{"id":895692,"date":"2026-10-26T22:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T22:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/895692\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T22:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T22:26:15","slug":"10-26-preview-power-play-changes-possible-zuccarello-out-upper-body-byfield-preparing-to-play-ward-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/895692\/","title":{"rendered":"10\/26 Preview – Power-Play Changes Possible + Zuccarello out (upper-body), Byfield “preparing” to play, Ward Expected"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (2-5-2) @ New York Rangers (7-5-1)
WHAT: 2026-27 NHL Regular Season, Game 10\/84
WHEN: Monday, October 26 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Madison Square Garden \u2013 New York, NY
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ABTV, DAZN \u2013 VIDEO: 830 AM KLAA, ESPN LA App, LA Kings App \u2013 TWITTER: @dooleylak<\/a> & @lakings<\/a><\/p>\n

TODAY\u2019S MATCHUP: The Kings begin their first back-to-back set of the season, as they visit the New York Rangers this evening for Monday Night Hockey. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Despite missing last season\u2019s game, Kings forward Adrian Kempe is a point-per-game player in his career at Madison Square Garden, with seven points (3-4-7) in seven games played. Forward Artemi Panarin, who played for the Rangers from 2019-26, is the franchise\u2019s all-time leader in points-per-game (1.26) and ranks inside the Top-10 in all-time assists and points. <\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: Following a full-team practice day yesterday in Newark, the Kings hit the ice for an optional morning skate today at MSG. <\/p>\n

After Anton Forsberg got the start on Saturday, look for goaltender Darcy Kuemper to be back between the pipes tonight against the Rangers. Kuemper has a lifetime record of 11-4-0 against the Rangers, with a .909 save percentage and a 2.56 goals-against average. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a best projection of the Kings lineup tonight, based on a couple of updates below \u2013<\/p>\n

Panarin \u2013 Laferriere \u2013 Kempe
Moore \u2013 Byfield \u2013 Haula
Ward \u2013 Laughton \u2013 Armia
Lee \u2013 Helenius \u2013 Perry <\/p>\n

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

Kuemper
Forsberg<\/p>\n

Forward Quinton Byfield has now been on the ice with the group on consecutive days, which is encouraging. The Kings are \u201chopeful\u201d that he plays tonight in New York. If Byfield plays, I\u2019d expect to see him on a line with Trevor Moore. I would\u2019ve said Moore and Mats Zuccarello, but Zuccarello will not play tonight due to an upper-body injury. So, the above could be a bit shuffled, though the 18 skaters in are who I think will be in. <\/p>\n

RANGERS VITALS: New York has been the NHL\u2019s best team on home ice this season, with a record of 6-0-0 at Madison Square Garden entering tonight\u2019s game against the Kings. <\/p>\n

Per Peter Baugh of The Athletic, here\u2019s how the Rangers lined up last time out versus the Ottawa Senators \u2013 <\/p>\n

#NYR lines in Ottawa Perreault-Zibanejad-Lafreni\u00e8re Kartye-Miller-Dorofeyev Cuylle-Laba-Tolvanen Bjorkstrand-Glendening-Raddysh Gavrikov-Fox Pettersson-Durzi \u0160mits-Schneider Garand<\/p>\n

\u2014 Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) October 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

New York signed goaltender James Reimer yesterday to partner with Dylan Garland, in response to what is expected to be a season-ending injury to starting goaltender Igor Shesterkin. Rangers defenseman Adam Fox leads NHL blueliners \u2013 while ranking second among all skaters \u2013 with 16 assists this season. Fox is one of five defensemen around the league currently scoring at a point-per-game clip, as he leads his team in points in the early goings. <\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 Power Play Changes Coming
During yesterday\u2019s practice, the Kings had a different look on their top power-play unit.<\/p>\n

Defenseman Erik Gustafsson was running the point with the top group, alongside forwards Adrian Kempe, Artemi Panarin, Alex Laferriere and Quinton Byfield. That left a second unit that had a couple of variations, but included Brandt Clarke up top with Erik Haula, Mats Zuccarello and Corey Perry, along with what looked like a split of reps between defenseman Drew Doughty and forward Trevor Moore. Not positive on that second group, especially now that Zuccarello will not play tonight, so it could be the two defensemen with Haula, Moore and Perry. <\/p>\n

Peter Laviolette said yesterday that the changes were designed to see if changing the handedness of the defenseman up top has any impact. The power play isn\u2019t generating much right now and minus Gustafsson\u2019s end-to-end effort in Washington, the production has dried up in those situations. So, when that happens, I think changes are inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just giving it a different look, give it a lefty up top and see if that does anything,\u201d Laviolette said. \u201cIt\u2019s just again, it\u2019s the same thing. It\u2019s got to generate more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kings have scored just one power-play goal over the last five games and that was a goal off the rush, not via an in-zone setup. The rush goal was one of the most important Kings goals of the season, Gustafsson\u2019s game-winner in Washington, but those are not reliable forms of power-play scoring. Nor are they really an indicator that a power play is ticking positively. <\/p>\n

