12/7 Preview – No Morning Skate Today + Forechecking Fast, Thomas Activated, Kopitar Milestone

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (15-8-3) vs. Minnesota Wild (18-4-4)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Saturday, December 7 @ 5:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: KCAL – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings will play their final home game before embarking on a seven-game roadtrip, hosting the NHL-leading Minnesota Wild tonight at Crypto.com Arena.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings put forth one of their strongest efforts of the season in Minnesota back in November, skating to a 5-1 victory over the Wild at Xcel Energy Center, one of only four regulation defeats Minnesota has had this season.

Forward Quinton Byfield scored his first goal of the season in that game, as a part of a multi-point night (1-1-2), while forwards Trevor Moore and Alex Laferriere each tallied two assists in the win. Forward Kevin Fiala also scored in that game, giving him nine points (3-6-9) against his former team since he was acquired by the Kings in the summer of 2022.

KINGS VITALS: With the 5 PM start time, the Kings did not hold a morning skate in advance of this evening’s game.

Without the skate, it’s unclear exactly who will get the start tonight in net for the hosts. Should the Kings turn back to David Rittich, who has played quite well over the last stretch of games, he carries a lifetime record of 5-0-1 versus the Wild, with a .935 and a 2.11 goals-against average. If Darcy Kuemper gets the nod, it would be his first game back from injury, coming against the club that drafted him back in 2009. Kuemper has an all-time record of 4-6-1 versus his former club, with a .901 save percentage and a 2.98 goals-against average. My gut leans towards Kuemper, but watch for the line rushes later today.

Without a skate today, and considering this morning’s roster move, it’s unclear what direction the Kings will go tonight. For reference, here is Wednesday’s lineup versus Dallas –

Moore – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Byfield – Jeannot
Fiala – Danault – Laferriere
Helenius – Turcotte

Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Moverare – Spence
Burroughs

Kuemper / Rittich

With a ton of days off, Jim Hiller confirmed he is comfortable going 11/7 at this point in time, considering the current but did not confirm that alignment today.

Forward Akil Thomas was activated from injured reserve this morning and would be eligible to play versus the Wild, either as a part of an 11/7 or with a return to a 12/6. I could see both situations, with Thomas either replacing Samuel Helenius on the two-man fourth line, or playing on the right side of that line, with Kyle Burroughs checking out. Personally, I think 11/7 is the preferred setup tonight, but we’ll see what happens. Andreas Englund is also an option to play tonight if the Kings want to make a change on the blueline.

Expecting to hear from Jim Hiller in advance of tonight’s game and will update with that information as provided.

WILD VITALS: Minnesota concludes a Southern California back-to-back with tonight’s game versus the Kings, following yesterday’s 5-1 final in Anaheim.

Per Michael Russo of The Athletic, here’s how the visitors lined up last night in Anaheim –

#mnwild lines w/o Eriksson Ek, Brodin, Zuccarello, Lauko

Kaprizov-Rossi-Boldy
Johansson-Hartman-Foligno
Shore-Gaudreau-Trenin
Jones-Khusnutdinov-Johnson

Middleton-Faber
Chisholm-Spurgeon
Merrill-Bogosian

Gus

Extras: Boyd, Jiricek

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 7, 2024

Minnesota is currently without four players, with forward Jakub Lauko out day-to-day with a lower-body injury and the trio of defenseman Jonas Brodin, along with forwards Joel Eriksson-Ek and Mats Zuccarello all out on a week-to-week basis. The latter three will not play tonight, though Lauko was not ruled out by Minnesota Head Coach John Hynes.

Entering today’s game, Minnesota forward Kirill Kaprizov is third in the NHL in points (39) and tied for third in the league in goals (16), while his +19 rating leads the league among all skaters. With Filip Gustavsson starting in the win over the Ducks, look for veteran Marc-Andre Fleury to start tonight for the final time at Crypto.com Arena.

Storyline Of The Day – Forechecking Fast
There’s a difference between being fast and playing fast.

Some guys can do both, some guys do one or the other, some guys apply playing fast to their own game.

Take Wednesday’s game versus Dallas. The Kings were in one after 20 minutes.

Trailing 1-0, thoroughly outplayed and outworked by the Dallas Stars on home ice, the Kings needed a spark and they got it from the line of Warren Foegele, Quinton Byfield and Tanner Jeannot. On a night when the Kings simply needed someone to step up and spark the group, they got it from a line that has come together nicely over the team’s recent four-game winning streak.

“What we look to do is get in on the forecheck and create offense that way,” forward Quinton Byfield said.

Well, job accomplished on Wednesday. That line connected on two goals, both of which came by getting the puck into the offensive zone and going to work.

