{"id":522242,"date":"2026-03-14T01:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T01:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/522242\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T01:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T01:22:07","slug":"3-13-preview-great-scott-great-start-kuempers-return-penalty-kill-progress-opportunity-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/522242\/","title":{"rendered":"3\/13 Preview – Great Scott, Great Start + Kuemper’s Return, Penalty Kill Progress, Opportunity Tonight"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (26-23-15) @ New York Islanders (37-23-5)
WHAT: 2025-26 Regular-Season Game 64\/82
WHEN: Friday, March 13 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: UBS Arena \u2013 Elmont, NY
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 Kings begin a 3-in-4 in the New York area, as they visit the New York Islanders this evening to conclude the season series between the two clubs. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forwards Adrian Kempe and Artemi Panarin led the way against the Islanders up front with a goal and an assist each when these teams met in Los Angeles earlier this month. The Kings also got multi-point games from defensemen Mikey Anderson (1-1-2) and Brandt Clarke (0-2-2) in the victory. <\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: After a full practice day yesterday on Long Island, the Kings opted not to hold a morning skate in advance of tonight\u2019s game. <\/p>\n

With another set of back-to-back games here, unclear on who tonight\u2019s starting goaltender will be for the Kings, though the expectation is that both will start one of the two games. Anton Forsberg started the front half of the most recent back-to-back and earned the victory over Columbus. Should Darcy Kuemper get the nod, he brings with him a lifetime mark of 9-6-2 against the Islanders, with a .911 save percentage and a 2.57 goals-against average. <\/p>\n

For reference, here is how the Kings lined up on Tuesday in Boston, with no changes expected for tonight\u2019s game \u2013 <\/p>\n

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

Panarin \u2013 Kopitar \u2013 Kempe
Moore \u2013 Byfield \u2013 Laferriere
Turcotte \u2013 Laughton \u2013 Wright
Malott \u2013 Helenius \u2013 Ward<\/p>\n

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

Kuemper
Forsberg<\/p>\n

\u2014 Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

From what we saw yesterday, wouldn\u2019t expect to see any changes for the Kings this evening against the Islanders. Should any be required, forward Mathieu Joseph and defenseman Jacob Moverare are healthy and could check in for the Kings tonight. <\/p>\n

ISLANDERS VITALS: The Islanders have won seven of their last nine games, including two consecutive victories, with only defeats against the Kings and Ducks in that span. <\/p>\n

Per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News, here\u2019s how the Islanders lined up during yesterday\u2019s practice \u2013 <\/p>\n

#Isles<\/a> practice lines are brought to you by Bull Smith\u2019s Tavern: <\/p>\n

Heineman-Horvat-Ritchie
Palat-Schenn-Barzal
Lee-Pageau-Holmstrom
Shabanov-Cizikas-Gatcomb
E: Duclair, MacLean<\/p>\n

Schaefer-Pulock
Pelech-DeAngelo
Soucy-Mayfield
E: Boqvist<\/p>\n

Sorokin
Rittich<\/p>\n

\u2014 Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) March 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau led the Islanders with two points (0-2-2) when these teams met earlier this season in Los Angeles. Forward Anders Lee has four goals in his last five games played against the Kings. Former Kings goaltender David Rittich was the backup in net when these teams squared off last month and is likely to be in the same role tonight in New York. <\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 Great Scott!
Trade deadline acquisitions can go a number of ways. <\/p>\n

Players sometimes fit in seamlessly. Sometimes, the adjustment of coming to a new team, with a new system and a new city can create some challenges with regards to settling in.<\/p>\n

For new Kings forward Scott Laughton, consider his arrival in the former category. How well has it gone? <\/p>\n

Ask forward Trevor Moore, who described Laughton as a player who \u201cjust does everything right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not a bad introduction. <\/p>\n

Laughton has made an extremely impactful start to his Los Angeles Kings career. He scored in his debut against Montreal on Saturday and followed that up with the game\u2019s first goal in a 5-4 win over Columbus on Monday, a part of a multi-point performance (1-1-2). <\/p>\n

The underlying numbers have been good too. The Kings are controlling more than 57 percent of shot attempts through three games with Laughton on the ice. Scoring chances are right around 55 percent and high-danger chances are up at a staggering 77 percent. Perhaps most importantly, the goals for column reads three and the goals against column reads one. When the underlying metrics lead to surface level metrics, you know you\u2019ve got something. <\/p>\n

While he saw his point streak come to an end in Boston, Laughton was once again an impactful part of the game, as the Kings went 4-of-4 on the penalty kill, with Laughton factoring in on that unit. In talking with Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith, the addition of Laughton is a big add in that area. Number one, he\u2019s a tremendous penalty killer, has been throughout his career. Secondly, it\u2019s what he frees up, which allows other players to get more shifts 5-on-5. It\u2019s freed up Quinton Byfield a bit, as well as Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe. All good things.<\/p>\n

