11/23 Preview – Black Friday Faceoff! Firin’ Fiala, Afternoon Arrangements, Bjornfot Update

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (11-3-3) @ Anaheim Ducks (9-10-0)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Friday, November 24 @ 12:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Honda Center – Anaheim, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: It’s the first Freeway Faceoff of the season, as the Kings travel to Orange County to take on the Ducks in a Friday afternoon matinee.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Adrian Kempe led the Kings with four goals and seven points against the Ducks in last season’s series. Over the last six seasons, Kempe has scored 15 goals against Anaheim, more than any other player in the NHL in that span. Kempe’s 15 career goals versus the Ducks are also his most against an opponent, nearly double his total against any other opponent (St. Louis, Vegas – 8).

KINGS VITALS: The Kings did not hold a morning skate today, on account of the afternoon puck drop, following a full-team practice yesterday morning.

Todd McLellan indicated that the goaltenders will likely split the games this weekend. Should Cam Talbot get the nod here in the first half of the back-to-back, he brings with him a record of 16-7-2, with a .936 save percentage and a 1.94 goals-against average versus the Ducks. Should the Kings turn back to Pheonix Copley, who picked up the win on Monday, he is 1-0-0 against Anaheim, with a .952 save percentage and a 1.21 goals-against average.

Based on yesterday’s practice, not expecting any personnel changes for the Kings from Monday in Arizona, though there could be one shuffle in the bottom six. Monday’s lineup is embedded for reference –

Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Moore
Laferriere – Dubois – Kaliyev
Grundstrom – Lewis – Anderson-Dolan

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence

Copley
Talbot

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) November 21, 2023

Forward Blake Lizotte, who missed Monday’s game against the Coyotes, is skating on his own but has not yet practiced with the full group. Lizotte has not been ruled out for today, officially, so we’ll see what the lines look like during warmups. On the backend, defenseman Jacob Moverare is with the main group and is available to play, should the Kings opt for any sort of change.

DUCKS VITALS: The Ducks enter tonight’s game on a four-game losing skid, extended with a 4-3 defeat against Montreal on Wednesday.

Have not seen a report yet on which goaltender will get the start for the Ducks. Should John Gibson get the nod, he brings with him a regular-season record of 14-11-0 against the Kings, with a .915 save percentage and a 2.52 goals-against average. Should Lukas Dostal get the nod, he would be making his second career start against the Kings, after he turned aside 37 of 41 shots in a 4-1 LA victory in December 2022.

Per Anaheim’s team account, here’s how the Ducks lined up on Wednesday against the Canadiens –

Tristan Luneau is back in! Here's who we fly with tonight. #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/HBwtfW9Tdv

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) November 23, 2023

Anaheim is without three key young players – Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale and Isac Lundestrom – who are currently on injured reserve. Over the last ten years, just five defensemen around the NHL have more points against the Kings than Anaheim blueliner Cam Fowler. The veteran defenseman had three assists from three games versus LA a season ago.

Notes –
Firin’ Fiala
Before the Kings took on the Philadelphia Flyers 12 days ago, they executed some minor shuffling amongst the wingers, as Kevin Fiala moved alongside Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore. In that game, played without a practice day, Fiala and his line were on the ice for three goals against, compared to none for.

Then came two practice days, followed by a heck of a start against Florida. Moore to Danault to Fiala, who deked to the backhand for an early goal in a 2-1 win over the defending Eastern Conference champions. Danault said it took their line one game to figure each other out, but since that one game, things have been flowing pretty freely for the newly assembled trio, with Todd McLellan highlighting their play after Monday’s win over Arizona.

Danault and Moore have been relatively consistent together over the last three seasons, so let’s focus on Fiala, who by his own admission felt that he needed to be more consistent and less risky in his play. Over the last three games, he’s been exactly that. Since moving to a new line, Fiala’s seen his on-ice control of shot attempts at 5-on-5 rise from just over 51 percent to just over 61 percent. He’s seen an even larger rise in terms of scoring chances.

He’s also shown a willingness to shoot the puck himself, an area that Todd McLellan felt he wasn’t doing enough of earlier in the season. Fiala has seven shot attempts at 5-on-5 in each of his last two games and 21 in total since he’s moved to the line with Danault and Moore. Coming into that switch, his season high was five and his best four-game stretch was 13 attempts. He’s also had six scoring chances in each of the last two games, after amassing no more than three in any game prior. We’re seeing a confident Kevin Fiala right now and the results are evident in his play.

