4/1 Preview – Nick Nickson Night! Home Best vs. Away Best + Laferriere “hopeful”, Turcotte/Jeannot, Frozen Four

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (41-23-9) vs. Winnipeg Jets (51-19-4)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Tuesday, April 1 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings conclude a three-game homestand this evening, as they host the league-leading Winnipeg Jets to conclude the season series.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Los Angeles was victorious in each of the first two meetings with the Jets this season, winning both in Los Angeles and Winnipeg.

Forward Adrian Kempe leads the Kings with four points (2-2-4) from the two games against the Jets, including the overtime game-winning goal in Manitoba in January. Forward Anze Kopitar has three points (1-2-3) in the two games, giving him eight goals from 11 games played against Winnipeg over the last four seasons, one shy of the league lead in that span.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate in advance of tonight’s game, following a day off yesterday.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper was off first this morning in El Segundo, making him tonight’s projected starting goaltender versus Winnipeg. Kuemper, who made 18 saves on 19 shots to earn the victory in Winnipeg in January, brings a lifetime record of 7-2-0 against the Jets with a .918 save percentage and a 2.78 goals-against average.

Here’s how the Kings lined up during today’s morning skate –

Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Malott – Helenius – Lewis

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

Kuemper
Rittich

Alex Laferriere was on the ice today, after missing Sunday’s game due to illness. Drew Doughty was not on the ice, but again, that’s the plan with him for morning skates. More on Laferriere + the latest on Alex Turcotte and Tanner Jeannot, who did not skate this morning, below.

JETS VITALS: Winnipeg, which begins a three-game roadtrip tonight, enters the matchup with the Kings on a three-game winning streak.

Per the Winnipeg team account, here’s how the Jets lined up last time out, a 3-1 win over Vancouver on Sunday –

Forecasting today's group 👤@PlayNowManitoba PREDICT 🔽https://t.co/PWhlvntLqv pic.twitter.com/V9vGuGd5D0

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 30, 2025

Former Kings forward Gabriel Vilardi is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury, with fellow former Kings forward Alex Iafallo currently filling his spot on the top forward line.

On the former Kings front, defenseman Colin Miller skated on the third pair on Sunday, while forward Rasmus Kupari is out with an injury and forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan, up on recall from AHL-Manitoba, was a healthy scratche during the victory against the Canucks.

Storyline Of The Day – Nick Nickson Night!
It’s Nick Nickson Night!

Enjoy this from Scott Burnside from yesterday.

Will have my own story up tomorrow after the game.

Nick, after all, deserves a couple of stories. Ceremony is pre-game tonight. He’ll address the media at 5:45 in a “Jim Hiller without a morning skate, style.” Nick and I spoke prior to the game on Sunday for a bit and while he’s not a nostalgic guy, having done this for as long as he has, it’s certainly meant a lot for him. For a guy who spends his days, largely at least, behind of the spotlight, helping all of you enjoy the Kings, for a few minutes pre-game tonight, he’ll be the guy in the spotlight, getting the attention he deserves.

Should be a pretty cool night for a pretty cool guy.

“Let me take you back to dark hair, dark mustache, Nick Nickson, I met him when I was here in ’92, so he survived my career, that’s a notch on his belt, he got my six months,” Hiller said this morning with a laugh. “I remembered him obviously from back then and what a good guy he was back then, so it’s terrific to see, for me to get the chance to come back and celebrate this with him, because obviously he’s a legend, one of the best and just a terrific person. I think that’s what everybody would take away. Great broadcaster, we all know that, I think our fans know that, but the type of person he is, positive, always happy, that’s a good guy to be around.”

I mean, cmon. That mustache.

Should be a nice pre-game ceremony here tonight. If you’re coming to tonight’s game, definitely do your best to get there on the early side! The ceremony should begin right around 7:30 tonight, with puck drop delayed ever-so-slightly to accommodate.

3 To Watch For –
– For tonight, it’ll be another huge test for the Kings on home ice, with the league-leading Winnipeg Jets in town.

The Kings recently set a franchise record for most victories in a season at home. And they’ve still got six home games remaining. Winnipeg, on the other hand, is currently tied for the NHL lead with 23 road victories, two shy of tying the record for the most in franchise history. Best on best. Game on.

