WHO: Los Angeles Kings (14-10-9) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (18-12-3)
WHAT: 2025-26 Regular-Season Game 34/82
WHEN: Thursday, December 18 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Benchmark International Arena – Tampa Bay, FL
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App & LA Kings App – TWITTER: @jaredshafran & @lakings
TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings complete this week’s road trip with their second game in as many days in the state of Florida later today when they battle the Lightning at the newly renamed Benchmark International Arena in Tampa Bay.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Thursday’s battle will be the first of the 2025-26 season between the Kings and Lightning, with the second and final contest of the season scheduled for exactly two weeks from today on New Year’s Day in LA. Last season, the teams split their season series, with the Kings securing a 2-1 win at Crypto.com Arena in early January on a third period goal by Adrian Kempe before falling 3-0 in Tampa later in the month. Mikey Anderson also scored in last year’s win, while Alex Turcotte recorded an assist, his only career point against the Lightning in three appearances.
KINGS VITALS: With tonight’s game serving as the second half of this season’s back-to-back in Florida, the Kings did not skate this morning.
Below, a look at how the team’s formation aligned in warmups before a 3-2 loss to the Panthers –
Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –
Laferriere – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Foegele
Kuzmenko – Turcotte – Moore
Armia – Helenius – Perry
Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci
Forsberg
Copley
— Jared Shafran (@jaredshafran) December 17, 2025
The Kings have been without center Phillip Danault, who has been out with a flu illness since Saturday. Danault has not skated with the team since he’s been out, and Jim Hiller updated his status today, saying that he has been doing better, but that he didn’t expect him to play tonight in Tampa Bay.
Quinton Byfield did return Wednesday after missing one game on this trip due to illness. He skated on a line with Kevin Fiala and Warren Foegele, pushing Joel Armia down to the fourth line alongside Samuel Helenius and Corey Perry. With Danault not expected to be back until at least Monday’s home game vs. Columbus, the Kings could elect to keep their forward lines the same, as Hiller mentioned he was happy with the way the group played last night. Defensively, if anyone on the back end needs a night off, Jacob Moverare is available to check in.
It may be that the only change to yesterday’s lineup we’ll see is in net, with Pheonix Copley the fresher of the two goaltenders after serving as the backup to Anton Forsberg. If Copley gets the nod, it would be his first regular season NHL appearance since Oct. 16, 2024, when he played 27 minutes in relief against Toronto, and his first start in over two years. More on his story can be found below. Copley has never played against Tampa Bay, while Forsberg has a record of 4-4-0 in nine appearances with a 3.18 goals-against average and a .890 save percentage.
LIGHTNING VITALS: Tampa Bay is right in the thick of things in an extremely tight Eastern Conference. They currently sit in third place with 39 points, two out of first and the division-leading Detroit Red Wings. The Lightning have the top points percentage of any team in the Atlantic, .591, but are also just one point above the cut line for the final wild card spot with a 18-12-3 mark from 33 contests.
Per Benjamin Pierce with the Lightning, Tampa Bay had an optional morning skate today. Here’s how the Lightning lined up for their most recent game, a 5-2 loss to the Panthers on Monday –
#GoBolts lines in warmups vs FLA:
Hagel-Cirelli-Kucherov
Guentzel-Point-Bjorkstrand
Girgensons-Gourde-Holmberg
Douglas-Paul-Sabourin
Moser-Raddysh
D’Astous-Crozier
Carlile-Santini
Johansson
Halverson pic.twitter.com/ESE69QFhHR
— Benjamin Pierce (@BenjaminJReport) December 15, 2025
Tampa has been without multiple important pieces of their lineup, with four defenders on injured reserve, including Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh, while goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has been out as well, not dressing for Monday’s loss.
Per Eduardo Encina of the Tampa Bay Times, who attended the team’s skate this morning, he reports it’s expected that Vasilevskiy and McDonagh will return to the lineup for the Lightning tonight, but Brandon Hagel’s status for tonight’s game remains uncertain after he left the team’s most recent game vs. Florida with an injury.
