4/8 Preview – Anderson Skates, Won’t Play Tonight + Ensuring A “Blip”, 44’s Importance, Full 32

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (45-24-10) vs. Colorado Avalanche (47-24-6)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, April 8 @ 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 will face a division leader for the second straight game, as they host the Colorado Avalanche in a Saturday-evening showdown.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Phillip Danault leads the Kings with three goals from the first two games of the season with Colorado, while forward Anze Kopitar has three assists. Kopitar has 10 assists versus Colorado over the last four seasons, the second most in the league in that timespan.

KINGS VITALS: Following a full-team practice yesterday, the Kings held an optional morning skate today in El Segundo.

The Kings are expected to turn back to goaltender Pheonix Copley this evening, after he was the first off from this morning’s skate. Copley has a lifetime record of 3-0-0 versus the Avalanche, with a .900 save percentage and a 2.85 goals-against average. Copley won both games earlier this year in the season series.

Could see a couple of lineup changes tonight, though no formal rushes during morning skate. For reference, here’s how the team lined up last time out against Vegas –

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Iafallo – Lizotte – Kaliyev
Grundstrom – Kupari – MacEwen

Gavrikov – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Bjornfot – Walker

Copley
Korpisalo

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) April 5, 2023

From this morning’s skate, the Kings have two options should they opt to make any lineup changes – forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan and defenseman Jordan Spence. Todd McLellan indicated that there “could be” lineup changes and both players could check back in this evening against Colorado, just unclear on exactly where they’d shake out. Mikey Anderson skated today, in a non-contact red jersey, though he will not play tonight. More on 44 below.

AVALANCHE VITALS: Since the Kings took a 5-2 decision in Denver in early-March, the Avalanche have won 12 of their 14 games played since, entering tonight’s contest.

Colorado is not expected to hold a morning skate today, but we’ll assume goaltender Alexander Georgiev is expected to get the nod on the front end of the back-to-back for the visitors. Georgiev has a career record of 0-2-1 versus the Kings, with a .895 save percentage and a 3.30 goals-against average.

Per Colorado’s team account, here’s how the Avalanche lined up on Thursday against San Jose –

Game #️⃣7️⃣7️⃣#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/plhkeQviSX

— x – Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 7, 2023

Colorado is without defenseman Cale Makar, who is currently out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. The Avalanche defensive group could have two former Kings in action tonight – Jack Johnson and Kurtis MacDermid. No player in the NHL has more points against the Kings over the last three seasons than Colorado forward Mikko Rantanen (21 PTS from 13 GP)

Notes –
Blip On The Radar
Sometimes your write about trends in a game preview that make you look really good when the team plays on the ice. Other times, you write about the team’s stingy defensive performance over the most recent five-game span, one that saw the Kings allow three goals at 5-on-5 over the course of 300 minutes of hockey. Then, 12 minutes into the game, you’re staring down a 4-0 deficit as that total of three even-strength goals has already been matched.

Thursday’s game was naturally not up to the standards that the Kings have set for themselves over the course of the season. Todd McLellan talked about the “rules” the team has in place for itself as a group and how, on Thursday, they weren’t followed. We haven’t seen a period like that from the Kings in a long time……third period in Buffalo long? Maybe there’s been one or two in between, but the Kings have also won games despite those periods. As a group, the Kings are determined to not let it happen again.

“Can’t happen again, can’t happen at this time of the year,” forward Adrian Kempe said. “Three games left and that definitely can’t happen if we want to play for a long time. Hopefully we can just bounce back here.”

There’s reason to suggest that Thursday evening was simply a blip on the radar – I mean, if we’re talking Buffalo game then it’s been a minute – but it’s not going to be a blip simply by chance. After the defeat, Anze Kopitar said that’s what the plan is, but emphasized that it doesn’t simply happen, it has to happen through the work the team puts in to do it. He’s right. A body of work is one thing, but tonight’s game won’t magically fix itself.

Kopitar is typically the prime example of the “ebbs and flows” approach. Never too high, never too low. Todd McLellan pointed out today, though, that despite that being the image he portrays, number 11 was not a “happy camper” after the loss to the Golden Knights. A good sign to have a leader that can do both for the group, as it’s needed.

