10/29 Preview – Akil Thomas To Debut + Optional Skate, Banking Points, Starting Fast

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (5-2-2) @ San Jose Sharks (1-7-2)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Tuesday, October 29 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: SAP Center – San Jose, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ESPN – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back on the road for a quick trip to San Jose, as they visit the Sharks for the second matchup between the two teams in a six-day span.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Sharks faced off on Thursday, with Los Angeles skating to a 3-2 victory on home ice.

Forward Warren Foegele led the Kings with two goals in the win. Throughout his NHL career, Foegele has 12 points (5-7-12) from 16 games played against San Jose, his most against any one opponent. Forward Alex Laferriere assisted on both of Foegele’s goals, giving him four points (1-3-4) from five career games versus the Sharks.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings are currently on a stretch of five consecutive games in the state of California, with four on home ice surrounding today’s game on the road.

Look for the Kings to turn back to goaltender David Rittich in tonight’s game against the Sharks, as the Czech netminder was not on the ice for today’s optional morning skate. Rittich earned the victory in the home opener on Thursday, as he turned aside 24 of the 26 shots he faced versus the Sharks. Rittich has a 6-2-3 lifetime record against San Jose, with a .902 save percentage and a 2.58 goals-against average.

Here’s how the Kings lined up during yesterday’s practice –

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

Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Jones – Spence
Englund – Burroughs

Rittich / Kuemper

One lineup change is expected tonight – forward Akil Thomas will make his season debut. Forward Trevor Lewis was on late after morning skate, anticipating that Thomas will check in for him. More on Thomas below, as he checks back in tonight after sitting for the first nine games this season.

Akil Thomas will make his season debut tonight in San Jose.

Looks like David Rittich in net for the @LAKings as well.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 29, 2024

The Kings made a few changes on the blueline in that game, including the introduction of Caleb Jones in place of Kyle Burroughs. Jones logged 14:17 in his third game of the season, as he played what was generally clean game alongside Jordan Spence, earning some post-game plaudits from Head Coach Jim Hiller.

SAN JOSE VITALS: The Sharks conclude a back-to-back here this evening, coming off their first victory of the season, a thrilling, comeback, 5-4 overtime win in Utah yesterday.

Per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, here’s how the Sharks lined up last time out versus Utah –

#TheFutureIsTeal lines in their first game in Utah:

Eklund-Granlund-Toffoli
Gushchin-Wennberg-Zetterlund
Goodrow-Kunin-Grundstrom
G. Smith-Sturm-Kostin

Walman-Ceci
Ferraro-Rutta
Thrun-Benning

Blackwood

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 29, 2024

Look for goaltender Vitek Vanacek to get the start today for San Jose, with the Sharks playing back-to-back. Vanacek has faced the Kings just twice in his NHL career, posting a 1-1-0 record with a .870 save percenatge and a 3.00 goals-against average.

Forward Mikael Granlund scored both San Jose goals when these teams met on Thursday. Granlund leads the Sharks with 13 points (5-8-13) so far this season and sits just one point outside the Top 10 in the NHL in scoring this season.

Former King Tyler Toffoli is tied with Granlund for the team lead with five goals, including the game-tying goal in Utah yesterday evening. Former King Carl Grundstrom is also expected to play tonight against his former club.

Storyline Of The Day – The Real Deal Akil
Akil Thomas will make his season debut tonight in San Joses.

“He’s been patient, he hasn’t played yet and we’ve got to make sure we get him in, so he’ll go tonight,” Jim Hiller said this morning.

Hiller said he spoke with Thomas yesterday and Thomas feels he’s ready to go, despite not playing for the first nine games of the season.

It’s been a challenge, for sure, for a player who came into the season with expectations of being an everyday player.

When you looked at how this team looked over the summer, Thomas was in the lineup. The emergence of Andre Lee during training camp saw Thomas as the odd-man out early in the season, with Lee playing each of the first nine games, bringing a different element to the team. Lee will retain his place tonight, with Thomas checking in at center, appearing to be in place of veteran Trevor Lewis.

