WHO: Los Angeles Kings (4-1-0) @ Utah Mammoth (0-4-1)
WHAT: 2025 Preseason Game 6
WHEN: Thursday, October 2 @ 6:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Delta Center – Salt Lake City, UT
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App & LA Kings App – TWITTER: @jaredshafran & @lakings
TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings head to Salt Lake City for the penultimate game of the 2025 preseason, with a game against the Utah Mammoth on tap this evening at Delta Center.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Mammoth face off today for the second time in three days, following a 3-2 Kings victory on Tuesday evening in Boise, ID. Forward Andrei Kuzmenko scored his first goal of the preseason in that game and is one of a few players from Tuesday’s lineup who is expected to feature again tonight against Utah.
KINGS VITALS: The big boys are back. The Kings are expected to ice their NHL lineup for tonight’s game, the first of two games this week they are approaching as a dry run for Opening Night.
Below are the lines the Kings used during yesterday’s practice at Toyota Sports Performance Center –
Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Malott – Turcotte – Armia
Anderson – Doughty
Dumoulin – Ceci
Moverare – Clarke
Kuemper / Forsberg
In net, I am expecting Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg to each get one of the next two games in their final preseason prep. Kuemper said that he doesn’t have a preference on how many exhibition games he got and he’ll wind up with two full games, as will Forsberg, to get both set for regular-season play. The Kings also recalled Erik Portillo this morning and it’s expected that he will serve as the backup to whichever backstop gets the start tonight.
The questions for tonight’s lineup center around defenseman Joel Edmundson, who missed yesterday’s practice for a maintenance day. Assuming Edmundson is good to go, I’d expect to see him alongside Ceci, while Dumoulin moves with Brandt Clarke. More on that perhaps to come later in the day.
MAMMOTH VITALS: Look for Utah to also dress something close to their NHL roster tonight. With the game being on home ice, teams typically like to load up for those games to play veterans in front of a home building while also minimizing travel for veteran players during exhibition games.
Per Catherine Bogert from the Utah team website, here’s how the Mammoth lined up at this morning’s skate –
Utah Mammoth morning skate attendance:
F: Peterka, McBain, But, Tanev, Smith, Douglas, Schmaltz, Guenther, Crouse, Keller, Hebig, Yamamoto, Agozzino, Stenlund, Carcone
D: Marino, Schmidt, DeSimone, Simashev, Määttä, Sergachev
G: Vaněček, Vejmelka#TusksUp
— Catherine Bogart (@CatherineBogart) October 2, 2025
Storyline Of The Day – Dress Rehearsal
Throughout the preseason, the Kings have dressed a wide, wide, WIDE variety of lineups.
Players have been strategically slotted into certain games, certain lineups, both to hit NHL-mandated veteran quotas and to give players an opportunity to play in specific roles and situations. The thing is, though, that while numbers of reps have been good, not all reps are built the same.
Take Alex Turcotte for example. Turcotte was the first-line center for the Kings in Boise on Tuesday but that’s not the role he’s expected to play with the Kings this season. For Brandt Clarke, I think he’s played five games with five different defensive partners. Phillip Danault’s line has played twice already and in both games, they were the undisputed first line.
All of those things have benefits but tonight, we’ll see the pieces of the puzzle constructed as they were imagined. Because, while reps are important, situational reps matter too. Danault’s line might very well lead the Kings in minutes on some nights, but being one of three lines in contention there, as opposed to one of one, is important. Same goes for Clarke, who will have an expanded role this season but played close to 30 minutes in Idaho, something that won’t happen in the regular season. For Turcotte, it’s important he not only gets reps with his linemates but that he gets them playing the role he’ll play in Game 1.
All part of the plan and something Hiller wants these games to do for his team.
It’s a long preseason with certain rules around who has to play can lead to players getting the reps they need, but not necessarily in the roles we’re expecting for Game 1.
Tonight and Saturday, that is no longer the case. The Kings are expected to play a full lineup in both games, which will give players the feeling of playing the roles they’ll be expected to play in regular-season games. With this team, perhaps that’s less important, considering the consistency from last season. But I do think it’s important, as does Hiller. So, we’ll get our chance to look at that tonight and see how things go.
Forwards Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield weighed in on the importance of these games.
Kopitar – I think that was the plan all along, to have the full squad going for the last two games, so it’ll be good. Obviously, it’ll be good to be in the same room with everybody and I guess just really get mentally prepared for for Tuesday [for Opening Night].
Byfield – I think it’s good just to kind of get a feel for it before the real thing starts. A lot of guys have been playing multiple different games and we haven’t played with some lines in the lineup, so just getting those guys back in the locker room, back on the ice together, it’s nice having hopefully two games here all together before we get into it will be good.
See how things shake out on the ice tonight in Utah.
3 To Watch For –
– One part of playing a full lineup is a true look at where special teams are at.
We did see the first power-play unit for the game in Anaheim when all five members played. We got a glimpse of what PP2 might look like as well during a recent practice that had two defensemen – Brandt Clarke and Drew Doughty – both playing on that unit. Here’s how the power play looked during yesterday’s practice –
Some heavy PP work this morning for the @LAKings. Units as follows –
PP1 – Kempe, Byfield, Kopitar, Kuzmenko, Fiala
PP2 – Clarke, Doughty, Danault, Laferriere, Armia
— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 1, 2025
As far as the penalty kill goes, the Kings have a ton of options especially up front. On defense, I think the Edmundson/Ceci pair will be first over the boards in those scenarios in the regular season and will eat up a lot of those heavy minutes. Unclear about tonight, with Edmundson’s status, but that would make sense going forward. The PK presence was a big factor in signing Ceci, so he’ll be given a chance to play there. Up front, you could legitimately look at 8-9 forwards as options there. Alex Turcotte and Alex Laferriere have both been given some reps in the preseason and Jim Hiller has said he’d like to see another PK option or two emerge up front. How they go out tonight will give us a good glimpse into what the Kings are thinking for Game 1 against Colorado next week.
– Kings forward Jeff Malott enters tonight’s game one point off the NHL lead in scoring during the preseason. Malott has collected five points (2-3-5) from four games played to lead the Kings. Around the league, only three players have tallied more points than Malott.
Malott is set to make an Opening Night NHL roster for the first time in his career, having earned his place on the Kings after yesterday’s roster moves. If Opening Night was tonight, Malott would be the LW4 by all accounts. There was a group of players in contention for that position once forward Corey Perry went down with an injury. Kudos to Malott for rising from that crop to seize the spot as his own.
– Lastly, tonight’s game is the first of the season on FanDuel Sports Network. Lead play-by-play broadcast John Kelly will call his first game with the Kings, with Jim Fox set to work as the Lead Analyst. There will be rotation this season, but Kelly/Fox will be the primary duo for the Kings, bringing a ton of experience, credibility and respect from around the NHL to the Kings broadcast.
For more on Kelly, see this Q&A I wrote for LAKings.com, which details his excitement for joining the Kings and working with the full crew this season!
Should look a lot more like NHL hockey tonight, with both teams set to dress close to their full rosters. And that’s exciting. Jared Shafran will be on-site for coverage today before I’ll be back on Saturday and into the regular season!