{"id":337748,"date":"2025-12-08T22:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T22:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/337748\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T22:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T22:11:09","slug":"12-8-preview-no-changes-expected-rolling-over-the-same-game-danaults-line-laferrieres-speed-strength-moms-trip-g1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/337748\/","title":{"rendered":"12\/8 Preview – No Changes Expected + Rolling Over The Same Game, Danault’s Line, Laferriere’s Speed\/Strength & Mom’s Trip G1"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (13-8-7) @ Utah Mammoth (14-13-3)
WHAT: 2025 Regular-Season Game 29\/82
WHEN: Monday, December 8 @ 6:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Delta Center \u2013 Salt Lake City, UT
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network \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 are back on the road for a quick, two-game trip as they visit the Utah Mammoth for the first time this season. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Defenseman Drew Doughty led the Kings against Utah last season, as he collected five points (2-3-5) from the two games he played. Among defensemen, Doughty\u2019s five points are tied for the second most in all-time against the Mammoth. Defenseman Joel Edmundson scored two goals in the first ever Kings\/Mammoth matchup last October and was second on the team in scoring with four points (2-2-4) against Utah in total. <\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate today, coming off a travel day yesterday without a practice.<\/p>\n

Looks like goaltender Darcy Kuemper will make his fourth consecutive start this evening, after he was the first goaltender off the ice first this morning. Kuemper was in net for all three games against the Mammoth last season, all Kings victories. Kuemper posted a 3-0-0 record in those games, with a .917 save percentage and a 2.33 goals-against average. <\/p>\n

Coming off their best offensive showing of the season thus far, here\u2019s how the Kings are expected to line up tonight, with no changes from Saturday\u2019s victory \u2013 <\/p>\n

Tonight’s @LAKings<\/a> Line Rushes \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

\u2014 Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) December 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

After scoring a season-high six goals last time out, no changes are expected for the Kings. Should one be required, forwards Jeff Malott and Samuel Helenius, along with defenseman Jacob Moverare, are available to check into the lineup. <\/p>\n

MAMMOTH VITALS: Utah returns home tonight after a six-game roadtrip, which saw them compile a record of 2-4-0, ending with a 2-0 defeat in Calgary last time out on Saturday evening. <\/p>\n

Per the Utah team account, here\u2019s how the Mammoth lined up last time out \u2013 <\/p>\n

Saturday night lineup \u270d\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/nJ0n6GYftB<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) December 6, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Kings defenseman Sean Durzi returned from injury a couple of weeks back and is expected to play tonight against his former team, after leading his team in time on ice (24:19) against Calgary on Saturday. Durzi has two assists in two career games against the Kings. Forward Barrett Hayton leads all Utah skaters with three goals in three career games played against the Mammoth, all stemming from a hat trick in Los Angeles in February. <\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 More Of The Same, Please
Maybe just run it back from Saturday?<\/p>\n

Okay, fine, not that easy. But it\u2019s what the Kings have to try and do. Alex Turcotte, who had a multi-point night in the win over the Blackhawks, talked about how yeah, that win was great, but now it\u2019s in the past and the team has to find ways to build off of that performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely it\u2019s nice, but it\u2019s one game, we\u2019ve got to build off of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

So now the team heads back on the road, where they\u2019ve experienced the bulk of their success so far this season. Unlike past trips, they hit the road today coming off a feel-good win, as opposed to a difficult loss. They\u2019re now tasked with the challenge of not letting Saturday\u2019s win become a one-off. <\/p>\n

Starts with an opportunity tonight against Utah.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just being consistent,\u201d forward Alex Laferriere said. \u201cI think for us, we don\u2019t want to press for offense. We\u2019ve got to know that we scored six goals on Saturday because of how we played, we played our game, so we didn\u2019t press for offense, didn\u2019t do anything out of the ordinary. It\u2019s just about sticking to our game and knowing that the offense is going to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defenseman Cody Ceci had similar thoughts. <\/p>\n

The goals came from the Kings playing the best version of their style, not by changing it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that was huge for us to be able to put up that number, but still play our game defensively, play as well as we did defensively,\u201d Ceci said. \u201cIt\u2019s good for our confidence. We don\u2019t have to change the way we play to find scoring, we can do it our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think Saturday\u2019s win was the closest thing we\u2019ve seen the post-deadline version of last season\u2019s Kings. <\/p>\n

