PREVIEW: Red Wings want to build off opener of five-game road trip, face Kings on Thursday

LOS ANGELES – In California for the next three of their five-game road trip out West, the Detroit Red Wings will play the front end of a back-to-back set when they visit the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night.

“You have to mentally reset after every game,” goalie Cam Talbot said. “We must approach it like it’s a must-win every single night. Whether we’ve won five in a row or lost five in a row, we should approach the game the same way. That’s going to be the message moving forward here, and trying to keep our foot on the gas.”

Puck drop for the first matchup of the season between the Red Wings (7-3-0; 14 points) and Kings (5-3-3; 13 points) is set for 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT, with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).

Detroit began its road swing with a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday night, completing a sweep of the home-and-home series between the former Central Division rivals. Captain Dylan Larkin, who found the back of the net twice against the Blues, spoke about the importance of playing a strong third period after the Red Wings built a 4-1 lead through 40 minutes.

“We didn’t put ourselves in bad situations,” Larkin said. “We stayed out of the box. We didn’t change our game too much. We obviously weren’t taking crazy risks and really flooring it for offense, but we still generated."

Off to an impressive start this season, Larkin paces Detroit in goals (8), points (16), plus-minus rating (plus-9), power-play goals (3), power-play points (5), game-winning goals (3) and overtime goals (1) through 10 games. He’s also the first Red Wings skater to post at least 16 points through the first 10 contests of a campaign since Henrik Zetterberg did so in 2007-08 (18 points in 10 GP).

“He’s our leader for a reason and really driving the bus right now,” Talbot said about Larkin. “Anytime that the game maybe isn’t going our way or we need a spark, he seems to be providing it for us this year. That’s what we expect from him. He’s got that game-breaking ability and we’ve seen it a lot this year. He’s pulling us into the fight every night. That’s what you want from your captain.”

Talbot, who spent the 2023-24 season with the Kings, said he’s looking forward to starting against his former club but also pointed out he’s pretty well-traveled. Including the Red Wings, the 38-year-old netminder has played for eight squads in his 500-plus game NHL career so far.

“At this point, it would be a quarter of the League, right? So, it’s getting less and less,” Talbot said with a laugh. “It’s always nice to come back to a city that you got to play in and enjoy, see some friends and stuff like that. When you’re on as many teams as me, it’s like almost every road trip.”

For Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan, being back in Los Angeles, where he was also behind the bench for parts of five seasons (2019-24), also evokes memories.

“When you come back here, I think one of the things that’s special about all these stops that I’ve had are the people,” McLellan said. “I see the trainers and the media people from other teams, and it means a lot. It’s not necessarily the location, the rink or anything like that. It’s the people. Every time you get a stop like that and get to visit, it means a lot.”

Fresh off a 4-0-1 road trip, the Kings most recently defeated the San Jose Sharks, 4-3, after letting a three-goal lead slip away at SAP Center on Tuesday night. But Los Angeles has stumbled on home ice this season, owning a 0-2-1 record at Crypto.com Arena.

Pacing the Kings with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) is Adrian Kempe, who enters Thursday on a six-game point streak. Behind Kempe, Kevin Fiala (five goals, three assists) and Quinton Byfield (two goals, six assists) are tied for second in scoring with eight points apiece. Los Angeles’ goalie tandem consists of Darcy Kuemper (2.81 goals-against average and .895 save percentage) and Anton Forsberg (3.19 GAA and .894 SV%).

“We played really solid [defensively on Tuesday],” Elmer Soderblom said. “That’s what we need to do to keep winning.”