\u201cScott Laughton helps that up front, it allows other guys to play more minutes, maybe 5-on-5,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

For Laughton, his teammates have been quite impressed with his early returns, in all situations.<\/p>\n

His regular linemate, Jared Wright, called him a very easy player to play with at even strength. Laughton spoke recently about a similar mentality and mindset between the two of them and Alex Turcotte, with a very simple, yet aggressive approach to the game. Wright furthered that thought today, talking about the energy he gets from playing on that line. <\/p>\n

Laughton\u2019s impact has gone beyond his linemates, too. Team veterans have understood what he\u2019s brought to the group in a short time. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great faceoff man and a great two-way player, a great guy in the room,\u201d defenseman Drew Doughty said of Laughton. \u201cI can\u2019t say enough good things about him, I\u2019m really happy to have him here.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Kings continue to push for a playoff berth, players like Laughton will be key. The big guns seem to be going right now, which is great, but depth scoring will continue to be important for this group. Laughton is one guy who can help in that area. <\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 Not positive if Darcy Kuemper will get the start tonight between the pipes or not. <\/p>\n

If he does, he\u2019s certainly feeling more like himself after a difficult return from the Winter Olympics in Milan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty jet lagged, I\u2019m sure like a lot of guys were, so we had to get right back into it and then I got really sick,\u201d Kuemper said. \u201cThat was not very fun, but I\u2019m feeling really good now, so that\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a difficult adjustment back for Kuemper. His first game coming out of the break was the 8-1 loss to Edmonton, where he just did not look like himself. Certainly reasons behind that. But he wasn\u2019t where he needed to be. <\/p>\n

In Boston, Kuemper looked to be pretty dialed in. <\/p>\n

It was a game in which chances were at a premium between two teams that played so hard at both ends of the ice. But there were high-danger looks for both sides and Kuemper did his part to deny all but one of those looks. In total, he stopped 1.03 goals above expected in Boston and the overtime goal, a 2-on-0 breakaway against him, was a big reason that number wasn\u2019t higher. Kuemper looked composed and confident against the Bruins and that was a big showing for him.<\/p>\n

Unclear if he will play tonight against the Islanders or not. He and Anton Forsberg will definitely split the starts over the weekend, before the trip finale against the Rangers on Monday. Kuemper\u2019s done a nice job to get himself back and the Kings will need more big games from him down the stretch to get to where they want to get to. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Kuemper was a part of a Kings penalty kill that looked outstanding on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Kings made a few changes over the break to the way they killed penalties. Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith spoke about pressuring less in certain scenarios, but pressuring with more of a purpose in others. The Kings ran one of the NHL\u2019s most aggressive PK\u2019s over the last couple years, but results from last season didn\u2019t translate to what we\u2019ve seen this year. Been a common theme. With a couple of changes made, the output has been better, culminating with one of the best performances of the season against the Bruins. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still working on it,\u201d Kuemper said. \u201cIt\u2019s been, overall, really good, and we address some moments each game that still aren\u2019t quite on par, but it\u2019s a work in progress. I really like the direction it\u2019s headed and last game, it came up huge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forward Trevor Moore used the word \u201cconfident\u201d to describe the showing in Boston. Acknowledged that the results haven\u2019t been there, but credited Kuemper and the goaltending for doing their part, on top of improvements from the skaters. Defenseman Drew Doughty spoke about wanting to see the penalty kill not just keep the Kings in games, but help win them. <\/p>\n

In Boston, it did not get the win, but it certainly set the Kings up to win the game. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an area that could certainly afford to peak at the right time of the season. Special teams can decide games and down the stretch, every game will be extremely important for the Kings. Good signs, if they can keep Tuesday\u2019s performance up going forward. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Lastly, the Kings have the opportunity to do something they have not done in a long time. <\/p>\n

With a victory tonight over the Islanders, the Kings would move into sole possession of a playoff spot, for the first time since February 1. <\/p>\n

Almost hesitant to even bring that up. I think there\u2019s just so much time left in the season and being in a spot after today doesn\u2019t really change what the Kings need to do. They don\u2019t control the tiebreakers and they don\u2019t have games in hand. So this team still needs to win a bunch of games down the stretch to get in and they certainly need to win a bunch of games to avoid the WC2 spot, either sneaking back into the Pacific Division field or catching Utah. There is much work to be done. But it\u2019s something, isn\u2019t it? If the Kings get two points tonight they\u2019d be back in the field. A testament to improvements made over the last couple of weeks, and, frankly, a number of favorable results in other games. But in the field nonetheless. <\/p>\n

Kings and Islanders, to conclude the season series between the two sides this evening on Long Island. Big 3-in-4 this weekend to finish off the trip! <\/p>\n