It has been another special season for Nikita Kucherov, who once again leads the team with 42 points, scoring 13 goals and 29 assists in 30 games. Over the last calendar month, no player has more points than Kucherov, who has totaled 26 on five goals and 21 assists. His assist total is tied for eighth-most in the league, which includes eight from his last four games. Brandon Hagel has a club-high 18 goals and just eclipsed the 30-point mark for the year, while Jake Guentzel has posted 33 points on 15 goals and 18 helpers. Hagel led the Lightning in scoring against the Kings last season, posting two goals and an assist in the two games.
Vasilevskiy started both games against the Kings last season, going 1-1-0 with a .959 save percentage and one shutout. Vasilevskiy holds a career record of 10-4-1 with a .916 save percentage against LA, while netminder Jonas Johansson has yet to face the Kings as a member of the Lightning but holds a 2-0-0 career record vs. LA with a .925 save percentage and 1.50 career goals-against average.
Storyline Of The Day –
The search for more offense continues for the LA Kings, who have not scored more than two goals in any of their last four games, all of which have been losses.
Finishing opportunities have been a challenge for them all season, as they continue to play the style they’d like, with one of the best defenses in the league.
In their most recent defeat last night, the chances were certainly there, as detailed by Jim Hiller postgame.
“We hit three posts, we missed three breakaways, we were around their net and there were some other chances from deflections,” Hiller said. “We got a lucky bounce on Kevin’s, but you would expect that one of those other six you might find a way to get to the back of the net.”
The first post shot was on a nice move by Corey Perry. The next two came on looks by defenseman Joel Edmundson. He’s been one blueliner that looks like he’s trying all he can to generate offense, but Edmundson isn’t the type of player who can abandon his identity, which is to be a shutdown defender.
Hiller also emphasized the play of his team in the final frame last night. They allowed a goal 10 seconds in on a bounce that didn’t go their way, but they responded well and did a lot right in their attempt to get back in the game.
They drew a penalty late and had good possession in the Florida zone to try and create, but they couldn’t solve goaltender Daniil Tarasov for a third time, who played very well and made key stops throughout the night.
“What I really liked tonight was our third period was probably our best period,” said Hiller. “We didn’t go away. We came with some energy, with some compete and if we can keep doing that, you just have to believe, I know we sound like a broken record. You just have to believe we’re going to start scoring some goals.”
Hiller wouldn’t commit to any lineup changes this morning, so we’ll see if anything else gets shuffled before this evening’s tilt. It’s hard to think that’s the problem. At this point, we’ve seen almost every different combination of these players one would like to consider, save for moving Malott or Helenius up higher in the pecking order.
“It’s worse if you’re not getting chances. It’s a little bit frustrating if you’re not finishing on your chances, but you know you’re right there, so you can keep driving forward.”
The Kings will continue that pursuit, attempting to finish on the looks they generate tonight in Tampa Bay.
3 To Watch For –
– Just like he did with the lineup, Jim Hiller wouldn’t confirm which goaltender will start in today’s game, saying this morning that it was being discussed between he and his coaching staff.
There are two options: play Anton Forsberg on a back-to-back, which would be three games in four days for him after entering Monday’s contest late in the first period, or give Pheonix Copley his first NHL start in two years, since he suffered an ACL injury in a December 2023 practice.
I think there’s an argument to be made for either option, as Forsberg has certainly proved he can give the Kings a chance to win, and the team has three days without a game after tonight’s contest and travel back to Los Angeles. If there was another battle lurking on Saturday or Sunday, then I’d understand trying to save Forsberg.
On the other hand, however, tonight would be a “revenge game” of sorts for Copley, the 33-year-old who was claimed off waivers by Tampa in early October and began the year on the Lightning’s active roster. Copley did not see any regular season game action, but he did play in the preseason, appearing in one game with 11 saves on 12 shots during a chaotic contest against Florida on Oct. 4.
Copley has 77 career games in the NHL to his name and is best remembered for stepping in to help save the Kings season during 2022-23, when he racked up 24 wins in 37 games with a .903 save percentage and 2.64 goals-against average.
After remaining with Tampa Bay for about two weeks, his rights were traded back to the Kings on Oct. 15 in exchange for future considerations.
