12/31 Preview – NYE Matinee + Edler Approaching 1K, Multi-Goal Mania, Reverse Retros

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (21-12-6) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (12-17-7)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR SEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, December 31 @ 1:00 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 are back on home ice this afternoon for the first of three straight here at Crypto.com Arena, beginning against the Philadelphia Flyers.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Flyers are meeting on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day for the third straight season. Forward Viktor Arvidsson racked up the points last season against Philadelphia, with four goals and six points from the two head-to-head matchups. Despite the Kings and Flyers meeting just twice, only one player around the NHL had more goals and just four players had more points than Arvidsson.

KINGS VITALS: Considering the early puck drop, the Kings did not hold a morning skate in advance of today’s matchup.

With no morning skate, we won’t know who starts in net for the Kings until warmups. Should Jonathan Quick get the nod, the veteran is 11-3-2 against the Flyers lifetime, with a .938 save percentage and a 1.92 goals-against average. If the Kings turn back to Pheonix Copley, he brings with him a 1-0-0 career record, with a .925 save percentage and a 3.01 goals against average against the Flyers.

Based on yesterday’s practice alignment, here’s what we could see from the Kings later today against Philadelphia –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Iafallo – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Lizotte – Vilardi
Grundstrom – Kupari – Anderson-Dolan
Lemieux

Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker
Spence

Copley / Quick

No indication that the Kings will be set for a lineup change, though Brendan Lemieux is currently the only option to check in should they opt for a move, after defenseman Jordan Spence was assigned to AHL-Ontario this morning. The forward lines feature a reshuffled group from Thursday’s win over Colorado, detailed further HERE. Forward Trevor Moore will not play today and could be out “a little while”, per Todd McLellan yesterday.

FLYERS VITALS: Philadelphia is currently in the midst of a three-game road trip to California as a part of five consecutive road games overall. The Flyers defeated San Jose on Thursday to begin the trip.

Per Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, goaltender Carter Hart is progressing back from an injury and has not yet been activated from injured reserve as of this writing. Should Hart not be ready, goaltenders Samuel Ersson or Felix Sandstrom would be the other options in the net. Neither netminder has faced the Kings in the NHL to date.

Per Reiner, here’s how the team lined up during yesterday’s practice in Downtown Los Angeles –

Flyers in practice same as how they started yesterday against the Sharks

van Riemsdyk-Frost-Tippett
Farabee-Cates-Konecny
Hayes-Laughton-Allison
Deslauriers-Brown-MacEwen

Provorov-York
Sanheim-DeAngelo
Seeler-Ristolainen
Braun

— Olivia Reiner (@ReinerOlivia) December 30, 2022

In addition to Hart, Philadelphia is missing veteran forwards Cam Atkinson and Sean Couturier to long-term injuries. Former Kings draft pick Nic Deslauriers is expected to play tonight for the Flyers. Forward Joel Farabee has three points (2-1-3) from three career games against Los Angeles.

Notes –
Eddy 1K
“I sure hope that our guys play because Eddy gives to the game a lot more than he takes from it and our group owes him a night. The coaching staff owes a good night, the players owe him a good night and it’s our job to give him that night. He’ll give us his best, so we’ve got to give him ours.”

Todd McLellan made it clear that he expects a top-tier effort from the Kings today in support of defenseman Alex Edler’s milestone, with the veteran defenseman in line for his 1,000th career regular-season game tonight. He’s twice over the last three days called Edler a player who gives more to the game than he takes from it at this stage, highlighting the way that Edler leads and the way that Edler plays the game and helps his teammates.

Edler doesn’t wear a letter with the Kings, but make no mistake about his importance as a leader, especially with the younger defensemen the Kings have had over the last two years. He highlighted several veteran players in Vancouver, specifically including fellow Swedish defenseman Mattias Ohlund, as helping him along the way. Now, he’s just doing his best to pay it forward.

