2/24 Preview – Doughty/Edmundson Talk New Pairing + Optional Skate, Laferriere’s Hustle, Big Test Tonight

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (30-17-7) vs. Vegas Golden Knights (34-17-6)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Monday, February 24 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – AM 710 & ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings continue on at home, as they host the Vegas Golden Knights for a Pacific Division battle at Crypto.com Arena.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Tonight will be the third of four meetings between these two teams this season, with each winning on home ice back in October.

Forward Warren Foegele scored a goal in both games against the Golden Knights, while forward Anze Kopitar (1-2-3) and defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-3-3) led the Kings with three points across those first two games played. Kopitar has 39 career points against Vegas, the most by any player in NHL history.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held an optional morning skate today, after a full-team practice day yesterday.

Look for goaltender Darcy Kuemper to get the nod in a key divisional clash versus Vegas. Kuemper brings with him a lifetime record of 7-7-3 against the Golden Knights, with a .928 save percentage and a 2.35 goals-against average. Kuemper made 23 saves in the 6-3 win over Vegas earlier this season.

Based on yesterday’s practice and morning skate today, not expecting any changes for the Kings from the group that took on Utah on Saturday, shown below for reference –

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

Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Doughty
Moverare – Spence
Clarke

Kuemper
Rittich

Forward Adrian Kempe did not practice yesterday with the rest of his team but just a maintenance day, per Head Coach Jim Hiller. Kempe is expected to play tonight against the Golden Knights.

The Kings will roll with 11 forwards and seven defensemen tonight against Vegas, as they did on Saturday against Utah, with Jim Hiller confirming that after practice today. Should they make any changes to that group, defenseman Kyle Burroughs and forward Akil Thomas are both available to play.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS VITALS: Like the Kings, Vegas won its first game back coming out of the break, a 3-1 victory over Vancouver.

Per Sin Bin Vegas, here’s how the Golden Knights lined up against the Canucks on Saturday –

VGK lines at morning skate before tonight's game vs VAN

Barbashev-Eichel-Olofsson
Dorofeyev-Hertl-Lavoie
Saad-Howden-Stone
Pearson-Roy-Kolesar

Hague-Pietrangelo
Hanifin-Whitecloud
McNabb-Korczak

— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 22, 2025

Vegas is currently without forwards William Karlsson and Cole Schwindt, who are both on injured reserve and not expected to play tonight, while defenseman Shea Theodore is out “week-to-week” from an injury sustained at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Forward Tomas Hertl has five points (1-4-5) from two games played against the Kings this season, giving him 23 (11-12-23) from his last 20 games versus Los Angeles. His 11 goals are tied for the second most in the NHL in that span.

Storyline Of The Day – Pair New For Drew
For the first time this season, the Kings are fully stacked on the blueline.

In the first rendition of what that looked like, we saw the Kings deploy seven defensemen as a part of the 11/7 setup we’ve seen several times throughout the course of the season. When all was said and done, with Drew Doughty back in the lineup, I think the expectation was that he would eventually slot back with Mikey Anderson, once he got up to speed. There are 28 games remaining, so that’s still possible, but it’s not where the Kings are at right now.

If you could award two players a singular, made-up award, the pairing of Anderson with Vladislav Gavrikov was perhaps the team’s MVP in the first half of the season.

Against Utah on Saturday, that pair remained together, while Doughty partnered with Joel Edmundson on a second pairing capable of similar shutdown potential. At 5-on-5 they factored into two goals, as Doughty skated alongside a familiar type of partner in Edmundson. Think back to his time with Rob Scuderi and Derek Forbort over the years and Edmundson is in that mold.

It was one game, but Doughty was certainly a fan.

“I really like it, Eddy is steady back there, he talks a lot,” Doughty said. “I went up to him after the handshake line we do and said I love playing with you. Hopefully that partnership continues and we grow and get better and better.”

While Doughty praised Edmundson’s communication, his partner was quick to throw it right back his way.

Some games, it feels like Doughty is mic’d up in the arena, just without the microphone. Whether he’s talking on the ice or on the bench, he’s a very vocal player and others who have played with him have said similar things. Consider Edmundson the latest name on that list after the duo logged nearly 18 minutes together at 5-on-5 on Saturday evening.

