{"id":334009,"date":"2025-12-06T23:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T23:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/334009\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T23:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T23:57:11","slug":"12-6-preview-need-to-start-earlier-lines-starting-how-they-finished-danault-talks-scoring-slump-speculation-addressed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/334009\/","title":{"rendered":"12\/6 Preview – Need to start earlier + Lines “starting how they finished”, Danault talks scoring slump, Speculation addressed"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (12-8-7) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (12-9-6)
WHAT: 2025 Regular-Season Game 28\/82
WHEN: Saturday, December 6 @ 6:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena \u2013 Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network, KCAL, SLVR \u2013 AUDIO \u2013 ESPN LA 710, ESPN LA App & LA Kings App \u2013 TWITTER: @dooleylak<\/a> & @lakings<\/a><\/p>\n

TODAY\u2019S MATCHUP: The Kings conclude a four-game homestand tonight against Chicago, as they look to bounce back from Thursday\u2019s disappointing defeat to the Blackhawks. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Ten different Kings players have collected a point against the Blackhawks in their two previous matchups thus far this season. Forward Trevor Moore scored the goal on Thursday, his sixth over the last five seasons against the Blackhawks, which is one shy of center Phillip Danault\u2019s seven in that same span. Danault has 15 points (7-8-15) from 14 games played versus Chicago as a member of the Kings. <\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: After a full day off yesterday, the Kings got back at it earlier today with an optional yet well attended morning skate at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo. <\/p>\n

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper was one of the only bright spots in Thursday\u2019s 2-1 loss against Chicago, as he made 34 saves on 36 shots to keep the Kings in the game. Kuemper has strong career splits versus the Blackhawks, with a 9-4-2 record, a .918 save percentage and a 2.31 goals-against average. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the Kings are expected to line up tonight against Chicago \u2013 <\/p>\n

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

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

Kuemper
Forsberg<\/p>\n

Jim Hiller said that the Kings will start tonight how they finished on Thursday, not how they started. So, that should point to the above as being the approach tonight\u2026\u2026could have it slightly off, but that should be pretty close based on what I had down from the third period changed made last game. <\/p>\n

BLACKHAWKS VITALS: Chicago moved into a wild-card spot in the Western Conference with Thursday\u2019s win over Los Angeles, giving them wins in two of their last three games entering tonight\u2019s rematch. <\/p>\n

Per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times, here\u2019s how the Blackhawks lined up during practice yesterday at Crypto.com Arena \u2013 <\/p>\n

Blackhawks lines in practice today with no Teravainen:<\/p>\n

Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
Moore-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Donato-Dickinson-Mikheyev
Slaggert-Dach-Lafferty<\/p>\n

Vlasic-Crevier
Kaiser-Levshunov
Grzelcyk-Murphy
Rinzel<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 5, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Chicago forward Teuvo Teravainen took an Adrian Kempe shot to the face in Thursday\u2019s win. He left the game after that, did not return and did not practice yesterday. He is considered questionable for tonight\u2019s game. Forward Frank Nazar had assists on both Blackhawks goals on Thursday and ranks second on the team this season with 15 assists. <\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 Stop Waiting, Start Starting
A quote from Warren Foegele after last game stood out to me.<\/p>\n

I asked about the performance in the final 20 minutes, versus what we saw in the first 40 and how the team can get that type of showing for 60 minutes. Foegele offered the perspective of someone who watched the last three games from the press box with an injury and I thought what he said was spot on. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I noticed from watching games is it feels like when we\u2019re down goals, we\u2019re really more on our toes,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt like last year, that was a lot of our success, was being on our toes. I don\u2019t know if we\u2019re trying to sit back or anything like that but it feels like when we\u2019re trailing we keep things much simpler and we\u2019re trying to score a goal. So, maybe if we have that mindset to start the game, it might be a lot easier for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in his interview, he spoke about 40 minutes of hockey that wasn\u2019t good enough, followed by a push in the final 20. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to win games like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed it is.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not the only one thinking it, either.<\/p>\n

Forward Phillip Danault said the same thing, believing that the Kings are almost waiting to go down a goal before they play with that aggressive mindset. The fact that they are recognizing it and talking about it means it\u2019s not intentional. But it\u2019s certainly happening and that\u2019s an area that has to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t wait to be behind to be aggressive and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing right now,\u201d Danault said. \u201cWe wait too much, we play the d-zone game, wait for them to make mistakes but then we don\u2019t score goals. In the third, we were more aggressive and that\u2019s more fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, the Kings have scored 15 goals in the first period this season. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s 31st in the NHL. They are also tied for the third-best mark in terms of goals allowed, so it\u2019s not like they\u2019re getting shelled by any means, but 15 goals in 27 first periods offensively tells a lot of the story. Right around every other game has a zero by the LAK column on the scorebug. The final 20 on Thursday was the team\u2019s best 20 but you can\u2019t wait until you\u2019re down 2-0 to start playing on your toes. Plus, this isn\u2019t a one-game problem. See 15 goals in 27 first periods. We\u2019ve continually seen it, almost all season. <\/p>\n