A big reason as to why for me was the play of the Foegele\/Danault\/Moore line. It\u2019s not the first line, but it might just be the team\u2019s most important line. That\u2019s the swing line. The matchup line. It\u2019s the line that, when they are on their game, can provide shutdown capabilities, along with offensive production. We haven\u2019t seen enough in either direction this season on a consistent basis. But when they\u2019re on, they can swing the matchups in favor of the Kings, by neutralizing top offensive opposition, which frees up the Kopitar and Byfield lines, while also adding some production of their own. <\/p>\n

They got the game\u2019s first goal through Foegele and then Danault got his point with the primary assist on defenseman Mikey Anderson\u2019s goal in the third period. Offensive production, on top of a strong forechecking performance as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose three guys in particular, now they\u2019re playing together again, I thought that\u2019s the most they\u2019ve looked like they were last year in the second half, all year, all three of them,\u201d Hiller said. \u201cThey\u2019re on pucks and honestly, they were a pain to play against. I would throw all three of those guys in there together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good night for that line and so many others. All areas of optimism, as the Kings look to find that consistency tonight in Salt Lake City. <\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 A lot of Kings played well on Saturday. But I felt that it was one of Alex Laferriere\u2019s strongest games I\u2019ve seen him play with the Kings. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s two things that jumped out at me with Laf,\u201d Hiller said. \u201cOne was the speed, he was skating, how many times did he track down pucks. The second part of that is he didn\u2019t track them down clean, he seemed to arrive when there was another guy there. Now, you\u2019re moving fast, now it\u2019s a physical battle and he was able to take that guy on, use his strength on his skates and still come out and make something happen for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think that one thing that\u2019s important to remember about Laferriere is that he can fit in just about anywhere in the lineup. His game compliments just about everybody. As such, he sometimes becomes the first piece moved around, and sometimes that perhaps hurts him at the expense of helping the team. <\/p>\n

Playing with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, though, is maybe one spot that really allows him to flourish. I thought he was all over the ice on Saturday. On a per\/60 basis, once you factor out small sample sizes, the linemate Laferriere has most excelled with from a goalscoring standpoint is Kempe. He got a well-deserved assist in the third period to get on the scoresheet, which I think was a reward for the work he put in before that.<\/p>\n

Good showing from 14. Would like to see him get a bit of runway with his current line. Think we could see the best of him in that spot. <\/p>\n

\u2013 The Kings scored a power-play goal on Saturday.<\/p>\n

This is real. <\/p>\n

While I think any power-play goal would\u2019ve been taken, the fact that Andrei Kuzmenko got it helps double. No secret that Kuzmenko\u2019s production hasn\u2019t been what it was last season, when he was so effective, tallying 17 points (5-12-17) in 22 regular-season games. Kuzmenko has moved around the lineup, in search of getting him going offensively. It was always the power play, though, that was his bread and butter. <\/p>\n

The goal saw him stationed in his favorite position, operating on the lower side of the umbrella, down low to the goaltender\u2019s right. What made the Kings effective last year was that they had someone who could run the power play from down low, as opposed to just the point. It\u2019s from that spot where he nearly set up Anze Kopitar for a power-play goal on the first opportunity. And where he dragged the puck around his body, into the lower slot, and got his shot to sneak over Chicago goaltender Spencer Knight on Saturday, as he snapped an 11-game goalless stretch. <\/p>\n

Again. An area to try and keep rolling tonight. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Lastly, as noted yesterday, today is the first game of the mom\u2019s trip for the Kings!<\/p>\n

The Kings had a collection of special guests on the plane ride to Utah yesterday, after most of the Kings\u2019 moms took in the win over Chicago on Saturday. The moms will be with the team for both games on the trip. They have a few special activities planned on game days, away from the team, and will be at the games against the Mammoth and Kraken. Most of the players have their mom or another important female figure in their lives with them on the trip, which always makes for a special time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always such a proud moment, I think, for the players to have dads or moms [on the trip],\u201d Hiller added this morning. \u201cThe moms, for some of them, have never had the chance to experience this, even players who are later in their careers, a lot of first-time moms. It\u2019s just really is special.\u201d<\/p>\n

More coverage on the mom\u2019s trip to come over the next few days.<\/p>\n

For today, it\u2019s the Kings and Mammoth at 6 PM Pacific, 7 PM local here in Utah! See if they can keep things rolling off a strong showing on Saturday. <\/p>\n