{"id":496468,"date":"2026-02-28T23:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/496468\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T23:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:33:07","slug":"2-28-preview-nothing-else-coming-play-for-pride-kuzmenko-out-week-to-week-lineup-question-marks-injury-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/496468\/","title":{"rendered":"2\/28 Preview – Nothing Else Coming, Play For Pride + Kuzmenko out week-to-week, Lineup Question Marks, Injury Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (23-21-14) vs. Calgary Flames (24-27-6)
WHAT: 2025-26 Regular-Season Game 59\/82
WHEN: Saturday, February 28 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena \u2013 Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network \u2013 AUDIO \u2013 ESPN LA App & LA Kings App \u2013 TWITTER: @dooleylak<\/a> & @lakings<\/a><\/p>\n

TODAY\u2019S MATCHUP: The LA Kings have lost five consecutive games, their longest losing streak of the season, entering today\u2019s matchup against the Calgary Flames. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings were defeated in overtime when these teams last met in December, a 2-1 victory by Calgary at Crypto.com Arena. Forward Adrian Kempe scored the only Los Angeles goal in that game and has eight goals and 13 points over his last 13 games played versus the Flames, leading the Kings in scoring in that matchup over the last five seasons. <\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: With the afternoon puck drop today, the Kings did not hold a morning skate in advance of today\u2019s game. <\/p>\n

Without a skate today, unsure on who tonight\u2019s starting goaltender will be, though my expectation would be goaltender Anton Forsberg, who had the better of the two starts coming out of the break. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 36 saves on 38 shots when these teams met back in December, though, should he be selected to start today\u2019s game. <\/p>\n

Lots of unknowns here today, as the Kings did not skate today and are dealing with a few different injuries. Last game\u2019s lineup is embedded below for reference \u2013<\/p>\n

Tonight’s @LAKings<\/a> Line Rushes \u2013<\/p>\n

Panarin \u2013 Laferriere \u2013 Kempe
Foegele \u2013 Kopitar \u2013 Perry
Moore \u2013 Byfield \u2013 Armia
Malott \u2013 Turcotte \u2013 Ward<\/p>\n

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

Kuemper
Forsberg<\/p>\n

\u2014 Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) February 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

More below on the injured players and what we could see today. Will see if the Kings make any additional roster moves between now and today\u2019s game, to potentially compensate for players who might not be able to play. <\/p>\n

FLAMES VITALS: Calgary enters today\u2019s game off of consecutive victories, including a 4-1 win over San Jose in their first game coming out of the break. <\/p>\n

Per Eric Francis of Sportsnet, here\u2019s how tonight\u2019s opponent lined up last time out against the Sharks. <\/p>\n

Flames lines here in San Jose tonight. pic.twitter.com\/YcIySMgyGL<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) February 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Forward Nazem Kadri scored two goals on Thursday as Calgary defeated the San Jose Sharks by a 4-1 final, extending his point streak to three games in the process. Kadri leads his team this season in assists (29) and points (41) entering tonight\u2019s action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 Pride
For those looking for another post today, announcing a change behind the bench, it does not sound as if that is coming. Might come later, but it doesn\u2019t sound as if it\u2019s coming today. Nor does it sound as if anything along those lines is coming today. If it does, you will most certainly get my thoughts, because I\u2019ve got some. Maybe you\u2019ll get them anyways. Just not right now. <\/p>\n

What we have in front of us is a game against the Calgary Flames. <\/p>\n

Jim Hiller is still the Head Coach of the team. The players who are here are the players who are here. Don\u2019t think there is anyone else walking through that door today. <\/p>\n

I think we\u2019re well beyond the outcome today showing us anything about the team. The Kings are nowhere near contending. Today\u2019s result doesn\u2019t do anything to take away from the Vegas and Edmonton games, which were disastrous. The Kings have lost five straight entering this one and 12 of 17, several of the unacceptable variety. One win over a team towards the bottom of the standings doesn\u2019t change that\u2026\u2026even though the bottom of the standings and the Kings are moving closer together by the day. After what has been 48 hours of calamity, the latest in what has been close to 60 games of uninspiring hockey from a team that has regressed immensely from the team we saw 10 months ago, there\u2019s nothing really to be learned today with a win. <\/p>\n

So, with all of that in mind, there\u2019s really just one thing I\u2019ll be looking for.<\/p>\n

Pride.<\/p>\n

After the 8-1 defeat against Edmonton, Anze Kopitar and Mikey Anderson \u2013 both team leaders \u2013 said they do not believe the team has quit on the coaching staff. It certainly looked like a team that quit on the game and that\u2019s the first time this season I think I could say that. Trailing 5-1 against the Oilers, the Kings were outshot 14-3 in the third period, as Edmonton scored three additional goals to bring us to the final score of 8-1. Could\u2019ve been more. Anton Forsberg was really hung out to dry for the bulk of that period as the Oilers had their way with the puck when they wanted to.<\/p>\n

