10/14 Preview – Kings focus on odd-man chances + Clarke’s homecoming, 3-on-3 Notes, Green on LAK

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (1-0-1) @ Ottawa Senators (1-1-0)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Monday, October 14 @ 10:00 AM Pacific
WHERE: Canadian Tire Centre – Ottawa, ONT
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! The Kings are in Ottawa for their second consecutive matinee game, as they visit the Senators for the first time this season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings won both matchups versus Ottawa last season, including a 3-2 victory on the road back in November 2023.

Forward Anze Kopitar led the Kings a season ago with three points (1-2-3) and a +4 rating versus the Senators, while forward Adrian Kempe had a multi-point game with two assists in the victory at Canadian Tire Centre.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings have points in each of their first two games of the season, a run they’d like to extend here in Ottawa.

Without a practice yesterday, or a morning skate today, it’s unclear who will get the nod in goal this afternoon for the Kings. Should Darcy Kuemper get the start, it would be his third straight after two stout performances to open the season. Kuemper has a lifetime record of 7-3-1 versus the Senators, with a .902 save percentage and a 3.05 goals-against average. Should the Kings turn to David Rittich, he has a 6-3-0 record throughout his career, along with a .914 save percentage and a 2.59 goals-against average.

For reference, here’s how the Kings lined up on Saturday versus the Bruins –

Today's @LAKings Line Rushes –

Laferriere – Kopitar – Kempe
Jeannot – Danault – Moore
Fiala – Byfield – Foegele
Lee – Turcotte – Lewis

Anderson – Spence
Gavrikov – Burroughs
Edmundson – Clarke

Kuemper
Rittich

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 12, 2024

Unclear if the Kings will make any lineup changes today, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see Akil Thomas check in on the fourth line, whether that is today or later in the trip in Toronto or Montreal. Should Thomas debut, it would likely be in place of Andre Lee or Trevor Lewis, but unclear if it will be for today’s game.

OTTAWA VITALS: The Senators have split their first two games of the season, winning against Florida before losing against Montreal.

Per TSN 1200 in Ottawa, here is how the Senators lined up on Saturday versus the Canadiens –

Sens lines from the warmup in Montreal.

Tkachuk-Stützle- Giroux
Gregor-Norris- Batherson
Perron-Pinto-Amadio
Cousins-Greig-MacEwen

Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Hamonic

— TSN 1200 Ottawa (@TSN1200) October 12, 2024

Forward Shane Pinto had a two-point game in Los Angeles last March, while forward Tim Stutzle leads his team with five assists versus the Kings over the last three seasons.

Look for former Kings forward Michael Amadio to be in the lineup tonight, after skating on a line with Pinto and forward David Perron last time out. Over the last five seasons, only Timo Meier has more goals against the Kings than Perron. Former Kings winger Zach MacEwen also dressed for the Senators in their game.

Storyline Of The Day – The Odd(Man Rush) Couple
Saturday’s game versus Boston was notably better than Thursday’s season opener against Buffalo.

That’s not to say it was satisfying, though.

The Kings know there are further levels to reach, both in terms of performance and consistency. We saw a lot of those signs over the first 40 minutes in Boston, though not quite the consistency desired over 60 minutes.

“As the season goes, we’re going to grow as a team,” defenseman Kyle Burroughs said. “I think everything grows and gets better, whether that’s the d-zone, offensive zone, the scoring. I think the one thing you know from us is we’re a hardworking team and you’re going to get our best most nights.”

With the Kings, it typically starts defensively. Forward Quinton Byfield targeted a specific area of note, which he’d like to see improved this afternoon – odd-man chances against.

“I think we’re more known for not giving up many opportunities and I think that’s one of the big things we’ve been doing lately, is giving up a lot of odd-man rushes,” Byfield said. “I think we’ve really got to look at that. A lot of times, we’re diving down with our F3 and not staying reserved. I think that’s something we look for to get better this week.”

The stats might agree. Now, keep in mind this is a two-game sample size, which doesn’t mean all that much, but the Kings are currently allowing the most shot attempts from the slot off the rush at even strength in the NHL on a per/60 basis. Again, two games, but the numbers match what Byfield is saying.

