The Week That Was
It wasn’t the strongest week for the Kings, but the club finished strong. Closing out their last lengthy road trip of the season, the Kings went 1-3-0 on the week and snapped a four-game skid by week’s end. Now 27-17-6, the Kings remain third in the Pacific Division, three points clear of the Calgary Flames.
Game Recaps:
Notable News From The Week That Was:
- Kevin Fiala (3-0=3) and Quinton Byfield’s strong Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes each earned themselves the team’s top scoring honors for the week.
- Despite being held scoreless on the week Adrian Kempe remains as the Kings top goalscorer, currently with 24 goals. Kempe currently leads Kevin Fiala by six goals for the team lead.
- Adrian Kempe also remains as the Kings lead point-getter with 44 points (24-20=44) in 50 games this season, leading linemate Anze Kopitar (12-31=43) by a single point.
- The Kings power play went 0-for-6 in the four games. The Kings power play now ranks 29th (15.4%).
- The Kings penalty kill went a respectable 10-for-12 on the kill across the four games. Their penalty kill now sits at 82.3%, good for sixth in the NHL.
The Week That Is
The Kings returned home following Saturday’s win in Raleigh and will have time get settled in their digs as they’ll remain home for the next three and a half weeks. Having played a league-high 31 road games so far this season, the Kings will close out the 2024-25 campaign with 22 of the final 32 games at Crypto.com Arena. Currently holding the NHL’s best home point percentage at .816%, the Kings are 15-3-1 on home ice and will look to improve upon that with three more games this week. Set to play midweek and then in a back-to-back into the weekend, the Kings will host the Montreal Canadiens, Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks before enjoying a week off while the 4 Nations Face-Off ensues next week.
Coming to town first to play the Kings this week will be the Canadiens, who recently brought themselves back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Dating back to mid-January, the Canadiens went on a run going 6-1-1 and by January 21st, the club held the final Wild Card spot. Fast forward roughly two weeks to present day and the Canadiens have since gone 0-4-1 and are five points out of a playoff position. Wednesday's game for the Canadiens will come on the second half of a back-to-back as the club will be in San Jose to play the Sharks the night before. So far this season, that scenario has been an area that Canadiens have found tremendous success, going 5-1-2 on the second half of a back-to-back. The Kings will have be wary of the NHL’s top rookie defenseman on Wednesday as Lane Hutson, the leader among rookies in assists (36) and points (39) will be on the ice. While Hutson has had an outstanding start to his career, the Michigan native has gotten cold as of late and enters the week on a five-game pointless drought. Prior to his current cold streak, Hutson had rattled off a nine-game point streak, accumulating 13 points (1-12=13). Up front for the Canadiens, Cole Caufield again leads the way offensively. Caufield leads the Canadiens in goals with 25, seven of which have come via the man advantage. Alongside Caufield is captain Nick Suzuki who leads his team in points (51) and is tied in assists (36). Yet to be determined who will take the net for the Canadiens, one of their two options who has jumped on the scene as of late is Jakub Dobes. Dobes, a fifth-round draft pick in 2020 is 5-1-1 and started his career with five straight victories. Dobes currently holds an eye-popping .927 save percentage and a 2.10 goals against average. Wednesday’s game will conclude the two team’s season series as the Kings will be going for the clean sweep having defeated the Canadiens 4-1 in Montreal back on October 17th.
Two nights later, the Kings will host the Stars. It’s been tough sledding against the Stars as of late, but a home win earlier this season could be a sign of the turning of the page. Going back to the two team’s last 19 meetings, the Stars have won 15 of them. During that time, the Kings have struggled to score, averaging 2.05 goals for per game. While putting that behind us, goals still may be hard to come by on Friday as the Stars (3rd, 2.47 GAA) and Kings (5th, 2.52 GAA) both rank in the top five in team defense. Furthermore, each team holds a top six penalty kill unit as the Stars rank second (84.1%), while the Kings rank sixth (82.3%). While both teams are above average in limiting their opponent’s opportunities, each team also has an elite goaltender when called upon. Jake Oettinger ranks second in the NHL in wins with 26 and seventh in goals against average (GAA) (2.32) and Darcy Kuemper ranks fourth in both GAA (2.16) and save percentage (.921). Offensively, the Stars have a new weapon that the Kings are very familiar with. The Stars acquired Mikael Granlund along with Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks this past week in exchange this year’s first round draft pick and a conditional fourth round draft pick, that has the ability to become a third-round pick if the Stars reach the Stanley Cup. Focusing on Granlund, the 5-foot-10 Fin has already seen the Kings twice this season with the Sharks and has netted a pair of goals during those games. Granlund recorded an assist in his first game with the Stars in his team debut on Sunday and will be playing in his third game with his new team when he suits up against the Kings on Friday. Following Friday’s game, the two teams will meet in Dallas later this month to close out their season series.
It’ll be a quick turnaround for the Kings as they will face off against the Ducks less than 24 hours after the conclusion of Friday’s game. With a second half of a back-to-back facing the Kings before closing out the unofficial first half of the season, the Kings will look to improve on their solid 5-3-0 record in those situations come Saturday. On the contrast, the Ducks will enter Saturday on three days’ rest. Coming off of three days’ rest this season, the Ducks are 1-2-0. The Ducks have improved their play as of late, winning four of their last games to jump within seven points of the Western Conference’s final Wild Card spot. Producing for the Ducks lately has been their third overall draft pick from the 2021 draft Mason McTavish. Recently making franchise history, McTavish became just the second Ducks player all time to record 50 career goals before turning 22 years old, joining Hall-of-Famer Paul Kariya. Hot as of late, McTavish has potted seven goals in his last six games, giving him 13 tallies on the season. On the other end of the ice, the Ducks have recently turned to Lukas Dostal. Having won three consecutive games, Dostal has made 79 saves on 86 shots during his winning streak, good for a .918 SV%. This will be the team’s third meeting this season, but first game at Crypto.com Arena with one more Kings home game to be played between the two on April 10th.
Upcoming games and events this week:
- 2/5 vs.Montreal Canadiens @ 7:30 PM (FanDuel Sports West)
- 2/7 vs. Dallas Stars @ 7:30 PM (FanDuel Sports West)
- 2/8 vs. Anaheim Ducks @ 7:30 PM (FanDuel Sports West)
All Kings games can be heard on the ESPN LA App.