3/5 Preview – Diving Into 11/7 Alignment + Byfield, Laferriere on added minutes, Dell, Injuries

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (31-19-10) vs. Vancouver Canucks (39-17-7)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, March 5 @ 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 longest homestand of the season continues for the LA Kings, who host the Vancouver Canucks in a rematch of Thursday’s contest in British Columbia.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Kevin Fiala and defenseman Drew Doughty each collected two points when these teams met last week in Vancouver, with five skaters in total posting multi-point games. Since Doughty entered the NHL, his 26 career points versus the Canucks rank fifth-highest in the league amongst defensemen.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate today in advance of tonight’s game.

Look for goaltender Cam Talbot to get the start tonight, his third consecutive nod between the pipes. Talbot recorded 23 saves the last time these teams met and has a lifetime record of 12-3-4 versus the Canucks, with a .930 save percentage and a 1.99 goals-against average.

The Kings have used an alignment of 11 forwards and seven defensemen in each of the last two games, a pair of 5-1 victories. That alignment is shown below –

Turcotte – Kopitar – Byfield
Moore – Danault – Fiala
Laferriere – Dubois – Anderson-Dolan
Lewis – Lizotte – (Kaliyev)

Moverare – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Clarke

Talbot
Rittich

More on the 11/7 look below, but considering recent success and the same opponent as Thursday evening, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Kings continue to utilize the 11/7 alignment here again today. That would leave forward Arthur Kaliyev as the team’s lone scratched player, though he is available should the Kings opt for any adjustments.

CANUCKS VITALS: Vancouver began a three-game roadtrip on Sunday in Anaheim with a 2-1 victory over the Ducks. The Canucks finish their swing in Vegas on Thursday.

After starting backup goaltender Casey DeSmith on Sunday evening against the Ducks, the Canucks are expected to turn back to regular starter Thatcher Demko this evening in Los Angeles. Demko has a lifetime mark of 4-2-0 versus the Kings, with a .932 save percentage and a 2.12 goals-against average.

Per Brendan Batchelor of Vancouver’s broadcast team, here’s how the Canucks aligned in Anaheim last time out –

Projected #Canucks lines vs. @AnaheimDucks

Höglander. Pettersson. Suter.
Mikheyev. Miller. Boeser.
Podkolzin. Lindholm. Garland.
PDG. Blueger. Lafferty.

Hughes. Hronek.
Zadorov. Juulsen.
Cole. Friedman.

🥅DeSmith🥅

5pm on @Sportsnet650 https://t.co/KAgpi3gWwj pic.twitter.com/HCE2Up3gAo

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) March 4, 2024

Vancouver inked center Elias Pettersson to an eight-year contract extension over the weekend, worth a total of $92.8 million. Pettersson is one of nine players in the NHL with 25+ goals and 45+ assists this season. Canucks winger Brock Boeser has 15 goals from 17 games played against the Kings throughout his career, including a goal when these teams met last week.

Notes –
11/7th Heaven
A commonality in victories over Vancouver and New Jersey has been the switch to an 11F / 7D approach.

After the first night, Jim Hiller indicated that he wanted to get Brandt Clarke into a game, after he sat out the first two games of the team’s Western Canada trip. The result, not strictly alignment based, was a 5-1 win that many dubbed the strongest 60 minutes of the season. Following up with another 5-1 victory, with many consistent themes, provides a strong indication that it could continue for the Kings.

Hiller had no hesitation that the Kings could continue with the approach, if they so choose, going forward.

“I think so, yeah, I really do,” Hiller said. “There’s a few guys that probably played a little more than I would have liked, I’m talking about the forwards, a few that didn’t play as much as I would have liked and that’s on me, I should have got some guys out there a little bit more and balanced that a little bit better. I don’t mind [11/7] at all. I’ve said this before, I know the forwards like it, they all want more icetime, of course everybody does. I don’t know how long it will go for, but there’s no end date.”

As he indicates, it’s the forwards that are impacted the most. Certainly the team’s two least-expereinced blueliners – Jacob Moverare and Brandt Clarke – have had their minutes impacted, but up front, it’s provided opportunities for players to play more, or in different roles.

Look no further than Quinton Byfield, who has logged 20 or more minutes in four of his last five games, including his two highest totals of the season with the 11/7 look. It was the first time in his career he’s logged over 20 minutes and he’s now done so regularly, without a ton of issue.

