{"id":429206,"date":"2026-01-25T15:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T15:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/429206\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T15:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T15:45:13","slug":"1-24-preview-the-opportunity-ahead-optional-skate-today-penalty-kill-adjustments-hiller-on-doughty-moore-kopitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/429206\/","title":{"rendered":"1\/24 Preview – The Opportunity Ahead + Optional Skate Today, Penalty Kill Adjustments, Hiller on Doughty, Moore\/Kopitar"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (20-16-13) @ St. Louis Blues (19-24-8)
WHAT: 2025 Regular-Season Game 50\/82
WHEN: Saturday, January 24 @ 5:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Enterprise Center \u2013 St. Louis, MO
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network, KCAL \u2013 AUDIO \u2013 ESPN LA App & LA Kings App \u2013 TWITTER: @dooleylak<\/a> & @lakings<\/a><\/p>\n

TODAY\u2019S MATCHUP: The Kings begin a season-long, six-game roadtrip this evening as they visit the St. Louis Blues, before a string of five games against Eastern Conference opposition. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Adrian Kempe was the difference maker when these teams played in St. Louis back in October, as he scored the game-winning goal in overtime as a part of a multi-point game in a 2-1 victory over the Blues. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, only five players around the league have scored more goals against St. Louis than Kempe, who has buried seven in that span.<\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held an optional morning skate today, in advance of tonight\u2019s game against the Blues.<\/p>\n

Unsure as of this morning regarding the starting goaltender for tonight\u2019s game. Should goaltender Darcy Kuemper be back between the pipes this evening against the Blues, he made 17 saves on 18 shots in a 2-1 win in St. Louis earlier this season and he brings with him a lifetime record of 11-6-1 versus the Blues, with a .916 save percentage and a 2.33 goals-against average. Should the Kings go to Anton Forsberg, he has played four career games against St. Louis with a .885 save percentage and a 2.88 goals-against average. <\/p>\n

Based on Thursday\u2019s practice, here is a projected lineup for the Kings in tonight\u2019s game \u2013<\/p>\n

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

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

Kuemper \/ Forsberg<\/p>\n

The only change above from Tuesday\u2019s lineup would be the return of defenseman Drew Doughty, who missed out on the Rangers game due to illness. Doughty replaces defenseman Jacob Moverare. Forwards Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore are on the trip but remain on injured reserve and would need to be activated in order to play, so until that happens, would expect the same players up front. <\/p>\n

BLUES VITALS: St. Louis returns home this evening after playing in Dallas yesterday, a 3-2 defeat, which extended a two-game losing skid to three games. <\/p>\n

Per Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic, here\u2019s how the Blues lined up last time out \u2013<\/p>\n

#stlblues<\/a> projected lineup at Dallas tonight:<\/p>\n

Berggren-Schenn-Snuggerud
Neighbours-Buchnevich-Kyrou
Stenberg-Dvorsky-Joseph
Toropchenko-Bjugstad-Fabbri<\/p>\n

Broberg-Parayko
Tucker-Faulk
Fowler-Mailloux<\/p>\n

Binnngton<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) January 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

St. Louis forward Robert Thomas, the team\u2019s leading scorer, was placed on injured reserve last week and will miss tonight\u2019s game with a lower-body injury. St. Louis is also without forwards Pius Suter and Mathieu Joseph due to injury. Defenseman Justin Faulk scored the only Blues goal when these teams met back in October and his 11 goals this season are tied for sixth in the NHL among blueliners. <\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 The Opportunity Ahead
Tonight\u2019s game, as I wrote about yesterday, begins what could be a defining roadtrip for the Los Angeles Kings.<\/p>\n

Defining can mean a number of things. How will this team be defined when all is said and done? Won\u2019t be solely about what the team does over these six games, but there\u2019s certainly no time like the present to start. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow many are left, 30 some-odd games, and they\u2019re all going to be big,\u201d goaltender Darcy Kuemper said of the trip to come. \u201cEspecially, we want to put ourselves in a good spot coming out of the break. We\u2019ve got eight games left, six on this trip, and we want to be in as good a spot as we can be coming out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kings can\u2019t win six games tonight. But they did win on Tuesday and they can win another one tonight. They can start the trip on a very strong note with a in against the Blues. That\u2019s the plan, at least. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a very important chunk of games,\u201d defenseman Cody Ceci added. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to take it one at a time, go and see what happens and adjust along the way. I think it\u2019ll be good for the group just to get away from home and really focus on these games leading into the break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s game feels like a table setter of sorts. A choose your own adventure moment for this group.<\/p>\n

The Kings have already put together two very good trips this season. They went 4-0-1 on their first longer swing in October and followed that up with a 4-1-0 trip on the East Coast back in November. Without those trips, we\u2019d be posting Gavin McKenna scouting reports. It\u2019s where the Kings have done the bulk of their damage this season, tied for the Pacific Division lead with 12 wins and a .625 points percentage away from home. That\u2019s compared to the play at home, where the team has just eight wins this season, the third-fewest in the NHL. <\/p>\n

