11/9 Preview – A Look At The Approach to Matchups + Special Teams Stats, Black & White

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (8-2-2) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (5-6-0)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Thursday, November 9 @ 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 are back in action with a quick turnaround, as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins in a Thursday-evening throwdown at Crypto.com Arena.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Adrian Kempe led the Kings last season with four points, all goals, in two games played against the Penguins. Kempe buried all four on home ice, in a 6-0 victory over Pittsburgh in mid-February. Defenseman Drew Doughty and forward Anze Kopitar each had three assists across the two games played versus Pittsburgh, with Kopitar posting eight points (2-6-8) in total over his last four games against the Penguins.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings did not hold a morning skate today, considering the back-to-back set with travel home from Vegas.

With the back-to-back, we could see goaltender Pheonix Copley return to the net tonight against the Penguins. If Copley does get the net, it would mark his first start since October 27 in Arizona. Copley has faced Pittsburgh once in his NHL career, which came last season, as he stopped all 25 shots he faced in the 6-0 victory on home ice.

Considering the consistency coming in, it would seem as if the Kings will not make any lineup changes here tonight. Yesterday’s lineup shown below for reference –

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Kaliyev
Fiala – Dubois – Laferriere
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Lewis

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence

Talbot
Copley

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) November 9, 2023

The Kings have used the same lineup in nine consecutive games, with no changes expected here tonight against the Penguins, at least in terms of the skaters. Forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan and defenseman Tobias Bjornfot remain as options, should the Kings opt for any sort of adjustment on the back-to-back.

PENGUINS VITALS: Pittsburgh enters tonight’s game with wins on the first two games of their California trip, following victories over San Jose and Anaheim.

Pittsburgh’s starting goaltender, Tristan Jarry, suffered an injury during his last start in Anaheim and is currently considered day-to-day. Magnus Hellberg, who finished the game, could be in line for his first start of the season tonight in Los Angeles. Hellberg has never faced the Kings throughout his professional career and carries an all-time record of 7-8-1, with a .888 save percentage and a 3.09 goals-against average.

Per Michelle Crechiolo of PittsburghPenguins.com, here’s how the visitors aligned during yesterday’s practice at Crypto.com Arena –

The Penguins are sticking with the same lines and D-pairs they used against the Ducks:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Smith-Malkin-Rakell
O’Connor-Eller-Zohorna
Nieto-Acciari-Hinostroza
Graves-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
Shea-Ruhwedel
Carter and Joseph are the extra pairing.

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) November 8, 2023

As noted above, goaltender Tristan Jarry is currently day-to-day after missing yesterday’s practice. Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who joined this summer as a free agent, is also currently out of action with an injury. Former Kings forward Jeff Carter is with the Penguins on the trip and is expected to check back into tonight’s lineup against his former club. Pittsburgh forward Bryan Rust has six goals from his last seven games played against the Kings.

Notes –
Talking Matchups
For the first time this month, the Kings will play a home game at Crypto.com Arena. In the NHL, that usually means control of the line matchups, with having last change. For the Kings though, how much does it really matter right now?

Throughout the Kings run of success on the road in the early goings of the season, they’ve preached team depth and less of a reliance on matching lines than they have in seasons past. That only comes when you trust all four lines in all situations and that’s certainly been the case for the Kings.

“I keep using the word depth, everybody contributes, everybody plays,” Todd McLellan said. “We don’t have a big wave or crash between handing a line or a shift off, one line just assumes what’s leftover from the line prior. All six defenseman have played well and, again, goaltending. Depth is the word that we keep using.”

As the forwards are concerned, what it means is not needing to worry as much about who they might be matching up against each time they go over the boards. McLellan said as much earlier in the season, noting that the Kings are relying on matchups less than they have in seasons past.

Take Anze Kopitar for example.

He’s been a matchup forward throughout his entire NHL career. That comes with the territory of being one of the NHL’s best defensive centers for a number of years. It’s not to say the Kings won’t utilize matchups at all, or see certain matchups they want at home, because they’ll continue to search for every advantage they can get on a given night. Kopitar, though, is seeing the benefits to not having to be as aggressive in seeking them out as a team.