I get that the game script always favors a trailing team that is pushing. But once the Kings start playing their game, forechecking, playing with aggression, forcing the other team to make mistakes, you can see it\u2019s in there. They created plenty of chances in the third period. But to see that for 20 minutes last night is not good enough. To see it as infrequently as we have within games is not good enough. Answers are needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to play a little quicker,\u201d Jim Hiller added. \u201cI think the times we had it in the second period too \u2013 we talked about a chunk of the second period \u2013 and the third, we played a little quicker and that\u2019s when we were dangerous. We went over it, talked about that, showed some video on that, saw where it worked for us and where it didn\u2019t. I hope we get that right from the start tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the players who addressed it, Danault had perhaps his best game of the season on Thursday \u2013 more on him below \u2013 and Foegele created the only goal the Kings scored through pure hustle. <\/p>\n

He was the one who gave 110 percent on that play to beat out an icing, which led to the only goal the Kings scored in the game. The Kings need more plays like that right now. More of those all-out effort types of plays. More races and battles won. More plays that are 50\/50, or close to it, that the Kings win. And they need it from the opening puck drop, continuing on through the game. Foegele\u2019s effort there was a play of desperation, but it\u2019s a problem that we can zone in on one icing beat out and really hype up that play. Should be one of many. <\/p>\n

This is a team that has to look quicker, urgent and desperate for 60 minutes tonight. They\u2019ve historically responded when facing a game like that. They\u2019ll get a chance, against the same opponent, to do exactly that tonight. <\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 Over the last couple of morning skates, I\u2019ve seen Phillip Danault on the ice earlier than just about everyone and on later than just about everyone. Watched him work on certain offensive situations, getting shots in from specific areas, with certain passes coming his way. Today, he was doing some 1-on-1 work with Newell Brown that was clearly focused on situational plays in games, centered around shooting and scoring. <\/p>\n

Asked him about what he\u2019s trying to work on or maybe trying to feel good with. His answer offered what I felt was a lot of candor about his current slump.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I\u2019ve tried every tool I had from my 11 years in the NHL, that\u2019s worked in the past and haven\u2019t worked this year. I\u2019ve tried everything, whether it\u2019s mental, on the ice first, preparation, work on 200 shots at practice, it doesn\u2019t matter what I do right now, it seems like I have to go through this. That\u2019s the way it is right now. The best thing I can do is keep working, keep my head up and doing the right thing, whether it\u2019s practice or games, and do the best I can for my team, like I\u2019ve been doing my 11 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Look, Danault has 0 goals in 27 games. He\u2019s owned that and the Kings need that two-way game from Danault, not just the defensive side.<\/p>\n

Clearly he\u2019s trying to change things, trying to work on things, trying to get going. I thought last game was one of his best of the season, especially in terms of getting offensive chances. Didn\u2019t finish, didn\u2019t get the bounces, but he was in positions to get those chances, which is usually the first sign of breaking through. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things, start of the year, it\u2019s really hard,\u201d Danault added. \u201cYou want to score goals. I\u2019m trying to do my job, detail-by-detail, like I do every game in my whole career. Nothing\u2019s changed. I can\u2019t say that I didn\u2019t try last game, that my mind wasn\u2019t there, it was there. For some reason, we don\u2019t score a lot of goals, in general. It\u2019s stuck with me as well. I\u2019ve got to find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just Danault. The Kings have several forwards underperforming offensively. But he\u2019s trying. He\u2019s working on it. If he continues to get the collection of chances like he got on Thursday, the dam will break.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Regarding the power play, Jim Hiller continues to refer to it as probably the biggest negative for the group right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power play is really struggling,\u201d he said. \u201cOne power-play goal over a couple games, if you think back six or seven games, now, adding three or four power-play goals, what that would have done to the results. These are all one-goal games. We don\u2019t need to score 10 more, but we do need to score on the power play\u2026\u2026that\u2019s the biggest part of the game, when you talk about scoring, that\u2019s letting us down.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that personnel is likely to remain what it was on Thursday, which would see Drew Doughty at the top, Andrei Kuzmenko on the left and Anze Kopitar at the netfront, with Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe rotating between the right-hand circle and bumper spot. The Kings had different personnel, I believe, in four straight games coming into Thursday. Have to try something for more than 60 minutes. Hiller seemed to imply that there could be systematic changes, or different things tried, but didn\u2019t go into specifics beyond confirming similar personnel. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Lastly, just closing the book on yesterday\u2019s discussion with Pierre LeBrun\u2019s statement from yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Reached out to Ken Holland regarding today’s speculation of a potential coaching change in L.A. and the Kings GM says \u201cthere’s zero truth” to that.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 5, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

LeBrun had it directly from the source in Ken Holland regarding speculation on social media. Hiller said this morning that he was made aware of the reports but did not meet with Holland about them, saying that he did not feel it was necessary to do so. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s that. <\/p>\n

Kings and Blackhawks, a 6 PM puck drop with eyes on getting ship moving back in the right direction.<\/p>\n