{"id":873319,"date":"2026-10-06T23:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/873319\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:46:15","slug":"10-6-preview-11-7-expected-to-continue-zuccarello-in-kuemper-to-start-gustafsson-on-lak-debut-hof-unveiling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/873319\/","title":{"rendered":"10\/6 Preview – 11\/7 Expected To Continue + Zuccarello in, Kuemper to start, Gustafsson on LAK debut, HOF Unveiling"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (0-1-1) vs. Florida Panthers (1-0-2)
WHAT: 2026-27 NHL Regular Season, Game 3\/84
WHEN: Tuesday, October 6 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena \u2013 Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ESPN \u2013 AUDIO: ESPN LA 710, ESPN LA App, 830 AM KLAA \u2013 TWITTER: @dooleylak<\/a> & @lakings<\/a><\/p>\n

TODAY\u2019S MATCHUP: The LA Kings are on home ice for the first time this season, as they host the Florida Panthers at Crypto.com Arena for their 2026-27 home opener. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings dropped both games played against the Panthers a season ago, which snapped a five-game winning streak against Florida on home ice. Forwards Corey Perry and Joel Armia each scored a goal against Florida last season, with Perry\u2019s coming at Crypto.com Arena. <\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: The Kings utilized the 11\/7 alignment in Saturday\u2019s overtime defeat against San Jose and plan to return to that again here tonight. <\/p>\n

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper appears to be in line for his second start of the season tonight, after he surrendered eight goals in the season opener in Colorado. Kuemper has a 4-7-1 record lifetime against the Panthers but does carry solid splits, with a .917 save percentage and a 2.70 goals-against average. <\/p>\n

Based on yesterday\u2019s practice and today\u2019s morning skate, here is tonight\u2019s projected Kings lineup \u2013<\/p>\n

Panarin \u2013 Byfield \u2013 Kempe
Zuccarello \u2013 Turcotte \u2013 Laferriere
Moore \u2013 Haula \u2013 Armia
Laughton \u2013 Perry<\/p>\n

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

Kuemper
Forsberg<\/p>\n

Was expecting to see the same lineup, after a well-played game in San Jose, but then Mats Zuccarello missed yesterday\u2019s practice due to a maintenance day. However, Zuccarello did skate this morning, which points towards his ability to go tonight against the Panthers. So, much adieu about nothing, with the same group of 18 skaters expected in tonight\u2019s game. <\/p>\n

PANTHERS VITALS: Florida has gone to overtime in all three of its games played this season, winning once and losing twice in the early stages. <\/p>\n

Per Jameson Olive of FloridaPanthers.com, here\u2019s how the visitors lined up against Anaheim on Sunday \u2013 <\/p>\n

#FlaPanthers lines vs. #Ducks \u2b07\ufe0f Verhaeghe \u2013 Bennett \u2013 M. Tkachuk Luostarinen \u2013 Lundell \u2013 Vilmanis B. Tkachuk \u2013 Reinhart \u2013 Marchand Imama \u2013 Eller \u2013 Hathaway Forsling \u2013 Kulikov Mikkola \u2013 Jones Balinskis \u2013 Gudas Markstrom Schmid<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) October 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The Panthers are expected to be without captain Aleksander Barkov, who was placed on LTIR due to a lower-body injury sustained in San Jose last week. In his absence, Sam Reinhart played center, on a line with Brady Tkachuk and Brad Marchand, who returned to action against the Ducks. The Panthers were also without defenseman Aaron Ekblad against the Ducks but he is expected to be available tonight in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 11 \/ 7
I thought the 11\/7 showed pretty well of itself on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Up front, the benefits are always that you can utilize your extra icetime for some of your top-end forwards, while changing the approach of your fourth line a bit. It\u2019s something that a lot of contending teams have found success with, getting top-line players extra minutes, usually against bottom-six lines, which can help to generate mismatches. <\/p>\n

Against San Jose, the two-man fourth line of Scott Laughton and Corey Perry saw the most time with Adrian Kempe, with Alex Laferriere not far behind. Trevor Moore, Quinton Byfield and Mats Zuccarello each had multiple shifts there as well. Laughton and Perry aren\u2019t your typical fourth-line players. Laughton has typically played a line higher in his time with the Kings and Perry is obviously a career top-six forward, at the end of his career. Laughton nearly won the game late but hit the post inside the final minute of regulation and, outside of the first line, those two were the most productive line in terms of chance generation. <\/p>\n

With those two on the ice, the underlying numbers were quite good, which showed the versatility they bring with different players mixing and matching in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was really good, 11 and 7 is not a bad combination because you can take a lot of players and plug them into a hole,\u201d Laviolette said. \u201cYou\u2019re talking about Scott Laughton and Corey Perry, pretty good players, that go down there and play and then you add a winger down there and it can become a line that can produce. They did have some chances, for both Laughton and Perry, and the player, whoever it was, that went on that line.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the blueline is typically where the logjam ensues. <\/p>\n

