2/15 Preview – Bounce Back Needed + Arvidsson, Dubois/Fiala on Potential New Lines, Tonight’s Vitals

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (24-16-10) @ New Jersey Devils (27-21-4)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Thursday, February 15 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Prudential Center – Newark, NJ
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The LA Kings are in search of a bounce-back performance as they visit the New Jersey Devils for a Thursday-evening showdown.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forwards Anze Kopitar (2-1-3) and Kevin Fiala (1-2-3) led the Kings a season ago with three points apiece versus New Jersey. Forward Pierre-Luc Dubois has never faced the Devils with the Kings, but has 12 points (4-8-12) and a +10 rating all-time versus New Jersey, his second-highest +/- against any one opponent.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings did not hold a morning skate today, opting for an off-ice workout and video meeting in advance of tonight’s game.

For one of the first times this season, tonight’s starting goaltender is unclear entering tonight’s game. Should the Kings turn back to David Rittich, who started the team’s last four games, he has a career record of 4-0-0 versus the Devils, with a .911 save percentage and a 2.25 goals-against average. Should the Kings opt to start Cam Talbot, who entered in relief on Tuesday, he has an all-time record of 7-2-0 versus New Jersey, with a .919 save percentage and a 2.25 goals-against average.

For reference, line rushes from yesterday’s practice are shown below –

Byfield – Kopitar – Fiala
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Laferriere – Dubois – Kempe
Anderson-Dolan – Turcotte – Lewis – Kaliyev

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence – Clarke

Rittich / Talbot

As far as tonight’s lineup goes, the first player to keep an eye on is Viktor Arvidsson. Arvidsson was activated from long-term injured reserve earlier this morning, which clears the path towards a return to the lineup tonight. Arvidsson has practiced each day since the All-Star break, progressing with every practice. As of yesterday, no official confirmation he’d be in, but certainly looks that way now that he’s been formally activated.

For more on Arvidsson, SEE HERE.

The Kings placed forwards Carl Grundstrom and Blake Lizotte on long-term injured reserve earlier today, in corresponding transactions.

The Kings also have forward Arthur Kaliyev and defenseman Brandt Clarke, who have been scratched over the first two games under Hiller. Without a morning skate today, we wait until later today for a further update.

DEVILS VITALS: The Devils have a record of 3-1-1 coming out of the All-Star break, including a 4-2 win over Nashville last time out.

Looks as if goaltender Nico Daws will be the starter tonight for the hosts in New Jersey. Daws has never faced the Kings throughout his 35-game NHL career. The German-born goaltender brings with him a record of 5-5-0 this season, with a .906 save percentage and a 3.02 goals-against average.

Per Amanda Stein of the Devils’ team website, here’s how New Jersey lined up during their morning skate today –

Everything the same for #NJDevils today, other than Palat missing (ill).

Seigenthaler back skating with the team, he’s on a forth pairing.

Here’s how morning skate is shaping up ahead of facing the Kings: pic.twitter.com/3PuuCKOjA1

— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) February 15, 2024

New Jersey is currently without two regular defensemen in Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler. No rookie defenseman has more goals than Devils blueliner Luke Hughes, who also ranks second in points by a first-year defenseman. Luke’s brother Jack ranks fifth in the NHL in points-per-game this season at 1.33, with 48 points from 36 games played.

Notes –
Bouncing Back
It’s an understatement, I get that.

But it’s the reality.

Tuesday evening versus Buffalo saw the Kings drift so far away from the team they’re aspiring to be that it creates a necessary bounce back moment here tonight. Each element of the defensive zone was a struggle on Tuesday and it led to the 7-0 drubbing against the Sabres. It was a performance no one was content with and it was a performance that makes a bounce back a necessity, even if there was no reason for that to be the situation the team is in.

“I don’t think anybody here wanted to play in a 7-0 game to be able to bounce back from,” forward Pierre-Luc Dubois added. “If we would’ve lost 3-2 but played just as bad, yeah it would have stung less, but we still would have known there were a lot of things we could’ve done better. Seeing it on film really stings and that’s what you really remember. To me, [practice] was about bouncing back and then into [the game]. To have this early on in the second half of the season, it’s now an opportunity for us.”

As Jim Hiller said after Tuesday’s game, the Kings drifted away from the identity they’ve built and the result was a team that struggled to break the puck out of its own zone and a team that struggled in defensive-zone coverage, especially after the turnovers that stemmed from the breakouts. Far too often was a player left open in front of the LA net, leaving their goaltender out to dry.

