2/20 Preview – Bringing The Road Performance Home + Talbot in Net, Latest on Arvidsson & Lizotte

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (27-16-10) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (17-26-10)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, February 20 @ 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 LA Kings are back on home soil, as they begin a three-game homestand this evening against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Phillip Danault led the Kings with two goals when these two teams met in December, with defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov collecting two assists. Gavrikov will face his former team this evening for just the third time, after spending the first four seasons of his NHL career in Columbus.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate today in El Segundo, following yesterday’s off day.

Look for the Kings to turn back to goaltender Cam Talbot this evening against Columbus, after he was the first netminder off from today’s morning skate. Talbot is 5-4-1 against the Blue Jackets throughout his professional career, with a .895 save percentage and a 2.91 goals-against average.

Here’s how the Kings aligned last time out versus Pittsburgh –

Tonight's @LAKings Lune Rushes –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Clarke

Talbot
Rittich

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) February 18, 2024

The Kings made at least one lineup change in each of the last three games, not to mention in-game adjustments as dictated by the flow of the game. This morning’s alignment, however, looked similar to what we saw on Sunday against the Penguins, though the Kings did not take formal line rushes in El Segundo. Should the Kings opt for a lineup change, forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan and defenseman Jordan Spence are options to check in.

BLUE JACKETS VITALS: Columbus began their annual California swing on Saturday with a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks up North.

The Blue Jackets are expected to turn back to goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, he brings with him a 2-1-2 lifetime record versus the Kings. The Latvian netminder, who took the overtime loss versus LA back in December, has a .913 save percentage and a 3.36 goals-against average against the Kings throughout his NHL career.

Per Dylan Tyrer of the Columbus broadcast team, here’s how the Blue Jackets lined up at yesterday’s practice –

Slightly different look for the #CBJ today with Olivier in and Danforth up a line.

Gaudreau – Jenner – Roslovic
Chinakhov – Voronkov – Marchenko
Johnson – Sillinger – Danforth
Texier – Kuraly – Olivier

Werenski – Boqvist
Provorov – Severson
Bean – Gudbranson

— Dylan Tyrer (@DylanTyrer) February 19, 2024

Forward Johnny Gaudreau led his team when these teams first met back in December with a goal and an assist. Forward Boone Jenner buried the game-winning goal on Saturday in San Jose with just under 13 seconds remaining in regulation, the second-latest game winner in franchise history. Jenner became the first player in franchise history to score two game-winning goals with less than a minute to play in regulation.

Notes –
Home-Cooked Meal
The Kings are certainly in need of a home-cooked meal.

The first homestand of the Jim Hiller era begins tonight, as the Kings host the first of three consecutive games at Crypto.com Arena.

Tonight’s opponent, Columbus, has the fewest points in the Eastern Conference. Anaheim ranks seventh in the Pacific and Nashville has won just three of its last 10 games. That’s a homestand, on paper, that the Kings should take advantage of. We’re talking, though, about a Kings team that is just 9-9-6 on home ice this season. Just one team in the league has won fewer games on home ice this season than the Kings. While they rank slightly higher in points, thanks to six OT/SO defeats, the second-most in the NHL, the bottom line is that the Kings know they need more on home ice.

Coming off the 4-0 win over Edmonton at home out of the break, and three consecutive wins to end the recent roadtrip, there’s a lot of momentum to ride into tonight’s game. The key is continuing to do what’s worked.

“We could be playing on the road again tonight, at home, for us it really shouldn’t matter at all,” Head Coach Jim Hiller said. “We’ve had some pretty good results lately but we’re still trying to get back to where we’re at. I don’t think we’re there yet, so tonight is just another step in that process.”

This isn’t a new question or a new conversation.

Home performance has been one of the trickiest problems to solve this season. It’s not as if there’s a magic pill the Kings take before road games, that has led them to 18 victories and 40 points, totals that lead the Western Conference. It’s a question Rob Blake was asked during his most recent media availability a couple weeks back and while he acknowledged the disparity, it was one a “wished he had an exact answer why.” It’s a question that’s been asked of countless players as well. There really isn’t a rhyme or reason to it, but the bottom line is, the Kings know they’ve got to deliver more on home ice, starting with these three games.

Viktor Arvidsson – Good road trip, started off pretty bad but we turned it around really well. We played some tough opponents and I think we’ve just got to bring whatever we do on the road, home and play with some swagger.