“I just came in, wanting to help the team in any way, but the last couple of games I’ve been fortunate enough to play a lot of minutes, big minutes,” Byfield said. “It’s challenging, but I feel like I’m ready for that and I want that responsibility.”

It’s helping others out as well.

Kevin Fiala played nearly 20 minutes against New Jersey, more than two minutes above his season average. Towards the bottom of the lineup, forward Trevor Lewis cracked 13 minutes in both games, after averaging just over 11 on the season. In Vancouver, Alex Laferriere played 17:54, more than four-and-a-half minutes about his season average.

The theme there is versatile winger, players who can effortlessly slide between lines and fit right in, without an adjustment period. It’s a key to the 11/7 approach and it’s a reason why the presently injured Adrian Kempe is actually so effective when the Kings have used it in the past.

“It’s definitely exciting, any time you get to be on the ice and prove yourself, it’s a good thing,” Laferriere said. “I think our team is a pretty deep team, it doesn’t matter who you’re on the ice with, you’re out with great players. It’s been fun.”

When Hiller talks about players who have seen their time go down with the 11/7 look, players he wants to give more minutes to, forward Pierre-Luc Dubois is certainly included in that mix, with his icetime hovering between 13 and 14 minutes during the last two games. That’s down a couple of minutes below his season average of 15:47. Hiller called his lower total an “anomaly” and indicated he’ll likely be higher going forward.

Dubois had six shot attempts versus New Jersey, one shy of a season high, as a part of an effective night, contributing on Laferriere’s goal. Sunday’s game followed a trip in which Hiller didn’t “think he played as well as he had coming out of the break”, so hopefully positive signs as Hiller looks to up his workload.

With 11/7 here to stay at least for this evening, the Kings will look to continue searching for that balance of keeping everyone involved and engaged up front.

On the backend, as noted, Clarke and Moverare are the two players most impacted.

For Clarke, he’s certainly not used to a role that has him playing fewer than 10 minutes per night. Were the Kings losing, they would likely deploy Clarke much more, but they’ve prioritized defending in third periods with multi-goal leads. When carrying leads, they’ve turned more towards Moverare alongside Drew Doughty down the stretch. It’s not the easiest situation to be in for a younger player, who is used to a much larger workload at the AHL and OHL levels.

Drew Doughty spoke after the Vancouver game about how well he felt Clarke handled his situation and how he was ready to go and ready to do what it took to win when his number was called. That speaks volumes. Hiller elaborated more on Clarke’s situation in the 11/7 look –

“It’s how does he manage it, how do you get used to that, how do you keep focused, how do you wait your turn,” Hiller explained. “Those are things that, if you haven’t been through it before, you have to go just like any other lesson that you learn in life. You’ve got to go through it and make sure that when you do get called, that you’re ready to do the right things, because if you go out there and you’re not ready, you lose your focus and you do something wrong and those seven [minutes] turn into five pretty quickly and pretty soon they turn into zero. It’s just the way the game works is.”

He added that the team is “happy with his minutes”, with no issues over his first two games as the seventh blueliner. Look for a potentially expanded role as the situation calls for it from 92.

Quick Hitters –
– A quick injury update regarding forward Adrian Kempe and defenseman Mikey Anderson. Both players were on the ice this morning at Toyota Sports Performance Center, skating together, in advance of today’s morning skate. Consider both to still be on a week-to-week timeline, neither have re-joined the group for practice yet, but good signs nonetheless.

– The Kings announced yesterday afternoon that they have signed goaltender Aaron Dell to a one-year, two-way, NHL contract. Dell was placed on waivers yesterday, cleared earlier today and was assigned to the AHL’s Ontario Reign.

Simple depth move here. The Kings currently only had three healthy goaltenders under NHL contracts, following Pheonix Copley’s long-term injury. Dell signed with the Reign on an AHL contract earlier this season and has appeared in five games with the club, posting a record of 2-3-0, a .906 save percentage and a 2.63 goals-against average. He is also an experienced veteran with 130 games of NHL experience throughout his career.

With Cam Talbot and David Rittich currently playing well together at the NHL level, there’s not an immediate need, but with only rookie netminder Erik Portillo in the system behind them, Dell offers the organization some depth. And a sick set of pads. Thankfully went unclaimed and will continue, status quo, with the AHL club.

Kings and Canucks! 7:30 PM puck drop that would be a playoff preview if the season ended today. Should be a good one.