The Kings poured into that game a bit yesterday, with Hiller admitting that wasn’t a loss that everyone simply got over by the time the plane touched down in Newark. It took until yesterday’s practice to work through it. Everyone seemed to understand and the focus is now on what’s ahead.

“Good teams bounce back,” forward Kevin Fiala said. “Obviously we never want that to happen, a 7-0 game, but it happened, so right now, we have to bounce back and win the next game. We have to look forward. We looked at video, we analyzed what we have to do better and now I think we have to let it go and look forward.”

As Dubois noted above, had last night’s game been played equally poorly, but the Kings lost 3-2, the reaction would have been different, but the problems would have been just as present. In that context, I’d prefer 7-0, because it spurred a very specificly designed practice, it spurred changes to the lines and it got the attention of everyone in the room.

Hiller pointed out that there were mistakes against Edmonton, in a 4-0 win on Saturday, but every time there were, someone was there to clean it up. Whether that was Rittich making a save, a defenseman blocking a shot, a forward lifting a stick. Against Buffalo, there were more mistakes made and no one supporting to clean things up.

At the end of the day, though, it’s a lot more than just one thing. Lots to clean up and tonight presents an opportunity to do that. Talking about it is good, now it’s time to execute on the ice.

Talking Line Combinations
Now, keep in mind that Hiller said yesterday’s combinations might not be what we see tonight against New Jersey.

That was, however, before forward Viktor Arvidsson was activated from long-term injured reserve. So, officially, we’ll wait on that front. Still though, the Buffalo game gave the Kings a chance to try some things out up front. When you’re down by 5, 6, 7 goals for a long stretch, there is that opportunity. during practice yesterday in New Jersey, Hiller made some adjustments to the forward lines. After a 7-0 defeat, he admitted it would be difficult to simply run out the same lineup again. So, we saw the above changes.

The biggest changes saw Fiala moved up alongside Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield, with their usual third linemate, Adrian Kempe, skating alongside Dubois and New Jersey native Alex Laferriere. That left the longstanding “nice line” of Moore/Danault/Arvidsson and a four-man fourth line, with one player to sit out.

Kopitar’s line had a tough night in Western New York, I think the numbers say that, though it’s not like there were a ton of good performances. If you were looking for one, though, Dubois was probably it. He’s had two strong games since the break, since he was challenged by Hiller and the coaching staff to deliver in certain areas of the game. Though he was held off the scoresheet against the Sabres, as the entire team was, Dubois was noticeable in the game.

“We thought PL has had two strong games coming out of the break, give him a chance to keep going,” Hiller said. “Kempe, I don’t had a strong game [in Buffalo], so this is just a chance to move people around, give them different looks and we’ll see for [tonight’s game].”

Hiller noted that while that line did play a couple of games together back in January – home versus Detroit and away versus Washington – it didn’t have a ton of bearing on the decision to put them back together. The Detroit game was quote strong, as Kempe scored twice off Dubois primary assists, but after a struggle team-wise against Washington the following game, the Kings got away from those combinations. Dubois acknowledged it was a small span and focused more the traits Kempe brings to his line.

“I’ve been playing with Laf all year, so I know what he’s like, and Juice is a great player,” Dubois said yesterday. “Great speed, he can shoot and pass, big body who can get to the net, he does a little bit of everything out there. It should be a good line and a line that’s hard to play against, that’s what we’re going to try to do out there.”

Regarding Kopitar’s line, it’s been a minute since Fiala has skated there.

In speaking with Fiala, he’s expecting it to be “a lot of fun” playing with Kopitar and Byfield, noting he’s excited to slot into that spot in the lineup. Fiala has played a decent number of games with Kopitar, to sporadic success last season, but it’s his first chance to really play with Byfield, who he called a “dog”, with the way he works and wins back pucks in the offensive zone.

While I think the consensus on the Kopitar/Fiala pairing, externally, has been negative, the numbers from last season aren’t all that bad.

Shot Attempts – 52.2%
Shots On Goal – 54.3%
Scoring Chances – 50.8%
High-Danger Chances – 48.9%
Goals For – 23
Goals Against – 20

While both players posted better metrics separately, it wasn’t as if they were an absolute drag with each other. +3 goals scored is the ultimate answer. It was fine, plus Byfield was never the third member of that line. That merits a fresh start. Interested at least to see how those three gel together.

Lots of questions, with answers only to come at tonight’s game in New Jersey. Game 2 of 4 on this trip, excited to see how the team responds to Tuesday’s disappointment.