“We’re all fast players, all physically big as well, so we get on their D right away, early in the game and hopefully later in the game, they get a little scared or look over their shoulder a little bit more so that we get the puck back,” Byfield added.

In the case of the line, it’s playing their game fast. It’s not free flowing, end-to-end stuff, but small plays, made quickly and decisively, that helped make the difference in turning around the Dallas game. See these two goals below –

First, Foegele and Jeannot go to work below the goal line on this play, with Jeannot quick to get in and play the body hard along the boards, while Foegele steps down to create the interception in a dangerous area. He eventually works the puck back to Jeannot in front, who capitalizes on a friendly bounce and scores from close range. Fortunate in some ways, sure, but you also make your own luck. He did exactly that on this play.

“We needed that goal as much as the game winning goal, I thought that goal was probably the biggest goal of the night,” Jim Hiller said of Jeannot’s goal. “Just kind of to get us back and get us a bit of reward for coming out strong in the second.”

Then there’s the second goal, which started with an attack off the rush, that originally amounted to very little until the Kings won the puck back twice. First it was Byfield, who had his pass off a controlled zone entry deflected, but he won the puck back and fed it down low. Then, after the Kings lost possession later in the shift, Jeannot won a puck battle inside the circle by using physicality to separate Logan Stankoven from the puck, before a nice move allowed him to gain possession and find Foegele on the wall.

Foegele did the rest, on a really nice goal, but it was the full sequence that gave him the opportunity to do so.

“That should be the strength of that line, for sure, they’re all big, they’re all strong, Q and Foegs are extremely fast, so we needed that from somebody, we weren’t getting that, we hadn’t established anything in the o-zone before they got that going in the second period,” Hiller added.

Against Minnesota tonight, the Kings need that similar spark. It might not always be as apparent as it was versus the Stars, but it can come in a variety of ways.

Sometimes it’s a shift early, like the one that line had to start the game versus Ottawa, which set the tone, before Alex Laferriere eventually scored two shifts later. Perhaps it’s even dirtier than that, as Byfield talked about, reaping benefits down the road, wearing down opposing defensemen over the course of 60 minutes. Sometimes it might not present itself at all in ways we can see. But against teams like Dallas and Minnesota, it can be those types of lines, those types of players and those types of moments that make the difference.

3 To Watch For –
-It’s been a few weeks since we’ve had an Anze Kopitar milestone, I suppose, so how about another one?

Tonight is set to be the 1,400th game of Kopitar’s professional career. Kopitar is set to become the 43rd skater in NHL history to play in 1,400 career games and just the fourth active player to do so following Ryan Suter, Alex Ovechkin and Brent Burns. Unlike those two of those three players, Kopitar has played all 1,400 games with one franchise, making him just the 11th player in league history to play 1,400 games with one team.

The games for Kopitar have broken down with incredible symmetry, with tonight’s game also set to be his 700th home game, which makes him one of just seven players in NHL history to play 1,400 games with exactly 700 coming at home and 700 coming on the road. With is certainly a product of situation, but seems fitting for Kopitar to have it be that consistent.

– One additional note on Thomas – He’s been in a regular jersey for a couple days now and practicing on the fourth line with Turcotte, Helenius and Caleb Jones, who rotated in for some forward rushes in yesterday’s practice. Not sure what that means with regards specifically to Jones, but for Thomas, I could see it a couple of ways.

I believe the Kings will go 11/7 tonight, considering the team’s 14-2-1 record in 11/7 situations to date under Hiller and the coach’s confirmed affinity for it in the right situation. Thomas and Turcotte kind of present the perfect two-man fourth line. Both can play center and wing, both have shown an ability to produce when moving around the lineup. My gut says Thomas plays, in place of Helenius, but that’s just my own inclination. See what happens tonight.

– Lastly, 4 Nations Faceoff coming up, who is Quinton Byfield rooting for – his longtime teammate and friend Adrian Kempe or his native Canada?

“I’ve got to go Canada,” he said. “I hope Juice does good, I hope Juice does really well, but we’ve got Grangey here too with Canada and that’s my home country who I support.”

Said with a couple of laughs in between.

Acknowledging Darren Granger is important. Same goes for Mike Buckley, who will represent Team USA. Kempe is obviously the prime participant here and rightfully so. He’s earned that recognition. A cool honor for a couple of the staff members, though, as well.

“We’re so proud of Juice, we’re happy, but equally proud of Bucks and Grange as well,” Jim Hiller added. “It’s an honor to be a part of that, it speaks well to the organization that it’s not just players, but we have staff spread out on there, so we’re extremely proud.”

The other benefit of having someone on three of the four teams?

“We’ve got a 75-percent chance of bringing home a gold medal.”

Kings and Wild, 5 PM puck drop from Crypto.com Arena, as the Kings look for five-in-a-row!