The Week That Was
Scheduled to play three games this past week, the Kings postponed their home game on Wednesday night due to the Los Angeles fires. With the postponement, the Kings took to the road to start their five-game road trip. Beginning the trip with a set of back-to-back games, the Kings defeated the Winnipeg Jets in overtime to extend their winning streak to five game, followed by a trip to Calgary that resulted in a loss. The Kings record now sits at 24-11-5, good for 53 points and third in Pacific Division as we approach the halfway point of the 2024-25 season.
Game Recaps:
1/8: LAK vs. CGY (Postponed)
Notable News From The Week That Was:
- Jacob Moverare (1-1=2) and Adrian Kempe's (1-1=2) two-point week across the two games earned the duo a split for the team's top scoring honors.
- Adrian Kempe buried a goal in Friday's game against the Jets to add to his team-leading 20 goals on the season. Kempe leads the Kings by six goals over Kevin Fiala. With his goal this past week, Kempe has now scored 20 goals in four consecutive seasons.
- Anze Kopitar remains as the Kings leading point-getter with 40 points (12-28=40) in 40 games.
- Darcy Kuemper remains unbeaten in regulation since he returned from injury. Kuemper started one game for the Kings this past week, stopping 18 of 19 shots, improving to 8-0-2 since returning from injury.
- The Kings power play went 0-for-6 in the two games, falling three places to 29th in the NHL (15.0%).
- The Kings went 4-for-6 on the penalty kill in the two games, falling three spots to 11th in the NHL (81.8%).
The Week That Is
The Kings will continue and close out their five-game road trip with three divisional games this week. Beginning right away, the Kings start of the week in Edmonton on Monday night with their neck and neck rival. Following the Oilers game, the Kings will travel west and take on the Vancouver Canucks before closing out the week and the trip further south in Seattle against the Kraken.
Having defeated the Oilers 4-3 just over two weeks ago on homie ice, the Kings will look to make it back-to-back victories against their rival and even better, tie them in standings at 55 points each. The Oilers will be returning home from a four-game road trip where they went 3-1-0, but it’ll be a quick stop at Rogers Place as they’ll pack up their suitcases right after the game and head out to another three-game road trip. The Oilers will be coming home to their happy place as they’ve won their previous five games at home going into Monday’s game and have given up a mere 1.60 goals against during that stretch. While offense is the big threat that the Oilers pose to their opponents, it’s been their defense that has stepped up as of late. Going back to when the Oilers home winning streak began on December 19th, the team has gone an impressive 8-2-1 and has had the NHL’s second best penalty killing unit (90.0%). Skinner, ironically also 8-2-1 in his last 11 starts continues to grow as he’s posted a .912 save percentage and a 2.48 goals against during his better than average run. Always searching for depth scoring, the Oilers have gotten just that as of late and it’s resulted in wins. Dating back to their last 10 wins this season, 10-3-1 during that stretch, Lean Draisaitl and Connor McDavid have combined for just eight goals, while their teammates have added an additional 3.3 goals per game. That said, Leon Draisaitl still leads the NHL in goalscoring with 31 goals in 42 games this season. This will be the second of four games against the Oliers with each team still to host their rival once most this season.
Three nights later, the Kings will be in Vancouver for their first and only time this season. Still scheduled to meet in Los Angeles one more time this season on February 26th, the Canucks hold the head-to-head advantage over the Kings heading into Thursday’s matchup having defeated the Kings 4-2 earlier in the season at Crypto.com Arena. But the Kings have had success in the Canucks building as of late, having won their previous three meetings at Rogers Arena by a combined score of 12-4. Like the Oilers, the Canucks too will just be getting home from a lengthy nine-day, five-game road trip where they have gone 1-1-2 so far with one game still to be played. Hoping to get back on track in a place where he’s had his only success so far this season will be goaltender Thatcher Demko. Demko has only appeared in eight total games this season due to injury, but both of his wins this season have come on home ice. Despite having earned the team at least a point in four of his five starts at Rogers Arena this season (2-1-2), Demko’s stats on home ice are not pretty; posting a 3.56 GAA and .873 SV%. On the other end of the ice, it’s last year’s Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes that again is leading the way for the Canucks. Not only does Hughes lead the Canucks in points, but the captain also ranks third among defensemen in the NHL in scoring with 47 points (9-38=47), trailing Colorado’s Cale Makar by just two points. Averaging a point-per-game against the Kings, Hughes has 16 points (2-14=16) in 16 games in his career versus LA.
The Kings will round out their five-game road trip on Saturday back in the states after their game against the Canucks. Set to face the Kraken for the second time this season and first time of two in Seattle, the Kings will find themselves in another building that has served them well in the past. Heading into Climate Pledge Arena with a 4-0-1 all-time record there, the Kings will be hoping that history does indeed repeat itself. The Kings have held the Kraken to just 10 goals in the five meetings in Seattle since the Kraken joined the NHL for the 2022-23 season. As it has been the Kraken’s achilles heel in the past, they again are struggling to score this season, ranking 22nd in the NHL in offense at 2.89 goals for per game. Just 3-6-1 in their past 10 games, the Kraken have slipped behind the Anaheim Ducks in the standings and are currently nine points out of the Western Conference’s final Wild Card spot. Currently with a three-way tie atop the goalscoring category in Seattle, Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Oliver Bjorkstrand are each with 13 goals on the season and will be relied upon to step up offensively to get the Kraken back into the playoff picture. While the Kraken’s trio up front are not to be taken lightly, another focus for the Kings will be on last year’s Stanley Cup winner Brandon Montour. Now in his first year of a seven-year, $49.98M ($7.14M AAV) deal with the Kraken, Montour leads his fellow blueliners in scoring with 23 points (5-18=23). Following Saturday’s game, the Kings and Kraken won’t meet again until they see each other twice in the final eight days of the regular season in mid-April.
Upcoming games and events this week:
- 1/13 @ Edmonton Oilers @ 6:30 PM (FanDuel Sports West)
- 1/16 @ Vancouver Canucks @ 7:00 PM (FanDuel Sports West)
- 1/18 @ Seattle Kraken @ 7:00 PM (FanDuel Sports West)
All Kings games can be heard on the ESPN LA App.