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1/18 Preview – Kings on Kuemps + Ending Trip Strong, PP roles, Laferriere skates but “a ways” off

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WHO: Los Angeles Kings (25-12-5) @ Seattle Kraken (19-24-3)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Saturday, January 18 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Climate Pledge Arena – Seattle, WA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: KCAL (Ch. 9) – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings conclude a five-game roadtrip this evening in Seattle, with their first visit of the season to the Emerald City.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Anze Kopitar collected a pair of assists, while forwards Adrian Kempe and Quinton Byfield scored in a 2-1 victory over Seattle at Crypto.com Arena back in November.

Forward Kevin Fiala has 15 points (2-13-15) from 11 career games versus the Kraken, tied for the sixth most of any player against the Kraken since they entered the NHL in 2021.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate today, after opting for an off-ice workout yesterday afternoon.

Look for goaltender Darcy Kuemper to get the start today against the Kraken to conclude the trip, his fourth start from five games here on the road. Kuepmer who did not play in the 2-1 win over Seattle back in November, has a lifetime record of 1-1-1 against Seattle, with a .868 save percentage and a 3.33 goals-against average.

Here’s how the Kings lined up this morning, previewing what we could see tonight –

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

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

Kuemper
Rittich

Forward Alex Laferriere is not expected to play tonight due to an upper-body injury, his second straight game out of the lineup. Laferriere skated this morning, hopping on the ice after the group was mostly finished, but he isn’t expected to play tonight and his timeline is a bit longer than day-to-day. He’s “a way’s away”, per Jim Hiller this morning.

Not expecting any lineup changes today for the Kings based off of morning skate. Forward Akil Thomas and defenseman Andreas Englund are options to check in, should the Kings pursue any adjustments from the way they lined up on Thursday in Vancouver.

KRAKEN VITALS: Seattle begins a four-game homestand this evening, entering the contest with four wins from its last 15 games,

Per Mike Benton of the Seattle radio broadcast, here’s how the Kraken aligned this morning –

Kraken winger Brandon Tanev missed Thursday’s game in Winnipeg due to illness but appears set to check back in tonight against the Kings.

Seattle forward Jordan Eberle has led the Kraken against the Kings over the last four seasons, with 11 points (4-7-11) from 10 games played. Nine of his points have come at even strength, tied for the sixth most in the NHL since the 2021-22 season.

Storyline Of The Day – Kings on Kuemps
Always the team guy.

Darcy Kuemper set a pretty impressive statistic after the 5-1 win over Vancouver. Kuemper has allowed one or fewer goals over his last five starts, tying the all-time franchise record for the most consecutive games allowing 0 or 1 goals. Jonathan Quick achieved the feat twice in his time here. Kuemper’s now done it once in his second stint.

As such, Kuemper now ranks second in the NHL in goals-against average at 2.06, trailing only Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck. He’s also in the league’s Top-5 in save percentage, now up to .922 on the season. Pretty good numbers, that he deflected mostly onto the team in front of him.

“The responsibility that every player plays with, there’s no one out there cheating for offense, guys are playing the right way and playing patient,” Kuemper said. “I think maybe when goals aren’t coming, as they didn’t for a few game stretch there, it’s easy to start cheating offensively but just the maturity of our group to know that the offense will come and dry spells do happen and just keep playing the right way and not change anything, I think that’s what makes us so tough to play against.”

Kuemper’s teammates, though, were more than willing to talk about the way he’s been playing.

For the week ending on January 5, Kuemper was selected as the NHL’s Third Star of the Week. With another strong showing tonight, Kuemper could be in line for another nod, entering the game with a .961 save percentage this week. He has simply been at such a high level

“Elite is the word I use,” forward Trevor Moore said of Kuemper. “He’s been keeping us in games when we shouldn’t have been and he’s just always giving us chance, always making these big saves. We don’t want to give up too many of those chances, but we know that if something breaks down, we have Darcy there to keep it out.”

For Jim Hiller, he’s felt that the Kings have gotten that level from Kuemper for awhile now.

While his numbers right now are at the highest level they’ve been all season, he feels that Kuemper has delivered a solid presence for the group for pretty much the entire season, since he came in back in September.

It’s something that has clearly made everyone in front of him comfortable playing their game.

“He’s been unreal, it’s really easy playing in front of him, just with how confident we are with him in our net,” defenseman Jordan Spence added. “The way he’s playing right now, I think we’re really happy and I know that he’ll keep it going like that. We still have to do our job but at the same time, it gives us the confidence or momentum to get some goals and trying to win the game for him.”

Kuemper will be back in net tonight against the Kraken, with eyes on another strong showing to propel the Kings to a winning trip.

3 To Watch For –
– Kings will look to conclude their trip here on a positive note, with a winning record on the line tonight against Seattle.

Moore spoke this morning about knowing the team is 2-2 thus far, placing the importance on getting on the right side of .500. There’s something to that.

Coming into this trip, which feels like ages ago, the Kings weren’t all that sure how they would come out. Considering everything going on back in Los Angeles when the Kings left, how would the focus be for Game 1 in Winnipeg? The answer was pretty good. The team was able to, for those few hours, focus on the game, in a win that players and coaches shared meant a little bit more than your average victory for the Kings.

Hiller always has his focus on the final game of a trip. He felt that, despite a loss, the Kings played their best game of the December trip in Game 7 in Washington.

“We talked about it this morning and to me, my favorite game of the road trips are always the last game, because it’s the greatest challenge,” Hiller said. “I think we’ve seen it from our team this year, they’ve been ready to meet that challenge, so I’m excited for it.”

Despite a 2-2 record, the Kings feel their performances have been better than that mark. Compare that to perhaps some other trips this season and it’s been the other way at times. With a dialed in group today, Kings have a good chance to get on the right side of this trip, with a game that matches the first four they’ve played.

– One small change expected for tonight, based on morning skate today.

Defensemen Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke swapped roles on the power play, with Spence taking reps with the first unit and Clarke on the second.

Hiller shared that he feels Spence has the best one timer of the seven defensemen who are playing right now, even if he’d like to see him use it a little bit more. With the puck not regularly going in on the power play, it’s a change designed to get another threat into the mix up top, as the Kings continue to wait for Drew Doughty to eventually return to game action.

For Spence, he understands the opportunity and is excited for it, hoping to play his part in helping to get that unit going. He noted that he’s being encouraged to shoot the puck from the point in power-play situations, with the staff emphasizing the need to return to a more simple approach, to have a shooter’s mentality. Get shots to the net, get second looks or reset and do it again.

“It hasn’t been our best this season, but I know they’re trying to work some things out and just rotate some guys in and see if anything clicks,” he added. “For me personally, I just have to play my game, do my job and try and contribute as much as I can on the power play. It’s great the have the opportunity to do that.”

– Lastly, one additional way to support the LAFD and those impacted by the LA wildfires. Proceeds from sales of this merchandise will go towards the LAFD Foundaation.

Kings and Kraken to conclude the trip! Reminder that tonight’s game is a KCAL broadcast, not FanDuel Sports Network. Talk soon!

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