“They’re one of the best teams in the NHL and going against them, we’re pretty pumped and if we come, it’s going to be a really good game,” defenseman Jordan Spence said. We’re really excited. With playoffs just around the corner, these games are really important. We’re really excited and looking forward to tonight.”

There are implications for both teams, though barring a pretty drastic collapse by the Jets, the stakes are much higher for the Kings. Entering tonight’s action, the Kings sit two points clear of Edmonton for the two seed in the Pacific Division. Both teams are in action tonight, with the Oilers visiting Vegas. We’ve seen this show before. The Kings could finish the evening four points clear of their rivals from Alberta. They could also finish the evening leading only via tiebreaker. And everywhere in between.

Not the first time I’ve written a variation of that paragraph. Might not be the last.

That’s what makes games like tonight so exciting and so interesting. The Kings have regularly risen to the challenge in games like this, especially at home. They came up short against Toronto on Saturday, but that was their first loss at home this season against a current playoff team. Challenges like this have been exciting for the Kings all season and they’ll do well to meet another here tonight.

“We have a lot of competitive guys in the room and when you see a team like them come into town, it’s a pride thing,” forward Trevor Moore said. “We want to make sure that we’re having our best in those games.”

As far as the keys to success, from the Kings perspective, it’s mostly about what the Kings are doing right now. If they play their game, they’ll be competitive.

For Jim Hiller, though, it’s pretty simple. Top team in the NHL by points and the Kings have beaten them twice so far. Both teams should be ready to go.

“Best team in the league coming into your building, I don’t think too much more needs to be said outside of that,” Hiller added. “We’ve played them well both times, in their building we played well too, so I’m sure they want to extract a little revenge on us.”

– So here’s the rub.

Alex Laferriere skated today after missing Sunday’s game due to illness. Jim Hiller said this morning he “hopes he’s good to go” tonight, which would make it simply a one-game absence, but still said they have to check in this afternoon to be sure. Not giving anything away there, so we’ll see and remain hopeful that 14 is good.

On the injured duo of Alex Turcotte and Tanner Jeannot, neither player was on the ice with the team as they hit the ice for today’s morning skate.

Turcotte has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury, while Jeannot has missed the last three. A tough time for both players, right as the fourth line really started to take off.

Turcotte has been the straw that stirs the drink on the fourth line since the trade deadline, pushing the pace and bringing energy alongside the physicality of his linemates. Jeannot was the tone-setter, physically, on that line and his presence was extremely noticeable. The two, along with Samuel Helenius, clicked really well together, so hopefully you see one or both available again soon.

There was no further status update on those players, but from Hiller “when the time comes for them, they’ll get out there and do some work, get skating and get up to speed without us.”

It’s day-to-day for both players in the sense that the day they’ll be ready to skate isn’t known, but neither injury is considered to be at the point of a week-to-week absense. Such is the case sometimes with injuries. When they’re ready, they’ll get out there. Until then, the Kings continue to monitor their progress each day off the ice.

And that is your LA Kings injury update for today.

– Lastly, a quick look into the future.

4 LA Kings prospects have advanced to the NCAA’s Frozen Four, the most of any team in the NHL.

Goaltender Hampton Slukynsky led his Western Michigan team through its first two games by allowing a total of two goals, one in each victory, as the freshman goaltender cements himself as one of the best in the entire NCAA. As Denver University goes for back-to-back titles, forward Jaret Wright and James Reeder continue to be lineup regulars, with Reeder scoring the game-winning goal in the victory over Boston College that sent Denver into the Frozen Four. Forward Jack Hughes, meanwhile, had three points in Boston University’s tournament-opening victory over Ohio State, before he and the Terriers defeated Cornell 3-2 in overtime to advance to the final weekend.

The NCAA Hockey Tournament is off this week, to not go up against the men’s basketball Final Four and will resume action on Thursday, April 10 in St. Louis. Slukynsky and Western Michigan will take on Wright and Reeder’s Denver squad, while Hughes will go up against Penn State University in the other semifinal. The winners will play on Saturday, April 12 for the national championship, with at least one Kings prospect set to skate in that game!

Big night, Insiders! A big night for the LA Kings, with a huge matchup in determining their playoff seeding. A big night for the organization, as Nick Nickson is honored for his service over the years, as he begins his final month of regular-season broadcasting. Should be fun!