“The biggest thing is we talk after every shift and we talk on the ice between whistles,” Edmundson said. “We’re still trying to get to know each other better, but [on Saturday], there was a lot of movement on the blueline, so I’m just trying to read off him and he’s doing the same with me. I think each game is just going to get more and more comfortable and I’m looking forward to it.”

While Edmundson has been at a relatively steady level throughout his first season in Los Angeles, Saturday night was really the first time this season we’ve seen the true Drew Doughty in 2025. The goal and two assists were obviously nice but anyone who is familiar with Doughty’s game knows there’s a lot more to him than the points.

Saturday was the first time he’s truly, comfortably looked like Drew Doughty again. He said as much after the game, Jim Hiller said that even if you stacked Doughty’s game against Utah against what he did last season, that game would have been a “top-10 performance”. Certainly back to his usual self.

“Him coming off that tournament, he looks like a new player,” Edmundson said. “He’s got his confidence back in his ankle, his conditioning is up and you saw it [on Saturday], he had a big game for us. Playing with him, it’s been easy. He makes everyone around him better.”

That’s the thing, too, is that this season’s Kings haven’t been accustomed to having this version of Doughty back in the lineup.

For Edmundson, he’s certainly played against doughty over the years but he’s really never had full-strength Drew Doughty as a teammate, let alone a defensive partner. For the rest of the group, who knows Doughty, it’s just nice to get him back. For Edmundson, though, it almost feels like the Kings added a big fish via trade and that’s pretty exciting for him.

“He’s that caliber of player of a player and it’s a huge difference,” Edmundson added. “He’s got the respect of everybody in the league, he’s been around for awhile, so whenever you can add a piece like that, it’s almost like making a big move at the deadline. It’s huge for us.”

Expecting that duo to remain together tonight, as the Kings look to go 11/7 once again against Vegas.

3 To Watch For –
– Wanted to resurface a smaller play one more time from the Utah game.

It wasn’t the biggest play in the game and ultimately it didn’t even really impact the outcome of the game. But I thought it embodied who Alex Laferriere is as a player.

With 22 seconds left in the second period, Laferriere takes the ice. With about 15 seconds on the clock, he moves from his right wing to the center point, getting a stick on a shot to send it wide. Five seconds later, he’s supporting down low in the slot, collecting the puck and breaking it out. Then, he outraces three Utah players down the ice, ultimately forcing goaltender Connor Ingram to play the puck and send it out of play for a delay of game penalty.

The screenshot above is from when Laferriere cleared the puck. He won that race. Underrated speed and very appreciated hustle.

“I think Laffy, he’s one heck of a player, he does everything right,” forward Quinton Byfield said. “One thing people don’t know if just how fast he is. That’s something there, he just used his speed there and that’s just the effort that he gives every shift. We’re happy to have him on our line.”

A player who the Kings love and a player who the Kings are excited to have here for a long time.

– On the team front, big game tonight, isn’t it?

Kings and Golden Knights are separated by seven points in the standings, with Vegas currently atop the Pacific Division, but Los Angeles has three games in hand and a home-heavy schedule down the stretch.

If there’s one thing that this season’s Kings team has done better than in seasons past, for me it’s been raising their level against the better teams. The Kings are 16-10-1 against current playoff teams and a 9-4-0 record against Western Conference playoff teams. The Kings are also 11-1-0 against playoff teams on home ice this season.

All just stats that don’t necessarily mean much tonight, but the Kings have risen to the occasion this season against the league’s top teams. Vegas certainly is one of those top teams and the Kings will need their best in this one.

– Lastly, Jim Hiller’s thoughts below on yesterday’s Skate For LA Strong event. He and the entire Kings team were in attendance, participating in the pre-game on-ice festivities.

“Everybody coming together for the right cause,” Hiller said. “Lots of money raised. It was a really well-run event and I think everybody enjoyed it from what I could see.”

Hiller added that it was cool to see guys he sees around the building most days on the ice, like Daryl Evans, Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene. Actor Noah LaLonde caught his eye as well, with Hiller saying he looked up his profile online to see where he had played the game, seeing he had played in the USHL for a few years. He had a great time, for a great cause.

Kings and Golden Knights, huge game coming up tonight. Big test for the Kings. See how the meet it.