{"id":574887,"date":"2026-04-10T00:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T00:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/574887\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T00:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T00:17:09","slug":"4-9-preview-thats-whats-called-a-winning-streak-byfield-expected-to-play-forsberg-in-net-standings-implications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/574887\/","title":{"rendered":"4\/9 Preview – That’s What’s Called A Winning Streak + Byfield Expected To Play, Forsberg In Net, Standings Implications"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (32-26-19) vs. Vancouver Canucks (22-47-8)
WHAT: 2025-26 Regular-Season Game 78\/82
WHEN: Thursday, April 9 @ 7:30 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 Kings are 3-1-1 on their current homestand, entering another massively important game for the team, tonight against the Vancouver Cauncks. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings had three players with multiple points when these teams met back in March \u2013 Quinton Byfield (1-1-2), Trevor Moore (1-1-2) and Mikey Anderson (0-2-2). Additionally, forward Adrian Kempe had an assist in that game in Vancouver and leads the Kings with three points (1-2-3) in two head-to-head games played versus the Canucks so far this season. <\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held an optional morning skate today, coming off of Wednesday\u2019s full-team practice at Toyota Sports Performance Center. <\/p>\n

Coming off another strong showing versus Nashville, look for goaltender Anton Forsberg to be back between the pipes this evening against Vancouver. Forsberg made 19 saves on 20 shots when these teams met in Los Angeles earlier this season, earning a 2-1 victory in overtime. <\/p>\n

Here is the expected lineup for the Kings this evening, based on yesterday\u2019s practice and today\u2019s morning skate \u2013<\/p>\n

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

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

Forsberg
Kuemper<\/p>\n

Should the Kings make any changes from the group shown above, forward Mathieu Joseph and defenseman Jacob Moverare are options to check in. Forward Alex Turcotte remains off the ice at this time due to injury and is not expected to be available for the Kings this evening. <\/p>\n

CANUCKS VITALS: Vancouver begins a three-game California roadtrip tonight in Los Angeles, coming off a narrow, 2-1 defeat against Vegas last time out. <\/p>\n

Per Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650, here\u2019s how the Canucks lined up on Tuesday versus the Golden Knights \u2013 <\/p>\n

Warmup #Canucks<\/a> lines vs. @GoldenKnights<\/a> <\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor. EP40. DeBrusk.
\u00d6hgren. Rossi. Boeser.
Sasson. Blueger. Karlsson.
Douglas. R\u00e4ty. H\u00f6glander.<\/p>\n

Buium. Hronek.
MP29. Mancini.
EP25. Willander.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd45Tolopilo\ud83e\udd45<\/p>\n

7pm on @Sportsnet650<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/J6DNM1E8Qt<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/C7scHU19k4<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) April 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Forward Brock Boeser has found the back of the net more than anyone against the Kings throughout his career. Boeser has 17 goals in 25 games versus Los Angeles and since his first goal, no player in the NHL has buried more versus Los Angeles. Boeser leads Vancouver with 21 goals this season and is third on his team with 44 points. <\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 That\u2019s What\u2019s Called A Winning Streak
The LA Kings won a hockey game on Saturday. <\/p>\n

Then, they won one on Monday. That\u2019s two in a row.<\/p>\n

If they win one tonight, that\u2019s what\u2019s called a winning streak. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Kings snapped an ugly statistic on Monday versus Nashville, winning consecutive games for the first time since late-January. It was just the second time all season they\u2019ve won two in a row at home. Now, here they stand, with a 3-1-1 record thus far on this seven-game homestand. Now, they have an opportunity to make it three straight victories, at the most critical time of the season. Coming off wins over the Maple Leafs and Predators, the Kings have a bit of confidence, heading into tonight\u2019s game against Vancouver. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think confidence is high, I think we\u2019re playing good hockey right now,\u201d forward Trevor Moore said. \u201cWe\u2019re staying aggressive, obviously we\u2019re going to overtime a lot, but I think that we feel good about our game. We feel like we\u2019re able to win every night and that\u2019s always good.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been an interesting year for a number of reasons. One aspect that has really stood out, though, has been the absence of a real run in either direction. Regardless of how good a team is, there is typically that one stretch in each direction. <\/p>\n

The Kings have one four-game winning streak, back in November, as they won the first four games of a roadtrip. They have one losing streak of four-plus games in regulation. That\u2019s it. <\/p>\n

One stretch of four games where they collected two points, one stretch of four games where they collected zero points. <\/p>\n

So, you\u2019d almost feel they\u2019ve been due in both directions. With five games to play, though, that obviously can\u2019t happen. One in the right direction probably gets the team into the playoffs. Starts with tonight\u2019s game against Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Winning streaks have happened before. The Kings left it late and they\u2019ve got no real choice but to find theirs now. There isn\u2019t a margin for error the rest of the way home, so these games are each very important. <\/p>\n

With San Jose losing last night against Edmonton, the Kings control their own destiny down the stretch. They have the highest maximum point total of the teams battling for that second wild card berth, now ahead of both the Predators and Sharks. That implies winning out, however, which is the goal, but that\u2019s quite the ask, especially for a team that has been inconsistent the entire season. It\u2019s where you want to be, though, knowing that you have the chance to control your own fate. <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, you like to be in control of it and obviously there\u2019s other teams that we\u2019ve got to wait on, but if we just win out, that\u2019s what you want to do and it\u2019s all in our hands,\u201d forward Quinton Byfield said this morning.<\/p>\n

