{"id":317230,"date":"2025-11-29T21:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T21:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/317230\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T21:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T21:11:07","slug":"11-29-preview-kings-wont-overreact-to-one-result-lineup-possibilities-dumoulins-play-shootouts-doughty-foegele-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/317230\/","title":{"rendered":"11\/29 Preview – Kings won’t “overreact” to one result + Lineup Possibilities, Dumoulin’s Play, Shootouts, Doughty\/Foegele Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (11-6-7) vs. Vancouver Canucks (10-13-2)
WHAT: 2025 Regular-Season Game 25\/82
WHEN: Friday, November 29 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena \u2013 Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network, KCAL, Prime Video, Pluto TV \u2013 AUDIO \u2013 ESPN LA App & LA Kings App \u2013 TWITTER: @dooleylak<\/a> & @lakings<\/a><\/p>\n

TODAY\u2019S MATCHUP: The Kings begin a four-game homestand tonight against Vancouver, tied for their longest of the season to date. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Since he joined the Kings in 2022, Kevin Fiala has eight points (4-4-8) from eight games played against the Canucks, which has him tied for the team lead in goals in that span. Forward Alex Turcotte, who scored his first goal of the 2025-26 season yesterday in Anaheim, had three points (1-2-3) from three games played against the Canucks last season.<\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a highly optional morning skate today, coming off of yesterday\u2019s game in Anaheim. <\/p>\n

After goaltender Darcy Kuemper got the nod yesterday in Anaheim, actually not positive who will start tonight. With the afternoon puck drop yesterday, it leaves the door open for Kuemper to go again. If he does, he has 14 career wins against Vancouver, his most against any opponent, along with a .922 career save percentage. Should goaltender Anton Forsberg get the start tonight against the Canucks, the Kings have collected at least a point in five of Forsberg\u2019s seven starts so far this season, though he has yet to collect a win from five career appearances against the Canucks. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the Kings lined up yesterday against the Ducks \u2013<\/p>\n

Today’s @LAKings<\/a> Line Rushes \u2013<\/p>\n

Fiala \u2013 Byfield \u2013 Kempe
Kuzmenko \u2013 Kopitar \u2013 Moore
Armia \u2013 Danault \u2013 Laferriere
Malott \u2013 Turcotte \u2013 Perry<\/p>\n

Anderson \u2013 Edmundson
Dumoulin \u2013 Clarke
Moverare \u2013 Ceci<\/p>\n

Kuemper
Forsberg<\/p>\n

\u2014 Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) November 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

From the above alignment, forwards Alex Laferriere and Andrei Kuzmenko swapped spots for the bulk of yesterday\u2019s game, with Laferriere playing mostly with Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore, while Kuzmenko went largely with Phillip Danault and Joel Armia. Per Hiller this morning, expecting the same personnel, but perhaps a change or two in terms of who is playing with who. Look to warmups for the formal confirmation on tonight\u2019s lineup. <\/p>\n

CANUCKS VITALS: Vancouver enters tonight\u2019s game with just two wins from their last nine played and the Canucks sit at 1-1-0 on their current four-game roadtrip. <\/p>\n

Per Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650, here\u2019s how the Canucks aligned yesterday in San Jose \u2013 <\/p>\n

Projected #Canucks<\/a> lines vs. @SanJoseSharks<\/a> <\/p>\n

Kane. EP40. DeBrusk.
Boeser. K\u00e4mpf. Garland.
O\u2019Connor. Sasson. Sherwood.
Bains. Reichel. Karlsson.<\/p>\n

Hughes. Hronek.
EP25. Myers.
MP29. Willander.<\/p>\n

Tolopilo <\/p>\n

1pm on @Sportsnet650<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/J6DNM1E8Qt<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/m6ZkOagUYD<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) November 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Since he entered the NHL in the 2016-17 season, no player around the league has scored more goals versus the Kings than forward Brock Boeser, who has buried 17 in 23 games played against Los Angeles. Eight of those goals have come on the power play, which is also tied for the league lead throughout his career to date. <\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 Means Something
\u201cI don\u2019t want to overreact to the outcome, because I thought we played a pretty good hockey game.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a lot of nuance in that quote from Jim Hiller this morning, especially when you put it in context around other things he said throughout the six minutes he spoke for. Hiller pointed to the first 10 minutes of the third period yesterday in Anaheim as being very positive. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s us, when we\u2019re playing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

2-2, however, became 4-2\u2026\u2026and then 4-4. Then 5-4, as the Kings lost again in the shootout.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou build in the fact that we gave up a two-goal lead late and it stings a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think pretty well is the phrase to describe that game. The Kings, overall, played pretty well. It was a really fun hockey game to watch and both sides probably deserved a point. Seeing a two-goal lead evaporate in the third period is frustrating, but the Kings have been on the other side of that far, far more than they\u2019ve seen leads overturned on them. <\/p>\n

On four occasions this season, the Kings have trailed by multiple goals in the third period and came back to earn at least one point, five points in total. Yesterday\u2019s game against the Ducks was the first time they\u2019ve blown a multi-goal lead in the third period and lost as a result. So, while Game 4 of last year\u2019s playoffs still likely rings fresh in the minds of many, this has not been a trend this season. The Kings really haven\u2019t played all that much with a lead late, they\u2019ve been more on the comeback hunt, and when they\u2019ve had a lead, they\u2019ve generally preserved it pretty well. <\/p>\n

