{"id":389974,"date":"2026-01-05T22:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/389974\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T22:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:51:07","slug":"1-5-preview-power-play-progress-kuemper-off-first-difficult-conversations-f3-vs-wild-defensemen-suite-night-10-days-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/389974\/","title":{"rendered":"1\/5 Preview – Power-Play Progress + Kuemper Off First, “Difficult Conversations”, F3 vs. Wild Defensemen, Suite Night 10 Days Out!"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (17-14-9) vs. Minnesota Wild (25-10-8)
WHAT: 2025 Regular-Season Game 41\/82
WHEN: Monday, January 5 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena \u2013 Los Angeles, CA
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 conclude a two-game mini series against Minnesota tonight at Crypto.com Arena, coming off Saturday\u2019s 5-4 shootout win over the Wild. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Quinton Byfield had a goal and an assist on Saturday, his second multi-point output in as many matchups against Minnesota this season. Byfield has two multi-point games in his last four played and ranks third on the Kings this season with 23 points. Forward Adrian Kempe also scored on Saturday, his second in as many games played against the Wild this season. Kempe leads all Pacific Division players with eight goals versus Minnesota over the last five seasons. <\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: After an off day yesterday for the team, the Kings held a full-team morning skate earlier today at Toyota Sports Performance Center. <\/p>\n

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper was off first after today\u2019s morning skate, making him the expected starter in net tonight against Minnesota. Kuemper earned his sixth career victory against the Wild on Saturday and brings with him a 6-7-2 record, a .901 save percentage and a 2.84 goals-against average throughout his career versus Minnesota. <\/p>\n

Based on today\u2019s morning skate, here\u2019s how the Kings are expected to line up this evening against the Wild \u2013<\/p>\n

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

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

Kuemper
Forsberg<\/p>\n

Expecting forward Trevor Moore to miss his third straight game, as he did not take part in line rushes and was on late for extra work this morning. Moore skated again this morning but not much of an update to provide, beyond that he is \u201cclose\u201d. Should the Kings look for any additional changes, defenseman Jacob Moverare is an option to check in for the Kings. <\/p>\n

WILD VITALS: Minnesota has just one regulation loss over its last 14 games, extended with the shootout defeat against the Kings on Saturday. It has a record of 10-1-3 in that span. <\/p>\n

Per Michael Russo of The Athletic, here\u2019s how Minnesota lined up this morning \u2013 <\/p>\n

#mnwild<\/a> lines<\/p>\n

Kaprizov-Yurov-Zuccarello
Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Tarasenko-Hartman-Hinostroza
Foligno-Sturm-Trenin <\/p>\n

Hughes-Pitlick***
Brodin-Spurgeon
Middleton-Kiersted***<\/p>\n

No Bogosian, Faber<\/p>\n

Gustavsson expected to start<\/p>\n

\u2014 Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Forward Matt Boldy found the back of the net on Saturday, making it goals in both games played against the Kings so far this season. Boldy\u2019s goal was his 26th in total for the 2025-26 season, ranking second in the NHL behind only Colorado\u2019s Nathan MacKinnon. Defenseman Brock Faber did not skate this morning but is expected to play tonight, per Russo. Faber, a Los Angeles draft pick in 2020, collected a goal and an assist in Saturday\u2019s matchup. Both Boldy and Faber will represent the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics. <\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 Power-Play Progress
Have written what has felt like endless words about the LA Kings power play this season.<\/p>\n

Those words have been almost universally negative. And rightfully so, for a unit that has underperformed just about all season long.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, though, we are starting to see a corner turned for that unit. With Corey Perry\u2019s power-play goal on Saturday against Minnesota, it marks four consecutive games with a goal on the man advantage, the first time this season the Kings have done that. First time since Games 77 \u2013 81 of last season.<\/p>\n

The @LAKings<\/a> have now scored a power-play goal in four consecutive games. First time since Games 78 \u2013 81 of last season.<\/p>\n

92\/55\/22\/96\/10 unit is clicking really well, responsible for all five goals. As good as the PP has looked all season.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) January 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

In that span, the Kings have gotten five goals in total. Perry has led the way with two, while forwards Quinton Byfield, Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko have each scored one. The common factor is that all five goals have come from the same unit, with Brandt Clarke the fifth member alongside the four forwards and all five players have contributed. <\/p>\n

Coming out of the holiday break, the Kings took a new approach to the power play. Rather than try to create what they thought was a PP1 and a PP2, they separated their two most dangerous scorers in Fiala and forward Adrian Kempe. Jim Hiller put it simply. The unit that scores is the unit that will play. <\/p>\n