“It’s nice to see, you don’t have to match lines on a shift-to-shift basis,” forward Anze Kopitar said. “You want to get the matchups you really want, but you don’t have to focus too hard on it. I guess we’re at the point where the other teams are matching up against us, so we can mix it up a little bit. Throughout the lineup, we’re strong and reliable and that’s why we’ve been having a bit of success lately.”

It’s the last part of Kopitar’s quote that is interesting and has been picked up by others as well.

The Kings are becoming a team with a number of options that you have to focus on each night. It’s rarely one player, or one line, that is winning games right now. It’s a complete effort from the team. When you have four lines that are all scoring and also capable of defending, that presents issues for other teams as well, while helping the Kings blueliners in the process.

“Our forwards right now, all four lines, have been rolling pretty good,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “Obviously on the road, you don’t get to pick who is going out against who, so if we’re able to roll four lines for the majority of the game, it’s up to other teams to throw their matchups, but the way those 12 have been playing, it’s hard for teams to matchup with who they want because they’ve all been providing offense or momentum and for the most part, playing really good defense. It helps our jobs as defensemen.”

The other element to rolling four lines more regularly is the notion of having trust in four lines.

If you look at the end of last night’s game against Vegas, with the Kings leading 3-1, we saw the fourth line double shifted in that stretch, a good example of how much that line is trusted to preserve a lead. They were used in a similar situation up 3-2 in Ottawa a couple of games back on the recent trip. The Kings have displayed trust in all four lines and it’s something that everyone is taking notice of.

“Todd trusts us, he puts us out in situations, the last few minutes of a game……that’s the kind of line we want to be,” Blake Lizotte added. “We’re out there in the last two minutes of the game, every player wants to play there and being a fourth line, we get trusted to be out there. With how much Todd trusts us 10 games in, it makes you feel valued.”

As the team begins a stretch of four consecutive games at home, and seven of nine, we’ll see if trends continue or change in any way, but one things is for certain – there is trust throughout the lineup and it’s a big part of early-season success.

Special Teams Stats
How about this one for you. Only three teams in the NHL, entering today, are both over 20 percent on the power play and over 85 percent on the penalty kill – New York, Tampa Bay and…….Los Angeles.

The Kings enter tonight’s action off of a pair of power-play goals yesterday in Vegas, which pushed their percentage on the season to 20.8 percent. While a man down, the Kings are clicking at 85.4 percent on the season, making them a top-ten unit in the NHL in the early goings.

On the man advantage, what was key last night was that both units scored a goal. Trevor Moore got things started in the second period, before Pierre-Luc Dubois cashed in early in the third period, as a part of a new look for his unit.

It’s not necessarily always about the pretty goals – last night’s game provided a deflection from Moore and a capitalization in tight from Dubois off a good bounce – but usually those breaks come from doing the right things. In speaking with Anze Kopitar, he believes the goal was a sign of what was good work put in, even before getting the ultimate reward of a power-play goal.

“I think sometimes when you press too much, it backfires,” Kopitar said of his unit. “We know we’ve been moving it pretty well, just nothing to show for it the last few games. It’s nice to get off the schneid. The other unit has been very strong, getting us goals, it’s a good team effort.”

On the PK, it was another successful night for the Kings of not allowing a power-play goal against.

The Kings haven’t been perfect on the penalty kill, allowing six goals over the first 12 games of the season. That’s a notable improvement, though, for a unit that looks both comfortable and confident each time they take the ice. The results have been simple – fewer goals against.

“I think our expected goals on the PK is better by about 40 percent this year, so far, compared to last year,” forward Blake Lizotte said. “I think we’re really happy with where it’s at and confident that we can kill it off when we need it.”

Against a Pittsburgh team tonight, with a ton of talented players on the power play and a penalty-kill unit that ranks right around the Kings, another strong effort will be needed. On the second half of a back-to-back set, special teams is always important and the Kings will be focused on those areas here tonight.

Black & White
Lastly, Insiders, sharing the latest episode of Black & White, the Kings longer-form content series. The episode focuses on the team’s early-season trip to Australia and how it started to shape the season that is presently unfolding. Lots of cameos from yours truly, would appreciate the watch!

Will also have a longer look at Anze Kopitar coming up tomorrow, touching on his 400th career NHL goal, in a career where he’s been highlighted for just about every trait except for goalscoring.

For tonight, it’s the second back-to-back of the season, with puck drop set for 7:30 PM from Crypto.com Arena!