“He is pretty even keel but he’s not that way all the time, he wasn’t a happy camper after the Vegas game,” McLellan said. “The fact that his emotional level doesn’t go all over the map and he’s pretty level, he’ll take it up or down a little bit when he thinks it’s needed, it’s exactly what you need in a leader. He’s able to provide that on a nightly basis. Obviously he’s got a ton of experience, he’s been able to watch and learn from a lot of people, so he does a good job of it.”

As a team though, the Kings will need to correct the issues, predominantly in the defensive zone, that plagued them against the Golden Knights. Should they do that, history suggests that they can make last night’s game the outlier, as opposed to something that carried over.

“The record of late is competitive, hard games that are against top teams, that could go either way one-goal games, night in and night out,” McLellan added. “[Thursday] was unacceptable to start and we were awful to begin with, we worked our way up to that. That’s where we ended and I don’t expect that to happen again.”

We’ll see soon enough if that becomes a reality.

44

Good To See You, Mikey!

Defenseman Mikey Anderson re-joined the full group today for the first time since he was hit from behind by Oilers forward Connor McDavid when the teams squared off in Edmonton late last month. Anderson was in a non-contact red jersey this morning, which is always the first sign for a player working his way back into action with the full group. He won’t play tonight, per Todd McLellan, but it’s still a sign of positive progress.

“He’s getting closer to being back with the team, he’s involved skating now and that’s always a positive thing, especially now,” McLellan said. “He’s a popular guy in that room, he’s very smartly outspoken and he means a lot to our team.”

The former sentence is the informational part, but the second sentence is the one felt this morning when asking a few guys what it was like to see Anderson back on the ice. In three parts –

1. It wasn’t hard to see that Anderson is a popular figure amongst his teammates.
2. His leadership qualities have always been noticeable, dating back to his rookie season in the AHL, and he’s shown a willingness to speak up dating back to his first full season in the NHL, something Drew Doughty highlighted even back then.
3. His play on the ice speaks for itself when demonstrating his importance to the group. Terrific sign of progress today and we’ll see how he progresses here over the next week or so.

“Mikey is so important for our group,” forward Trevor Moore said this morning. “He’s such a good defender, he’s responsible, he just brings it. He gives a carbon-copy effort every single night, it’s just what he does for us.”

Anderson is just one of the four players who are currently out of the lineup right now, but he’s the first to re-join the full group.

No updates at this time regarding the other three – Alexander Edler, Kevin Fiala and Gabriel Vilardi – though it’s hard not to look at those four guys as a quartet, rather than four individuals, when looking for information. I get that. Even inside the room, defenseman Sean Walker referred to “those guys” collectively, wanting to have everyone back in the fold as soon as possible. It was a positive, though, to have one today, spreading a bit of a jolt to the group.

“Yeah, for sure, obviously you want to see those guys getting healthy and having him out there and skating with us is definitely positive,” Walker added. “He’s important on the ice, so it was good to have him out there.”

All 32
The Kings are a part of NHL history this evening because, well, every team in the league is a part of NHL history.

For the first time ever, all 32 NHL teams will play on the same day, with 16 games on the docket across the league. Sure, you might be wondering why yesterday was a dark day around the NHL, less than 10 days before the start of the postseason. You might be right in wondering that. Still, exciting to have a day where every team who could impact the Kings is also in action, English Premier League style.

Vegas (12:30 PM @ DAL) and Edmonton (1:00 PM @ SJ) play the earlier games, while Seattle (7:00 PM @ CHI) and the Kings play the later games.

If we’re talking from a mathematical standpoint, the Kings are dormie in the Pacific Division race, meaning a point earned by Vegas or a point dropped themselves would eliminate the Kings as a potential division winner. The Kings would find themselves out of contention for home ice in Round 1 with a combination of three points between Edmonton earned and LA dropped. A victory of any kind keeps that possibility alive heading into the final week of the regular season. The Kings magic number for clinching over Seattle remains at five, with the Kraken four points behind with a game in hand.

All to be played out on the ice here over the next seven days.

We’re focused on the one in person, though. Kings and Avalanche, tonight at 7:30 PM at Crypto.com Arena, penultimate home game of the regular season!