Control is control. You offer that a month ago, I think everyone here would have taken it. <\/p>\n

The Kings are playing in meaningful games here with five to play and although they are far from a playoff lock, they\u2019re in the mix, with control, and that\u2019s better than you could\u2019ve for most of the past six weeks. All they\u2019ve got to do is find that ever so elusive winning streak. They\u2019ll play in some meaningful and intense games in order to do that. Not much more to it than that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to be comfortably in the playoffs but that\u2019s not the case,\u201d forward Anze Kopitar said. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on making the playoffs and these are the games you want to be involved in. You want to be in a playoff spot, but we\u2019re not, we\u2019re fighting for it. It\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s good to be a part of these games, to be in this position right now, to be ready to go into these last five games and hopefully more.\u201d<\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 On the injury front, forward Quinton Byfield did not practice with the team yesterday, nor did he take today\u2019s morning skate. However, Byfield is expected to play tonight versus Vancouver, per Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust maintenance. He could have [practiced] if he had to, but he\u2019ll play [against Vancouver].\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not exactly a secret that Byfield has been playing through something for some time now. <\/p>\n

Smith was asked recently how much Byfield has had to battle through of late and the answer was simple \u2013 \u201ca lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byfield understands what time of the year it is and despite <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that time of the year, everybody is battling something, so it\u2019s important times, you\u2019ve got to play through whatever you\u2019ve got going on,\u201d he said. \u201cYou always try to do the best you can and do what\u2019s right for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not been at 100 percent of late, yet Byfield has found his most productive stretch of games this season despite that. Byfield enters tonight\u2019s action with 11 points (7-4-11) over his last 11 games played. <\/p>\n

The Kings have needed just about all of those goals at an important stretch of the season. Around the league, most teams have players battling through injury to suit up and help the team. Byfield has done that more than most of late, helping the team continue to push towards the postseason. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe keeps pushing through it,\u201d Smith added. \u201cWhen I watch him, he\u2019s starting to go to the net more, he\u2019s shooting more, he\u2019s played as well as I\u2019ve seen him play. Q, as a whole, to me, he\u2019s taken a bigger leadership role, he\u2019s taking on the other team\u2019s top lines and he\u2019s embracing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 In terms of tonight\u2019s goaltending decision, it\u2019ll be Anton Forsberg\u2019s net versus Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Forsberg is coming off a pair of good starts \u2013 victories over St. Louis and Nashville \u2013 and his play has earned him tonight\u2019s game, one of the biggest starts of his NHL career thus far, in a game that is massively important for the Kings. <\/p>\n

Goaltending choices will likely come game-by-game at this stage in the season. Forsberg\u2019s play earned him tonight\u2019s start and we\u2019ll see what Saturday brings. Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith knows Forsberg well from his time on Ottawa and certainly sees what he\u2019s about as a person and as a player. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing with Forsy is, and I had him [in Ottawa], he went through waivers, he\u2019s been through the ups and downs and he\u2019s gotten tougher, mentally, every year,\u201d Smith said. \u201cPhysically, the work ethic is exceptional. It\u2019s easy to cheer for a guy like that. In saying that, we\u2019re going to need both guys here. We\u2019ve got five games in a short period and we\u2019re going to need everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Smith took over behind the bench, Forsberg has a .913 save percentage in seven appearances. In terms of a hot hand, Forsberg\u2019s two starts in April have both been excellent, with a .945 save percentage between those two appearances. He\u2019ll play tonight and the Kings need the same kind of performance to keep momentum moving in the right direction. <\/p>\n

Forsberg said after the win over Nashville that he feels ready to start the remaining five games, if that is what is asked of him. Based on what we\u2019ve heard from Smith, he has stressed the importance of both goaltenders, Forsberg and Darcy Kuemper. With five games in eight nights, that\u2019s a big ask for one guy, especially someone who hasn\u2019t that that kind of workload very often in his career. I think both guys will play over those eight days. But that\u2019s for another day.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Anton Forsberg in goal tonight and we go from there. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Lastly, the impact of these games continues to remain quite high.<\/p>\n

The Kings have 83 points entering tonight\u2019s game, one point behind Nashville for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference, though with a game in hand. Both teams play tonight, with the Predators in Utah, beginning 90 minutes before the puck drops in Los Angeles. Other games of note include San Jose at Anaheim, Vegas at Seattle and Winnipeg at St. Louis. <\/p>\n

Results around the Western Conference have continued to be up and down of late. The Kings haven\u2019t gotten a perfect slate of help, but they\u2019ve gotten a lot of it. They remain in a very good position when it comes to WC2, while staying within reach of the teams in front of them. Feels like over the last couple days \u2013 and the next couple days to come \u2013 there are head-to-head matchups between teams within striking distance, meaning someone has to win. <\/p>\n

All the Kings can do is win the game in front of them. Against the team currently in 32nd place in the NHL, this is one they\u2019ve got to have to keep pace, regardless of what happens in Utah or elsewhere around the league. Vancouver will have hungry players, battling for roles and jobs next season, playing with nothing to lose. That can be quite dangerous, as we\u2019ve seen around the NHL. An important one for the Kings to be sharp and ready to play on their toes, against that kind of opponent.<\/p>\n

Kings and Canucks. You\u2019d look at this one as another must-win game for the Kings. 7:30 PM puck drop in the penultimate home game of the 2025-26 regular season. <\/p>\n