So the Kings are out on the road. They know what\u2019s left on the schedule and they know where they sit in the standings. Everyone knows where things are at and everyone knows what\u2019s at stake. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s to be done about it?<\/p>\n

Go win a game. One thing to talk about doing it and another to go out there and actually do it. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s where we\u2019re at right now. Go win a game, rest up, recover and go do it again. I think that we\u2019re beyond the point in the season where one win changes a ton. Tuesday\u2019s victory over the Rangers was a relieving feeling, more than a joyful one. That stopped the skid a bit. Now the Kings have to stack wins. Tonight presents a good opportunity to do so, but it\u2019s an opportunity we\u2019ve seen before. St. Louis is without their best player, they played last night in Dallas and traveled home, arriving late. The Kings, meanwhile, haven\u2019t played since Tuesday. We\u2019ve seen these opportunities before and the Kings have not taken advantage. Over the last 15 games alone, it\u2019s been Columbus without Werenski, Seattle without Dunn, Tampa Bay without Hedman, Anaheim without Carlsson & Terry. Five losses, with two against the Ducks. <\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s St. Louis without Thomas. How will the Kings answer that opportunity at the start of a long trip? Find out soon enough.<\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 The biggest moment in Tuesday\u2019s win over New York was the 5-on-3 penalty kill. <\/p>\n

Anton Forsberg\u2019s goaltending was a huge reason why. But give Mikey Anderson and Cody Ceci some credit as well. Both players delivered in that moment to survive. Really all you can do 3-on-5. <\/p>\n

The penalty kill has been a battle all season long. It was really bad in October. It was outstanding in November. Fell off again in December and hasn\u2019t really swung back in January. That\u2019s a net negative overall. The Kings are working on a few things to change it up and they\u2019ve now gone three straight without conceding a power-play goal. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you start going on your heels a little bit and goals start going in, it goes a long way, so confidence is a big part of it,\u201d Ceci said. \u201cBeing on your toes, jumping on pucks and being in their face, instead of trying to sit back and read. I think we\u2019ve tried to reset mentally and get back on our toes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ceci said that the Kings changed the defensive pairings on the kill to try and make some adjustments. When everyone is healthy, recently, Ceci has gone with Joel Edmundson, while Anderson has been with Drew Doughty, after Anderson\/Edmundson was a staple for the bulk of the season. Think we\u2019ll see the former tonight, with Doughty back in. <\/p>\n

\u2013 On Doughty, now that he\u2019s back from illness, Hiller was asked yesterday if he envisions any change to Doughty\u2019s role. Of late, the Anderson\/Doughty pairing has been on the ice for goals against at a higher rate than they have been for the better part of five seasons. <\/p>\n

Hiller was firm in stressing what he believes is Doughty\u2019s importance to the team and he doesn\u2019t see any changes coming on that front right now. Combining two of his answers here, but here\u2019s what he had to say \u2013<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an important player and he\u2019ll continue to be. Like all players, they go up and down. What is the basis of the evaluation? The easy ones are plus\/minus, points, those are the easiest basis for evaluation and then wins. So, when you look at those three, you go oh, okay, but there\u2019s stuff that\u2019s happening underneath that, for different reasons, that is still part of the bigger evaluation\u2026\u2026I\u2019m talking about reviewing the game, reviewing situations, based on time and space constraints, seeing the decisions, seeing the execution. Looking at some of those details just a little bit closer than what is captured in goals, assists, plus\/minus and ultimately wins for each individual player.\u201d<\/p>\n

I had asked Hiller before Doughty missed the game due to illness if he was considering switching the pairs up a bit, even temporarily, just to get those guys going. He said it was being considered, but they weren\u2019t there yet. Wouldn\u2019t expect any changes for tonight and the Kings will allow their top guys to work through it. <\/p>\n

\u2013 For your regularly scheduled injury updates, forwards Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore are both on the trip. <\/p>\n

Moore certainly feels the closer of the two, having practiced in full on Thursday as well. He hasn\u2019t missed a day on the ice with his injury, but his workload hadn\u2019t really been ramped up, at least until this week. Seems like that\u2019s changing now, which is a good sign. <\/p>\n

For Kopitar, he has skated on his own but again, he hasn\u2019t really ramped it up yet. At home, the Kings have injury ice available but that\u2019s not always the case on the road. So, perhaps that could get the captain in and around the team a bit more on the ice this week with the team on the road and having less ice available. <\/p>\n

TLDR, as of right now, both are here on the road and skating, but but players first need to be activated. <\/p>\n

Six-game trip gets underway here tonight against the Blues. If I haven\u2019t said it enough, feels like it could be a defining trip in one of several ways for the Kings. All starts in St. Louis this evening!<\/p>\n