“I think Kevin looks energized right now, he looks excited,” Todd McLellan said of his winger. “Whether that was the change in line or whether he scored a couple times and he’s feeling good, whatever it is, we want to keep him that way, because he’s obviously played better over the last little bit. You can give credit to the line change, you can give credit to Kevin, the team as a whole, I can’t put my finger on it, but whatever it is, we need to keep it that way.”

Fiala is one of the NHL’s most dynamic forwards when he’s at his best. Over the last three games, we’ve seen him closer to that level.

As McLellan noted, who is to say exactly what the change boils down to. If you ask Danault, he’s seeing a player start to really gel on his wing, perhaps just by playing a bit more with the style of the line. He feels Fiala’s game has been a little bit more North/South than it was earlier in the year and he and Moore are looking to get Fiala that little bit of space on the ice when they can, because he has the ability to make plays most others can’t.

“Kevin’s playing a little more North/South, he’s playing more to our line,” Danault said. “We’re here to support him, to create space, because he’s very dynamic, he brings a big, big upside to our line. He’s on it, he’s passionate, he’s fitting really well with us.”

Sometimes it just takes a little juggle to the lines. Sometimes it’s a goal like the one he scored against Florida to get the confidence going. Sometimes it’s focusing on extra work in practice, as Fiala did, staying out later than his teammates for extra ice last week. Perhaps it’s getting the mind off the game, as Fiala does with his community impact.

Whatever the reasoning, both Fiala and the Kings are hoping it continues, with his gamebreaking skills an incredibly important part of what the Kings are tying to accomplish this season.

Matinee Madness
Consecutive afternoon games here this weekend for the Kings.

It’s the first time since October 2021 that the Kings have played two afternoon games, in a back-to-back situation, within the state of California. Two seasons ago, the Kings played a pair of home games against Montreal and Buffalo, with one opponent changing this time around, via the trip to Orange County.

From a team standpoint, it does present a couple of differences compared to a usual back-to-back. First things first, Anaheim is a drive, not a flight, so the Kings will bus down to Honda Center this morning as a team, get off the bus and prepare to play. They’ll then bus back and sleep in their own beds, similarly to how they would for a home game. That eliminates a hotel night, which would typically come with a road game, and also a flight. The afternoon games also means there aren’t those late nights after a game, with ample time to wind down and get to sleep between today’s game in Anaheim and tomorrow’s game versus Montreal.

“A little bit different from a coaching perspective, we’re going to get on a bus [this] morning, get down to Anaheim and I haven’t done that since I don’t even know when,” Todd McLellan detailed. “It’s going to be a little different when you get off the bus, things are going to happen a little quicker, so we did some prep work [on Thursday], shared a lot of information with each other as a staff, shared a little bit of information with the players so we can make things shorter and quicker.”

From a player’s perspective, some see the games as a difference. Defenseman Andreas Englund noted the routine you get into for an evening game, with a morning skate and a pre-game nap, and a lot of time to think about the game ahead. Sometimes, though, it’s easier just to get up and get ready to go, with that thinking left at home.

“I think it’s good, it different,” he said. “On an afternoon game, you just get up and go, it’s kind of nice sometimes, when you don’t have too much time to think about it.”

For others, there’s really not any difference, at least in their mentality.

Forward Carl Grundstrom feels like it’s just another day to show up and play a hockey game. The Kings have played their share of afternoon games over the years, though more regularly on the East Coast than at home. Still, it’s something everyone is familiar with.

“I’m just going to prepare myself to play,” he said. “It’s normal, an afternoon game, it’s not anything different.”

McLellan added that he personally enjoys afternoon games, as I think more who work as a coach, support staff member or business staff member do. The players seem good with it either way. So, time to show up and play.

Lastly, Insiders, providing the latest update on Ontario Reign defenseman Tobias Bjornfot, who took a hit from behind on Tuesday in Coachella Valley, while on a conditioning loan from the Kings.

Marco Sturm gave an update on Tobias Bjornfot's status after today's Reign practice ahead of the team's games this weekend in San Jose:

"He's doing really good. He's not ready for this weekend's games but we expect him to be back soon. It was thankfully nothing major."

— Jared Shafran (@ShafReign) November 23, 2023

The Reign play tonight and tomorrow evening in San Jose and Bjornfot naturally will not play. Doesn’t sound like it will be all that much longer than that, however, which is a good sign for a player who left the game on a stretcher after the hit. Ontario plays again on Tuesday against Tucson at home, so we’ll see what Bjornfot’s possible status for that game looks like. There’s also the logistical status of his conditioning loan, but with ample salary-cap space due to LTIR room, and the Kings being under the roster limit, it’s not much of a concern on that front.

Here’s hoping for a quick recovery.

Kings and Ducks, 12:30 PM puck drop from the Ponda! Looking forward to the energy in this game as always.