4/1 Preview – Morning Line Rushes & Talking Defense: Overcoming Adversity, Gavrikov, Durzi/Roy

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (43-22-10) @ Seattle Kraken (41-25-8)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, April 1 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Climate Pledge Arena – Seattle, WA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are in search of their first win on their current roadtrip, as they visit Seattle for the final matchup against the Kraken this season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Defenseman Drew Doughty leads all blueliners expected to play tonight against the Kraken this season with three points (0-3-3) from three games played. Forward Adrian Kempe has six career points (2-4-6) versus the Kraken, while forward Phillip Danault has a team-high four goals over the last two seasons.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate today in Seattle, after keeping the bulk of the group off the ice yesterday in between games.

Goaltender Pheonix Copley was off first this morning for the Kings, making him tonight’s projected starting goaltender in Seattle. Copley has yet to face the Kraken in his NHL career and Seattle would become the 28th different team he’s faced should he get the nod tonight.

Line rushes from this morning are listed below –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Iafallo – Lizotte – Fiala / Kaliyev
Grundstrom – Kupari – MacEwen
Anderson-Dolan

Gavrikov – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker
Bjornfot

Korpisalo / Copley

The Kings currently have injuries to three regulars – Mikey Anderson, Kevin Fiala and Gabe Vilardi – with only Fiala skating this morning from that group. Fiala “is going to get back in as soon as [he’s] ready to go” per Todd McLellan this morning so we’ll see if he’s in as we get closer to puck drop. With his status unclear, that could impact the forwards in a variety of different ways, so we’ll see how things progress into warmups. More on the defensive alignment, without Anderson, below.

KRAKEN VITALS: Seattle is currently on a short, three-game homestand, with tonight’s game marking the midpoint. The Kraken have five consecutive games versus non-playoff teams before a season-ending, two-game set versus Vegas.

Seattle has employed a true rotation in net of late, with Philipp Grubauer, Martin Jones and Joey Daccord each playing two of the team’s last six games. Jones, the former King, is expected to get the start this evening for the Kraken. Jones has faced the Kings 32 times throughout his professional career, posting a record of 22-7-3, with a .920 save percentage and a 2.46 goals-against average.

Per Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, here’s how the Kraken lined up on Thursday against Anaheim –

Here are the lines/pairings for tonight’s #SEAKraken game against the Anaheim Ducks. Martin Jones in goal. #Kraken #NHL pic.twitter.com/ijnSL6K1aQ

— Geoff Baker (@GeoffBakerTIMES) March 31, 2023

11 of Seattle’s 12 forwards have ten or more goals this season and that doesn’t even include forward Andre Burakovsky, who is currently injured and out of action. Defenseman Vince Dunn is one of 10 blueliners across the NHL with at least 60 points so far this season. Jared McCann’s 35 goals are a Seattle franchise record, surpassing his total from last season.

Notes –
Been There, Lived That
With Mikey Anderson out of action, the Kings will have to adjust their defensive pairings a bit.

Expect Vladislav Gavrikov to step up onto the top pairing, alongside Drew Doughty. The Kings will also, likely, reunite two familiar pairings with Sean Durzi taking rushes alongside Matt Roy and Alex Edler skating alongside Sean Walker during morning skate. It’s a familiar setting for both players, but playing without a defenseman is a familiar setting for this group of players as a whole. Last season, the Kings had injuries throughout their backend and had to adapt accordingly, with adversity nothing new to a group that has gone through this before.

“If there’s a team that should be able to adapt to losing a key defenseman, it should be our group,” McLellan said. “Everybody but Gavrikov experienced that last year and Gavy’s an experienced defenseman so we don’t put him in a bad spot. Would we like to have them all healthy and everybody back in the lineup, of course, but every team goes through that and it’s next man up.”

Perhaps no man took more advantage of the adversity, in a positive way, as much as Durzi.

He got his first NHL opportunity last season after a slew of early-season injuries on the backend. After he checked into the lineup and scored during his NHL debut, he never left, playing every game the rest of the way, both regular season and playoffs. Now on a new, two-year contract, Durzi has been a regular here in 2022-23 as well. He’s showcased a lot of versatility, playing both the left and right sides, but is very familiar with the notion of moving around in the lineup based on injury and opportunity.