The other way, so far, has been a bit of a mixed bag, though the Kings rank 28th in the NHL in the same category, in terms of attempts for. I actually think the Kings have gotten to the slot okay, and they rank above the league median in terms of passes into the slot. The problem has been converting those into shots. We’ve seen the Kings pass up looks from time to time, or perhaps seek to make a passing play over letting a shot go. There’s a time and a place for that and we’ve seen some very-near misses.

You want to see this team use its speed, its skill to make plays, as opposed to settling for low-danger chances. A better usage of this set of numbers would be after 5 games, 10 games, 20 games……it’s meant for longer-term evaluations. When the eye test says something, though, and the players are talking about it, it merits a look.

Focusing in on controlling those chances off the rush, being on the right side of that ledger, should be a priority here for the Kings. Good chance to get that going today here in Ottawa.

3 To Watch For
– Brandt Clarke grew up an Ottawa Senators fan. He and his family had season tickets. His favorite player as a kid was Jason Spezza, though it became Erik Karlsson as Clarke himself grew into an offensively-gifted defenseman.

Two season ago, Clarke stuck with the team out of camp and made the trip to Ottawa with the Kings, though he was ultimately reassigned to Team Canada at the World Juniors from his hometown. Last season, Clarke was in the AHL when the Kings came up North, which leaves today’s game as his first time playing in this building as an NHL player.

It’s a moment he is certainly looking forward to.

“I’m really excited, it’s going to be cool,” Clarke said. “I was a season-ticket holder when I was younger, I was a huge Sens fan, I was always on the other side of the glass cheering, but hopefully the building’s not loud [today]. It’ll be cool. I’m just excited to be there, excited to play in front of everyone that’s helped me on the way up. Going to be memorable.”

Up in Canada, today is also Thanksgiving.

Clarke shared his excitement in being able to celebrate that holiday with family on Sunday, adding he’s got a handful of ticket requests for today’s, including his parents, who will be in attendance.

“Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend, so I get to be with my family for that, which is pretty cool that it worked out like that,” Clarke said. “There’s going to be a lot of people that I’ll see after the game, I [saw] on Sunday for the dinner that I was telling you about. It’ll be really good.”

– On Clarke, he was one of three defensemen used in overtime on Saturday.

Clarke took the first shift, followed by……Adrian Kempe, with Vladislav Gavrikov also taking a shift.

Kempe is curious because, well, he is not a defenseman.

Out he went, though, with Anze Kopitar and Alex Laferriere as the team’s second trio to take the ice. Jim Hiller confirmed it wasn’t just meant to be the one shift either. Kempe was set to play as a defenseman with two different forwards if the game extended, though Clarke was caught out for a long shift prior to the game-winning goal, ending the game.

“Kempe was going to go out again without those guys, so it didn’t have to be with Kopi and Laf,” Hiller said. “We’ll probably do some different things, there could be another forward we put back there too, we’re not married to anything. We feel like we can try a few different things and see who steps up.”

The Kings had a few really good looks in overtime, but ultimately they couldn’t get the clears they needed, or the puck possession they needed, which led to an inability to change. Execution there was the name of the game from Hiller, as the Kings missed out on the second point in Boston.

– Lastly, Insiders, sharing a quote from the other side, with Ottawa Head Coach Travis Green’s answer from yesterday’s media on the Kings –

“They’re a good team, they’ve got their group moving in the right direction now. For a couple years, they’ve had some hard-fought playoff series and they’re just a good team, top to bottom. They’re one of the teams that have been in the players, expected to make the playoffs, it’s going to be a good test.”

Nothing groundbreaking there, good amount of coach-speak, but Green is familiar with the Kings from his time in Vancouver and knows the club well. Clear he has respect for Los Angeles and sees the Kings as a playoff team in the West.

Kings and Senators, 10 AM puck drop in the second of two matinees here on this season-opening roadtrip! Back to a more normal routine this week, as the Kings return to an evening puck drop in Toronto. More to follow here on LAKI as the trip rolls on!