Copley was then loaned to Ontario, where he found a good rhythm with the Reign after a slow start, winning five of his last six games, with no more than three goals allowed in any of those outings. Overall, he’s played 13 contests with Ontario, going 7-6-0 with a 3.13 goals-against average and a .885 save percentage.
The players who remain from the teams Copley was a part of in 2022-23 and 2023-24 know that he’s someone who can play at this level. The question for tonight is, would he be able to make the transition quickly enough to compete in an important game that the Kings need to win? They really don’t want to travel home without any points from the three cities they visited on this week’s trip.
For what it’s worth, Copley’s coach in Ontario, Andrew Lord, had this to say after a recent road win over Colorado last weekend.
“He’s an exceptional goalie. Obviously, I’m not a goalie coach, but his leadership, his character, his ability on the ice. We had a difficult start to the year. You get claimed, you go, you don’t really play much, you’re sort of bouncing around. It takes a little bit of time to get back into your rhythm, and that’s exactly what’s happened here. Now, he’s being the goalie that he is.”
With his recent performance in mind, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s given another NHL opportunity. We’ll know more on the outcome of this decision for Hiller closer to gametime tonight.
– Kevin Fiala scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season last night, but it didn’t come from a traditional shot on goal. Instead, he was in the right place at the right time as a clearing attempt ricocheted off of his leg and into the Florida net at almost a perfect angle, which wouldn’t be able to be replicated intentionally.
Fiala did have other opportunities to score as well, registering three shots on goal in 18:20 of ice time. The winger has accounted for plenty of good offensive plays this season, but by the eye test over the past few games, it doesn’t seem like he has the confidence he was playing either earlier in the year, like when he took over in Pittsburgh and scored maybe the nicest individual effort goal we’ve seen from the Kings.
I spoke with Fiala after morning skate on Monday leading into the game in Dallas and he was upbeat, feeling that the power play was trending upward in the right direction.
And even though he was credited with a goal last night, the Kings could use more from him, specifically in his decision-making when he has the puck on his stick. It sometimes takes Fiala an extra second to decide whether to shoot, pass, or create at a different angle, and it’s resulted in fewer opportunities going on net from him, something the team desperately needs.
Hiller said he doesn’t believe that Fiala is suffering from a lack of confidence, but acknowledged that even for him, it hasn’t looked easy to make plays of late.
“It’s just a hard league,” Hiller said. “These guys know it, they’re veteran players. Nothing’s given to you. You go up and down and you just stay at it, it’s the only solution.”
The coach also pointed to Florida’s Brad Marchand as an example of how you can make good things happen for yourself and your team, as he did by throwing a puck at the net from a bad angle off the opening faceoff of the third period.
“There’s not a better example of a team than Florida,” Hiller said. “I think about the game Marchand played tonight. Pretty good example for anybody. You come up with that type of effort and attitude and then good things usually will follow.”
Maybe the puck luck will serve as a jumping-off point for Fiala, and he can continue his contributions tonight, as they’re certainly needed.
– Joel Armia scored the first power play goal of his Kings career last night.
As a generally offensively challenged team, they’ll take those goals from anywhere they can. But could anyone have predicted that 33 games into the season Armia would be third among all Kings skaters in goal scoring?
Behind Fiala (12) and Kempe (11), Armia has found the back of the net eight times. In addition to four goals at 5-on-5, he has also struck three times shorthanded, which is tied for the most in the NHL of any skater this season.
“He’s put a pretty good season together so far, no question,” Hiller said this morning. “He’s picked up some slack where some other guys have fallen off, so it’s a collective. As a group, we have to score some more goals, but it’s nice to see that Joel’s off to a pretty good start.”
The production from Armia has him almost halfway to his career-high of 17 goals, which he scored in 66 games for Montreal during 2023-24. A number he’s right on pace for after 33 games. He’s earned the time he’s gotten on the power play and also brought a boost to the fourth line last night alongside Helenius and Perry, very effective for his 10:39 time on ice.
Another afternoon start time today for the Kings, with puck drop at 4 p.m. Pacific time. Will have all the updates as it gets going later today!