Thomas has patiently waited for his chance, with Hiller praising his approach, even though it was difficult for him at times. Thomas said he tried to make sure he was getting something out of each day, talking about his workouts and his skates putting him in an even better position physically than he was at the start of training camp.

“First time being healthy [scratched for that long], watching at home so much, so it’s kind of tougher, I guess, because I’m healthy and I can play, so it’s been tough,” Thomas said of being a healthy scratch as opposed to being our injured. “I’ve just been using it to get a lot of good workouts in and good skates in and I feel better physically than I did at the start of camp, so I feel like I got something out of it, for sure.”

When he played his first game of the season back in Montreal, defenseman Andreas Englund spoke about the workouts run by Kings Assistant Coach Derik Johnston as keeping him ready for when his number was eventually called. Thomas echoed similar things today.

It’s impossible to truly replicate the feeling of playing games every other day, but part of the job is being ready to go and ready to jump in when given the opportunity. Thomas

“We love the skates, obviously it sucks being scratched but we have fun out there and we’re working on really good stuff, we all get something out of it every day,” Thomas said. “I think playing or not, we’re getting better and we’re ready to go whenever it’s our turn.”

In terms of Game 1, Thomas knows this is an opportunity for himself to show he should remain in the lineup for tomorrow’s game against Vegas and beyond.

It’s a tough place for a player to be, trying to make an impact on the game while also playing within himself, keeping things simple in a fourth-line role and hopefully playing his game, as he is capable of.

“I have an opportunity to play tonight and work as hard as I can, and just hopefully prove yourself a little bit more.”

3 To Watch For –
– A win tonight in San Jose would match last season’s first 10 games.

The Kings enter at 5-2-2 and began last season with a mark of 6-2-2. 6 wins from 10, with a pair of defeats in overtime, is a great ten-game stretch. The points in October are as important as they are in April.

“It’s hard to compare the seasons, we play a little differently, different group of guys, but you always want to start good to get points wherever,” defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov said. “Long season, every single point [is important] and we’ve got to be better by the end, it’s going to he hard to get those. We’ve got to focus on that now, get as many points as we can and try to build on it.”

Last season, the Kings began with a record of 16-4-4 through 24 games, with that mark ultimately derailed by that long losing stretch in January. So, we know how fast things can change. Think about where the team would have been without that start, though. Continue to put points in the bank now, as the team continues to sort out systems and style of play, and hopefully continue to grow upwards from there.

– Start fast tonight, friends.

The Sharks played last night in Utah. Late in the third period, San Jose trailed 4-1, despite controlling the bulk of the second half of the game.

Then the Sharks scored. Then they scored again. And again. After forcing the game into overtime, San Jose secured its first victory of the season. In total, the Sharks scored four goals in less than six minutes of game time, turning 4-1 into 5-4. Pretty good stuff.

It was an emotional win, for sure, and you’d expect that team to come out hard tonight on home ice, even if there’s not a ton left in the tank. Puts a lot of onus on a strong start for the Kings.

“It’s always important, and I really, as you know, like to focus on us more than anybody else, but we watched the end of the game, it was an emotional win for them,” Hiller said this morning. “They played well. They played well, really well against us, so I’m not surprised that that they’re in games and that they’re winning. It’s going to be a tough, tough game tonight. I’m sure they feel better about things. We’ve just got to make sure we’re ready for it.”

– After he did not play in the final period-plus on Saturday, forward Kevin Fiala is expected to return to his regular place in the lineup tonight against San Jose.

“Kevin and I had a good conversation, wiped the slate clean, we’ll move forward and that was it,” Hiller said.

Hiller said after the win over San Jose on Thursday that repeat offenders on minor penalties could see their icetime reduced. Fiala had two penalties in that game and two more against Utah on Saturday. After the second penalty, he didn’t see the ice the rest of the way.

It’s in the past now. Fiala was back with Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore during yesterday’s practice and, as Hiller said, they wiped the slate clean. Against San Jose, Fiala is a forward the Kings will look to rely on to create offense. He’s arguably the team’s most dynamic creator with the puck on his stick and the Kings will look to see that from him this evening at the Shark Tank.

Kings and Sharks, from the Tank. 7 PM puck drop with a national broadcast on ESPN.