“It’s unfortunate obviously and that’s kind of what we went through last year,” Durzi said this morning. “I think it’s something you’re always kind of ready for, I think the group did a good job last year of having that next man up mentality. Obviously we’re going to miss Mikey, but we’ve got to be ready to go for the next game I think that experience last year kind of helps us and we’re prepared for it.”

The Gift Of Gav
McLellan mentioned Gavrikov as being the only defenseman who didn’t go through the adversity with this organization last season, but he’s also the defenseman most familiar with logging top-pairing minutes this season. Gavrikov went through his own share of adversity in Columbus, as several injuries on the blueline, including one to defenseman Zach Werenski, pushed him quickly into a role playing well upwards of 20 minutes per night.

Gavrikov has that level of experience playing in a top pairing role and joked that he’s ready to play 30 minutes tonight, which he thought seems like Doughty’s typical workload. He’s experienced, though, and ready to roll.

“I played it in Columbus before, I feel more comfortable when you start playing more, you just start feeling the game better,” he said. “I’m pretty excited. He’s a great player, he’s a legend, so it’s going to be nice to share the ice with him.”

Doughty is a different player than Gavrikov’s most common partner here with the Kings, Matt Roy, but still one who Gavrikov should slot in nicely next to.

McLellan believes it’s been helpful for Gavrikov to have watched Doughty since joining the club, so he’s got at least a bit of familiarity with his game and his style of play. With his comfort in a larger role already established, it’s about stylistic assimilation now. McLellan wants Gavrikov to play his game and adjust to the new pairing as he goes.

“Drew’s a different player than Matt Roy and he has different tendencies, so Gavy is probably going to have to get used to that,” McLellan said. “It’s probably a good thing that he’s been able to watch him now for a number of games and anticipate where the puck might go. He should be excited about playing and he should just play his game, he doesn’t have to change anything.”

Gavrikov touched on something that teammates at the forward position have in recent weeks, which is getting the opportunity to see some of these types of situations now, as opposed to in the playoffs.

Against Edmonton on Thursday, the Kings had to roll with five defensemen for the bulk of the contest, after Anderson’s injury early in the first period. Gavrikov did log some time with Doughty in that game, as everyone really played with everyone, which led to a bit of comfort. Still, an in-game injury could always happen in the playoffs and getting those looks now could help to make a postseason situation that much more comfortable.

“Yeah, it’s not going to be a problem adjusting,” he said. “Especially before the playoffs, we’ve got to be ready to play with anyone. I feel like it’s really important and it shouldn’t be a problem for us.”

A Familiar Sight
Back on Durzi, he was perhaps the most impacted player by Anderson’s in-game departure. His versatility with playing both sides of the ice put him on both the left and right sides throughout the course of that game.

“Last game I was doing it shift-by-shift, so if I can do shift by shift, I can do game by game,” he said this morning, with a smile. “It’s fortunate that I kind of have that in my game, now that I’m able to play the left, it’s another tool that I can use not only this year, but throughout my career now and I’m glad for it. I just prepare myself mentally and be ready to go.”

It’s almost funny to talk about Durzi and Roy becoming a pair, because both players have spent the bulk of the season playing together. The addition of Gavrikov and the trade deadline, and an injury to Durzi earlier this month, solidified Gavrikov and Roy as a solid pairing, but when you break down the 5-on-5 minutes this season, Durzi has spent just shy of 800 minutes playing with Roy, and fewer than 200 minutes with other partners.

That makes for a comfortable and familiar landing spot and one the coaching staff is extremely comfortable with.

“He’s played with [Roy] all year and he’s played that off side,” McLellan said this morning. “That’s why we moved him around when we got Gavrikov, we wanted everybody to be ready to play different positions.”

For the players it’s simple, when you’re reuniting with a partner you’re comfortable with.

Durzi and Roy are both talkative players on the ice, which is always key, but there’s also that second nature of already knowing the tendencies of the other player. That familiarity will be key, as Durzi takes on the responsibilities of a left-sided defenseman once again, but no real issues are expected tonight.

“We have a lot of good communication with each other, we are on the same page,” Durzi added. “We’ve play that many games together and have that familiarity with each other. I think that only helps us ,so I think we’re prepared for it.”

Blueline is established, forwards we’ll wait to see until warmups. Kings and Kraken, back on Pacific time, with a 7 PM puck drop!