One segment of Anderson\u2019s quote stuck with me after that game. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt may not always seem like it from the outside but we\u2019ve got a good group of guys here, guys that want to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that is indeed the case, if this is a group of players who want to be LA Kings, who want to be here and succeed here, then regardless of whatever else is going on, go out there and show it. I have a lot of admiration for Mikey Anderson\u2019s character and I believe that he believes what he says. I think seeing is believing for the rest of us, though. Whether or not there is belief in the coaches or management or the organization or anything else, if this is a prideful group, that is proud to be Los Angeles Kings, that wants to be here and wants to succeed here, then we\u2019ll see that come through today. If not, I think you\u2019ll know it when you see it and we can just wind down the clock here. Makes things easier honestly.<\/p>\n

That, to me, is all there really is to watch for in today\u2019s game. Pride. <\/p>\n

There are far larger problems here than whether or not the Kings win or lose one game. In between puck drop and final buzzer, we\u2019re really only looking at the players and what they do on the ice. Those larger problems are probably what you want to read about right now and that\u2019s quite understandable. Let\u2019s see what tomorrow brings. But today, what the Kings will do is play a game versus Calgary. Might be a different story tomorrow. But today, it\u2019s a game against Calgary. <\/p>\n

If they roll over, as happened in the third period on Thursday, we\u2019ll have our answer. If there\u2019s a little bit of fight, a little bit of pushback in this team, we\u2019ll see that too. A win, with pride, doesn\u2019t overshadow 14 regulation wins in 58 games played. But we should all still want to see it today. Pride. All that\u2019s worth watching for between 4 PM and 6:30 PM. <\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 Since there is a game to play today, there are several unknowns with regards to the Kings lineup.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Forward Andrei Kuzmenko underwent successful surgery and is out week-to-week. Situation was more serious than initially thought, so he is out for the foreseeable future. <\/p>\n

Kuzmenko did not dress against Edmonton on Thursday and there was not a good read on exactly what might be ailing him \u2013 you probably saw the answer \u2013 but he didn\u2019t play and it was not performance related. <\/p>\n

In Thursday\u2019s game, defenseman Drew Doughty (lower-body injury) and forward Joel Armia (upper-body injury) left the game with injuries and did not return. Looked as if forward Corey Perry and defenseman Brandt Clarke each had something as well in the Edmonton game but did return. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s a lot of dudes. <\/p>\n

Assuming Clarke and Perry are both fine, which they should be, the Kings had 12 healthy forwards and six healthy defensemen without making a recall, so they could just cycle Samuel Helenius and Jacob Moverare into the lineup. If Doughty and Armia are good to go, I imagine the Kings will play them. <\/p>\n

SECOND UPDATE: Defenseman Angus Booth was recalled today from AHL-Ontario. Booth is available for today\u2019s game versus Calgary, should the Kings with to use him. <\/p>\n

\u2013 So, if those players can\u2019t play, what will the Kings look like? <\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, here\u2019s what I would do \u2013<\/p>\n

72\/14\/9
55\/11\/10
37\/15\/12
39\/79\/52<\/p>\n

Reason being, I thought that Panarin looked his best with Kempe and Laferriere, so that line is untouched for me. Byfield and Kopitar have both posted stronger underlying numbers together than apart in a small sample size and Perry slots in as the third guy. If Malott, Helenius and Ward are all playing, they should be playing together. There\u2019s good chemistry and a shared identity there. Then, I think we only saw this line for two games, but Turcotte between Moore and Foegele looked to have a ton of energy the couple times we\u2019ve seen them together. Looked kind of like it did with Phillip Danault there last season, at least enough for me to remember it now. Looking at the numbers, both games were good, on the right side of the chances. <\/p>\n

On the blueline, if Doughty can\u2019t go, I\u2019d like to see Anderson\/Clarke paired together. I\u2019d actually like to see it even if Doughty is in the lineup, as I liked his game with Brian Dumoulin, but that\u2019s probably not going to happen. If no Doughty, I would go Dumoulin\/Clarke, Anderson\/Edmundson and Movreare\/Ceci. Will see what the Kings opt for, if that is the case. <\/p>\n

\u2013 If there was an X\u2019s and O\u2019s component to this article, it would be about goals against in transition.<\/p>\n

That was the first thing I wrote down as an in-game observation during the Edmonton game, until the rest of the game unfolded\u2026..then it didn\u2019t seem to much matter, did it? It was everyone\u2019s net, in a lot of different ways, but that stage.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

So, I won\u2019t go into that. Because today is about pride. <\/p>\n

Kings and Flames, 4 PM puck drop at Crypto.com Arena, game three of six on the current homestand, first game back with the local broadcast crew as well. <\/p>\n