“I’m just, most of all, trying to lead by example and just everything I learned from from the older guys when I was young,” Edler said. “I think it’s great, you can learn a lot just from seeing what they’re doing on and off the ice, that’s that’s how I learned a lot. I try to do the same and if any of the young guys have a question I’m always open to try to help them.”

Tonight is a special afternoon for a player who hasn’t necessarily been a member of the LA Kings for a long time, but it’s been an impactful stint. Of Edler’s 1,000 games, the last 75 will have come with the Kings. Edler was a long-time Vancouver Canuck and he’ll almost certainly be honored by that organization in the future. Edler is one of four Vancouver players to appear in more than 900 games with the Canucks and holds just about all offensive records amongst defensemen.

Tonight, however, it’ll be more about his present and a celebration of what he’s done throughout his experienced career. He’s evolved as a player, moving from a 40-50 point defenseman to a steady and reliable, stay-at-home type of guy. He spoke about how the game has gotten faster and how his reading of plays and positioning has improved as a result, allowing him to remain effective. The player he’s become – one who takes more morning skates than not to get the body what it needs – has been more than enough here in LA.

He wasn’t particularly looking bigger picture on the day before – an injury during warmups in Detroit earlier this season might do that to you – but it feels as if it might come once he’s got today’s game behind him.

“It might come after, I’ve just not wanted to think too much about it until I’ve actually played the game. I’ve been through some injuries in my career, so you never know, I got injured in warmups. So for now, I’m just trying to take a game at a time.”

I’m sure we’ll speak with Edler again later today after what is hopefully a milestone victory. There should be plenty to reflect on then. More from his teammates on his impact HERE.

Multi-Goal Mania
It’s been a whirlwind of a stretch here for the Kings.

First and foremost, it’s been an extremely productive stretch of hockey, with the Kings currently riding a season-best seven-game point streak (6-0-1), including consecutive wins coming out of the NHL’s holiday break.

Over the last nine games, four have featured a multi-goal comebacks in the third period, three for and one against. The Kings came from two goals down in wins over Boston and Colorado to win, while they also overturned a two-goal deficit against Columbus to earn a point in overtime. The Kings conceded twice against Calgary to see the game extend into overtime, but rebounded to win 4-3.

Overall this season, the Kings are tied for the most third period, multi-goal comeback wins in the NHL, equal to Anaheim and the New York Islanders. That metric does not include games against Columbus and Seattle, which were overtime losses but resulted in one point as the Kings came from two goals down.

“I think it ties into the scoring uptick equation,” McLellan said. “When you when you fall behind, there’s more firepower in every lineup, power-play production as a whole has gone up quite a bit this season. If you look at [the Colorado] game, we got one on the power play and then we took advantage of – they didn’t make many mistakes – but maybe one mistake and it was in the net. I don’t think you’re really out, a two-goal lead is hard to hold.”

McLellan’s takes are certainly supported by the numbers around the league.

Scoring is trending upwards, even if at a similar rate to last season. Teams are averaging 3.16 goals-per-game this season, which would be the highest total since 1993-94, slightly ahead of 2021-22. Power plays are also up in terms of conversion, with the league average currently the best rate since the 1981-82 season. Teams are also averaging 3.25 power plays per game, the most since the 2013-14 season. All contributing factors to why we might be seeing more comeback than in years past, with the Kings right in the middle of that conversation.

“Putting away the whistle I think used to exist with the referees, they weren’t going to get involved in the game, that doesn’t exist anymore. They make calls right to the end and in overtime. I think all of those factors contribute to that and then there’s the parody. There was always, and maybe there still is, three echelons in the league, but I think even from 1 to 32, every night’s a tough night.”

Lastly, Insiders, the final opportunity to see the Kings Reverse Retro jerseys here at home. They’re still beautiful. Enjoy em!

Kings and Flyers, first home matinee of the season, at 1 PM Pacific. See you there!