In the past, often times, the seventh defenseman was squeezed out. It was often Jacob Moverare or Kyle Burroughs and you\u2019d see some very low TOI numbers. On Saturday, though, every defenseman played at least 13 minutes. With the addition of Erik Gustafsson, the Kings injected a very different skillset into the lineup, with Gustafsson\u2019s puck movement and skating abilities a standout for the group. <\/p>\n

Adding him in allows the Kings to deploy two puck-moving defensemen with offensive-zone starts, with Gustafsson alongside Brandt Clarke. It also allows to mix and match different situations throughout the game, including two defensively-minded players on some of the starts at the other end. The seven-defenseman look can be hard on the blueliners, who play less and find their partners regularly changing. For a coach, though, it allows you to use players to their strengths, while maybe taking players out of situations they aren\u2019t as equipped for. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe offensive part of having the seventh defenseman being Gustafsson, I thought was really good,\u201d Laviolette added. \u201cHe had a lot of o-zone starts with Clarke and I thought they produced a lot of offense. They were they were on the ice for an awful lot of good things going down in their end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it a long-term fit, especially when Kevin Fiala comes back? Remains to be seen. I actually wonder if it could get even better in that world. <\/p>\n

However, Laviolette said yesterday he likes what that look can do in certain situations, especially with the current personnel. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s the kind of coach who will persist with something just to do it. He\u2019ll adjust as needed. For now, he likes how this sets up his personnel and I think we will see it until that no longer becomes the case. <\/p>\n

Expecting to see the 11\/7 alignment tonight, assuming health, and we\u2019ll see from there. <\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 A big reason for the success of the 11\/7 alignment has been Gustafsson.<\/p>\n

A summer signing for a modest cap hit, Gustafsson is a Laviolette kind of defenseman. He\u2019s had a ton of success within that system in New York and Washington. One game in and he looks right at home in Los Angeles as well.<\/p>\n

Gustafsson posted excellent splits in San Jose. He was on the ice for 28 shot attempts for compared to just six against in 5-on-5 situations. 16-4 in favor of the Kings in shots on goal, the best clip on the team. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think for myself, I just tried to make it simple as I can, first game in a while,\u201d Gustafsson said. \u201cI was just trying to move the puck up to the forwards, try to join the rush and stuff like that. I felt good out there. Obviously we\u2019ll see what happens here, but I felt good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gustafsson often gets labelled as an offensive defenseman and he does have that in his game, but a big part of what he brings too is the way he passes the puck out of his own zone. His exits were noticeable in San Jose, with an 80 percent success rate on exiting the zone with possession after a dump in by the Sharks. He can both pass and skate the puck out with control, which is an important part of creating the other way. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a version of defending without defending, if you will. If you can break the puck out cleanly, you defend less, which allows Gustafsson to play to his strengths with the puck.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one type of my game, I need to do it and I need to do it well, if I can succeed and try to help this team win,\u201d Gustafsson added. \u201cI felt good when I did it last game and it\u2019s just you\u2019ve got to try to keep doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A good debut for number 64. Interested to see how he continues to contribute as he gets more opportunities. <\/p>\n

\u2013 With the goaltending, to date, the script has not changed for the Kings.<\/p>\n

The plan coming into the season, with a spread out schedule, saw Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg split the starts to begin the season, with Kuemper in Colorado and Forsberg in San Jose. The plan was to go back to Kuemper tonight as well and that is what is happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was exactly the plan, coming in, for right now,\u201d Laviolette said. \u201cI think when you get down the road, if you ask me the plan for November, I can\u2019t give you that quite yet, but right now, this was the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now. I think that performance made it easy to stick to that plan. Kuemper gave up eight goals in Colorado and Forsberg gave up five in San Jose. Neither put in a performance that separated from the other. If the Kings won 4-1 against the Sharks, with Forsberg a standout performer, I think the conversation becomes more difficult and maybe the plan changes. I think it\u2019s level, though, because neither goaltender took the reigns. Until that happens, I imagine that it will be a split. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Lastly, in advance of tonight\u2019s game, the Kings will unveil a new display for the Los Angeles Kings Hall of Fame. <\/p>\n

Will have a story on it later in the week, but the Kings HOF is something that has been around for some time, it\u2019s just never really gotten a ton of attention, behind the retired numbers. It\u2019s coming back though, as a part of the 60th anniversary of the franchise. <\/p>\n

The display is going to look really cool from what I have seen and with the new spotlight will be a Hall of Fame committee, to help induct new members. Long overdue. Again, will share what that looks like over the next couple days. More HERE from the team\u2019s press release yesterday<\/a>. <\/p>\n

For today, though, it\u2019s time to turn Saturday\u2019s performance into a result. The Kings are in search of their first win of the season tonight and they\u2019ll have to do it against the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup Champions. 7 PM puck drop on ESPN, hope to see a few of you downtown!<\/p>\n