players like Drew Doughty and Adrian Kempe have spoken to that notion over the last week or so, when discussing the need and desire to sort things out on the defensive side of the puck. McLellan believes that as well.

“We need to play that way,” he said. “I know there will be others that think that if they go that way, they’re not going to be able to score. Well, we checked a lot better against Toronto and we were still able to score so I don’t buy that as an excuse……it’s not just one man, one staff or half a team ,it has to be everybody believes that.”

Another opportunity to string things together this evening!

Walks This Way
From Sean Walker’s perspective, Saturday’s game was perhaps the most like himself he’s felt this season.

Walker checked back into the lineup for the first time in over a week and he was extremely effective, finishing third amongst defensemen in time on ice at 5-on-5. Walker was moving pucks quickly up to the forwards and his legs felt good too, partnering with the stedy Alex Edler on an effective third pairing. The duo are expected to play together again tonight in St. Louis, with Walker hopeful he can build off of that performance.

“Yeah, I’d say so, “Walker said this morning, on whether he felt the most like himself on Saturday. “I think every game is kind of more and more back to normal, it’s just getting the fundamentals down and then going from there. It’s about getting comfortable and confident building off of it from there.”

His head coach felt similarly about his performance.

Walker looked as confident and effective as we’ve seen all season long. As Todd McLellan noted after the win over the Maple Leafs, Walker’s injury is one that has made his return to action perhaps more difficult than you might’ve thought, and lost time is lost time, you can’t make it up just like that. His play on Saturday, however, was simple and effective, within the system the Kings are trying to play. Good on him for a strong performance.

“Yeah, closer to it,” McLellan said. “We’ve talked about him a little bit and you cannot make up for lost time. No matter how hard you try and how bad you want to do it, lost time is lost time and it’s gone. Sometimes when you chase that makeup phase, it becomes really tough……we’ve got to give him opportunities to experience it. The other night was a real good night for him, he did a lot of things well.”

Walker touched on the notion of playing the game simply at this stage, which is where he believes he’s at in his return. Once the simple things start to come more and more naturally, then he’ll continue to expand his game, but right now the focus is on being simple, making the right passes up to the forwards and using his legs when the situation calls for it.

“I think that’s kind of the way we want to play in general anyways, you know, quick ups and if the forward is there, you get him the puck,” Walker said. “The legs feel good, I wouldn’t say that’s anything I’m focusing on specifically, if I can skate it, I’m going to skate it but if someone’s open, I’m going to make that play.”

RasmusBerry Beret
Lastly, hear from Kings forward Rasmus Kupari this morning from St. Louis.

Kupari was recalled in advance of Saturday’s game against Toronto and he made his season debut on a line with Kevin Fiala and Carl Grundstrom. Kupari today spoke about his game with AHL-Ontario, working on physicality this season and playing with a player like Fiala.

“He’s a big man that skates extremely well and his play without the puck is something we’re proud of,” Todd McLellan said of Kupari this morning. “He does a really good job sorting things out coming back to his end, he defends well, long stick and he’s a very good penalty killer when he has to do those things. Quite often, those first-round draft picks are always relied on to score, is this guy going to score 35 or 40, we want him to score but there are some things he does really well right now. If he keeps doing those things, it will keep them available to us.”

That’s all from this morning, Insiders! Minus the change in net, looks like status quo as the Kings look to string two games in the style of Saturday’s win together, really for the first time this season. Kings at Blues, tonight from 5 PM in Missouri. Talk soon!