Pierre-Luc Dubois – We have to. If we play the way that we have to play and if we play the way that we can, there’s no team in this league that we should be afraid to matchup against. Especially at home, we want to create that fortress-type mentality, where teams come in and have a hard time. It starts tonight.

Kevin Fiala – Especially after this good road trip, coming back home is always nice and just build on the momentum. We haven’t been good at home, but I think we should just forget about the past and look at where we are, where we’re at right now. We’ve won four of the last five, it’s been great, it’s been fun. We’ve just got to keep it up.

Matt Roy – I think we’re at a crucial point in the season and we’ve dug ourselves a bit of a hole. We need to win at home and it’s got to start now.

The Kings have an NHL-high 17 games remaining at home this season. That’s 17 opportunities to get a win and 34 points on the line. It’s an areas of the game the Kings know they need to improve in down the stretch, especially with the bulk of their schedule coming in Los Angeles and 13 of those 17 games coming against teams currently not in the playoff picture. As Dubois and Roy both said, it all starts tonight.

Quick Hitters
– Viktor Arvidsson now has three games under his belt. The Kings have three wins in those games, with Arvidsson collecting an assist in each of the previous two. Interestingly enough, Arvidsson’s best game was probably his first one, as he was noticeable all night, perhaps off adrenaline more than anything, but he’s been noticeable and impactful in all three games.

“His first game he was the most dangerous, we probably all felt that, the adrenaline’s going to be going,” Hiller said today. “Boston. I probably played him a little bit too much, he played into over 19 [minutes] in Boston, slowed down a little and then we pulled him back in Pittsburgh. I didn’t think he was as dangerous, but he still gives us something. Even the third game in four nights, coming off the injury, he still gave us something. I was really happy with the way it went for him.”

The three games cumulatively led to the Kings controlling more than 55 percent of shot attempts, shots on goal and scoring chances with Arvidsson on the ice. His first game was his best in terms of individual creation as well, but he had threatening moments in all three games. He made a difference. As Hiller noted, even if he wasn’t always at his strongest, he was a factor in the game each time out.

From Arvidsson’s perspective, there was a little bit of soreness after his first back-to-back of the season, but that’s to be expected off a four-month absence.

“Yeah, the body is a little sore, but that’s what’s expected when you come back,” Arvidsson said this morning “I feel good, I feel ready to go today, I’m just taking it game-by-game.”

First game back at home tonight and he’ll only get stronger as he goes.

– Look for the Kings to turn back to goaltender Cam Talbot tonight against Columbus.

Talbot won his first game of the 2024 calendar year with a solid performance in Pittsburgh. He was good, and the players did a good job in front of him clearing out rebounds and preventing second opportunities.

Speaking with Hiller this morning, he felt it was important to give Talbot another game here tonight, with hopes of re-developing his early-season rhythm.

“It was great to see Cam get in there, he had waited his turn a little bit, great to see him get in there and play so well,” Hiller said this morning. “So, we felt like let’s get him back in there. He hasn’t played a lot lately, let’s try to see if we can give him a chance, give him the support that he needs to get going and get in the net a little more often.”

Hiller indicated that the Kings don’t have a set rotation at this time and don’t plan to map one out for the remainder of the season. There’s not a desire for a 15/14 split here in the final 29 as a steadfast rule. Rotation will be dictated by play and the Kings have gotten a lot of good games from David Rittich as of late, so he’ll get his opportunities. As will Talbot. Hiller indicated that even looking ahead over the next week or two, he doesn’t have that set schedule in net.

See how it goes.

– Additionally, Insiders, an update on forward Blake Lizotte, who skated with the full group this morning for the first time since he left the game in Carolina with a lower-body injury last month. Certainly does not seem imminent – still his first skate back and he was in a non-contact jersey – but still a good sign towards his eventual return.

“He’s getting closer,” Hiller said. Obviously we were gone, we didn’t see him, we got the reports and he’s been skating on his own, skating hard, getting a lot of good work in, so he’s getting there. I’m not sure exactly when it’s going to be, if it’s not going to be until we head out to Canada or not, he’s got to get out with the guys and get banged around a little bit. This morning was pretty easy as far as that goes. He needs to take some contact to see where he’s at.”

Won’t be tonight, but good signs for a player who the Kings are excited to get back.

With that, it’s onto tonight. Kings host Columbus as they look to generate a bit of that home cookin’ down the stretch.