Alex Turcotte said the Kings might\u2019ve sat back a little bit, played it a little too safe and he might be right. With the game at 4-3, defenseman Mikey Anderson had the chance to get a clear and saw his pass intercepted, and the Kings had two battle situations on that sequence that could\u2019ve either gotten a puck out or at least changed the course of what led to the game-tying goal. Didn\u2019t happen and the Ducks took advantage of their opportunity, as defenseman Brian Dumoulin put it post-game. There are moments, plays, details the Kings want back and could\u2019ve, should\u2019ve done differently. But they shouldn\u2019t overreact based on emotion or on plays that have regularly been executed this year not being executed yesterday. <\/p>\n

Around the NHL this season, leads feel more precious. Games are going into overtime at a higher rate than in past seasons and as a result, the standings are tighter with teams collecting more loser points than they typically would. The Kings have benefitted more from the process of overcoming a multi-goal lead in the third period than giving them up. So, they\u2019re not going to overreact to one game in Anaheim, a game in which both sides delivered a pretty entertaining contest overall.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s onto Vancouver, as the Kings return home with the chance to get back in the win column. An important one, because if you do accept that the Kings, largely, played pretty well yesterday, then you\u2019ve got to go and play pretty well again and this time get a win. Or play better than pretty well and command the two points. It\u2019s a game the Kings should find a way to win and it\u2019s important they do. Otherwise, yesterday does become more magnified. <\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 Yesterday\u2019s loss in Anaheim saw the Kings fall to 1-5 in the season in games decided in the shootout.<\/p>\n

The shootout is a skills competition, yet it\u2019s how the NHL decides the second point in games that are tied after 65 minutes. I didn\u2019t think the Kings were particularly sharp 3-on-3 yesterday and although they controlled the play, they didn\u2019t generate enough of the game-ending chances you\u2019d have liked, compounded by several self-inflicted turnovers that prevented those looks from developing. Ultimately, the shootout was probably what was deserved and the Kings, again, came up short.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how the league decides the winner of the games, so when you don\u2019t get on the right side of it, you\u2019re always frustrated when you lose,\u201d Jim Hiller said of the team\u2019s shootout showings this season.<\/p>\n

Hiller said that in choosing his shooters, he relies on a combination of historical production matched up with who might be feeling good in a particular game. The Kings led with Kevin Fiala yesterday, who scored a really nice goal in the game, but has historically not scored a ton in shootout situations. Adrian Kempe went second, a historically strong shootout performer, with Trevor Moore likely on deck if the game extended, based on the same parameters of past performance.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tricky one. You can\u2019t practice shootouts with the same pressure and importance of in game. You can do breakaways all you want, against your own goaltenders, but it doesn\u2019t match the in-game situations against opposing netminders. That\u2019s the same for all 32 teams though. <\/p>\n

For a team like the Kings, a team that routinely plays so many one-goal games, the shootout will decide points throughout the season. Kings have to find a way to win more of their share than they have this season. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Would like to highlight defenseman Brian Dumoulin here. Against the Ducks yesterday afternoon, Dumoulin logged more than 25 minutes and collected two secondary assists. Beyond that, just felt like he really impacted the game positively most times he was on the ice. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think what we\u2019ve all come to appreciate is that he\u2019s got poise with the puck, he has hockey sense,\u201d Hiller said of Dumoulin. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to race up and down the ice, but he\u2019s going to hold it that extra moment, he\u2019s going to find the open guys, he typically doesn\u2019t rush his plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Been well covered but Dumoulin was -5 in his first three games of the season and including yesterday\u2019s showing, he\u2019s been +3 in the 21 games since. He\u2019s played with several different defensive partners \u2013 Cody Ceci, Drew Doughty, Mikey Anderson and now Brandt Clarke \u2013 and he\u2019s been pretty reliable the entire time. The poise Hiller mentioned is starting to show up more and more as he gets more and more comfortable in the system. Thought he had a nice game yesterday against his former club and he\u2019s really started to settle in overall as a member of the Kings. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Lastly, no real updates on Warren Foegele and Drew Doughty.<\/p>\n

On the @LAKings<\/a> Injury Front \u2013<\/p>\n

Jim Hiller said Warren Foegele is “feeling better”, which is good to hear, but he’s still day-to-day with an upper-body injury and won’t go tonight against Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Drew Doughty skated again this morning on his own but no real update just yet.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) November 29, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Foegele remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury, with Hiller indicating that Foegele is \u201cfeeling better\u201d but won\u2019t play tonight. Good sign, but not anything that really changes what we already knew. Doughty skated again this morning at Toyota Sports Performance Center, on his own, but doesn\u2019t appear to be ready to return imminently.<\/p>\n

So, I suppose that\u2019s a half update. Nothing changed, but that\u2019s the latest on those two players. <\/p>\n

Kings and Canucks to close out Thanksgiving Weekend. A tie at the top of the division on the line for the Kings if they can find a way to get the job done on home ice. <\/p>\n