Since Byfield\u2019s goal against Anaheim, that unit has averaged 6:36 per player, compared to 5:24, for the other unit. As Hiller put it the other day, the unit above is the top unit right now and the other unit is playing \u201csecond fiddle\u201d at the moment. That can certainly change, as the other unit finds the back of the net or production dries up. But right now, Hiller has stood true to his word of rewarding the unit that is producing. <\/p>\n

So what\u2019s gone so well?<\/p>\n

I think a lot of the success has come down to putting the right mix of skillsets into players finding their roles on that unit. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know Perrs is around the net, we know Q is good down low and then me, Kuzy and Kevin are working the top and it\u2019s good,\u201d Clarke said. \u201cWe can come from both sides, we\u2019re funneling pucks, we\u2019ve done that well and we\u2019re collapsing on loose pucks, not letting them get out of the zone. I think we\u2019re going all the right things right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byfield and Clarke pointed to Perry first and foremost and his role at the net. He\u2019s been doing it for 20 years, as Byfield put it, and his presence encourages pucks to the net. Byfield also operates down low as the unit\u2019s best puck retriever, though he\u2019s also able to switch spots with Fiala when situations call for it, as was the case on Saturday when the Kings scored. <\/p>\n

That leaves Fiala and Kuzmenko operating on the sides of the umbrella, with Clarke up at the top. On Saturday, the Kings used a right-side overload, not an umbrella, with Byfield and Fiala moving around to create space, which led to Byfield moving up higher while Fiala remained on the right side, down low, to create a numbers advantage. I felt that earlier this season, Kuzmenko and Perry, at times, struggled to operate on the same unit earlier in the season because both players liked to play down low. That hasn\u2019t been an issue with Kuzmenko stationed a bit higher in the zone. He\u2019s able to freely roam the left flank or move into the middle and his goal came from a tighter angle, when he crashed down low. He can also make plays from the circles and that allows Perry to play where he is most effective, in and around the net. <\/p>\n

The combination of those five players has been as effective as the Kings have been on the man advantage so far this season. Four games is the smallest of sample sizes, but the Kings are third in the NHL since the break at 38.5 percent. They won\u2019t score every night, but keeping things going even close to that rate will continue to help them score more goals as they\u2019ve done with 4.0 per game in that time. <\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 So, the Kings did play well against Minnesota on Saturday, especially offensively.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s one thing they\u2019d like to clean up?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe liked a lot about our game, certainly liked how we played in the o-zone,\u201d Hiller said. \u201cWe gave up too much off the rush, their D are active, fourth guy always there, especially with Faber and Hughes. Our F3, there was too many times that we lost our F3. If there\u2019s one thing we can do better, it\u2019s make sure that they\u2019re coming through numbers off their rush, which is when they\u2019re most dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking at the goals the Kings allowed, the third Minnesota goal was an even-strength goal off the rush with Faber activating, just as Hiller described. Joel Eriksson Ek\u2019s goal was also off the rush, though it was on the power play and more of stretch pass than a true rush attack. <\/p>\n

Still, I think there\u2019s a good point made there. Keep up the same approach offensively and try to clean a few things up the other way, like what Hiller mentioned with the F3, especially against a team with two, elite defensemen. <\/p>\n

\u2013 I liked this quote from Alex Turcotte this morning on where he feels the team is at right now \u2013<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve talked about it a lot and I think had some difficult conversations that needed to be had. I think everyone realizes we\u2019ve got a lot better as a team, individually as well. Just a mindset and being positive and kind of flushing the first half a little bit and just moving on. I think we kind of have a weight off our back a little bit and we\u2019re playing better. Hopefully we keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The difficult conversations I think play into what I felt yesterday as I wrote about the team. Turcotte added that the Kings falling out of a playoff spot was \u201calarming\u201d for some, but also that the team had long known that they were not playing up to par. Think that meeting the Kings held on Friday was one that addressed some of the concerns the Kings have had, things we\u2019ve all certainly seen. Schedule to come remains very difficult, so we\u2019ll see how it goes. So far so good on Night 1, hopefully something that continues into Night 2. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Lastly, Insiders, another reminder about LA Kings Insider Suite Night coming up on January 14!<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be in the Sky Box that night, tickets are $56 each. <\/p>\n

This is the first of two events this season and we still have a few spots remaining. Shoot me an email at zdooley@lakings.com for more information or feel free to visit this link HERE directly to purchase tickets for the game against Vegas! <\/p>\n

Kings and Wild to conclude the season series tonight. Los Angeles with a 1-0-1 record that they\u2019ll look to extend to claim the series in total. <\/p>\n