The changes we saw yesterday could carryover, though a lot of that depends on the status of Byfield. <\/p>\n

If he plays, there\u2019s a reason he took some of the reps with that top unit. He will likely be there. The Gustafsson option at the point feels pretty likely, especially with Laviolette\u2019s acknowledgement, regardless of the forwards around him. <\/p>\n

\u201cHell of a group of players out there, I\u2019m just trying to do my job, give them puck as fast as I can and try to shoot a little bit more,\u201d Gustafsson said this morning. \u201cI think we\u2019ve done a little bit of moving the puck too much, you\u2019ve got to take some shots too. It felt good. It was just practice, but hopefully can get one tonight. <\/p>\n

Gustafsson, who has played on the power play for a long time in this league, believes that the first step is probably to simplify things.<\/p>\n

As he said above, moving the puck is fine but if it doesn\u2019t lead to shots on net, you\u2019ll never score. Very, very rarely in the NHL can you pass the puck into the net. With a left shot up top, it creates an additional one-timer opportunity when Panarin is running the power play from the left side, as well as an easier setup pass for the one-timer for Kempe or Byfield in the right-hand circle. Gustafsson is a willing shooter in his own right and is able to get his shot through from up high.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good group of forwards out there, but you\u2019ve just got to move around and take the chance when you get it,\u201d he added. \u201cPK\u2019s right now are just so good, to cover slot shots and stuff like that, so whenever you have the chance to get a puck to the net, everything else will open up. From there, you can get some momentum too. I think we just need to feel good about it, feel proud to be out there, move the puck and, like I said, shoot a little bit more. Then, more stuff will open up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Special teams entered the season as a huge point of emphasis and we haven\u2019t seen the impact early. For a team struggling to score goals 5-on-5, special teams is one place to help overcome that, but the Kings enter tonight\u2019s game 27th in the NHL at just shy of 15 percent, slightly below last season\u2019s clip. <\/p>\n

When a power play is clicking, it improves the rest of the game as well. When it\u2019s not, it can drain on the even-strength moments. Right now, I think it\u2019s a see-saw effect, with one draining the other. Neither has been productive, so it\u2019s hard to say that one is impacting the other. The flip side certainly can be true, if everything is humming, everything prospers. That\u2019s the goal, even if it\u2019s not happening right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPower plays can give confidence to a team, it can give good energy on the bench,\u201d Laviolette added. \u201cIf it\u2019s successful, it can give confidence to the players who are on the power play, touching the puck and making the plays\u2026\u2026point getters, they want goals and they want assists. They want to feel like they\u2019re contributing to the team. That gives them confidence. So, with that, if it\u2019s not producing, that can affect the 5-on-5 part of the game as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

More offense is the ambition. Power play needs to be a big part in that. <\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 On the personnel front, here\u2019s what we\u2019ve got. <\/p>\n

How the lines shake out, exactly, remains to be seen. It starts with Quinton Byfield\u2019s availability. The Kings are \u201chopeful\u201d that Byfield will play tonight, per Peter Laviolette. Byfield took the morning skate and was still on the ice when Laviolette spoke, so he hadn\u2019t yet checked in on things after today\u2019s skate. However, it seems he is preparing to play and that the team is preparing to have him in the lineup, but \u201cnothing finalized\u201d as of now. <\/p>\n

With Mats Zuccarello, it\u2019s an upper-body injury. He\u2019s already missed time twice this season and this marks time number three. Zuccarello was out for stretches during training camp, as well as three games earlier in the regular season. Now, he\u2019s out again. No way around that, it\u2019s disappointing. Getting Byfield back helps to mitigate things a bit but when you\u2019re trying to score more goals, the inability to get players in the lineup together, at the same time, certainly isn\u2019t helping things. If Byfield can\u2019t go, it gets really thin. <\/p>\n

Laviolette was asked this morning if there is one area of the offensive side of the game that he feels is lacking more than the others. He said it\u2019s \u201cgone different from game-to-game\u201d so it\u2019s just rush chances or cycle chances or deflections or any one area. It\u2019s changing. Everyone has seen the second-period stretches and those need to be addressed. I think it\u2019s everywhere, but a bit reason why has been the lack of availability and it\u2019s been difficult to find that second scoring line. Having one in, one out certainly doesn\u2019t help as the Kings continue to search for more. <\/p>\n

\u2013 With Zuccarello out, look for forward Taylor Ward to get a chance tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been a scorer in the minors, he\u2019s come up and he\u2019s contributed at the NHL level,\u201d Peter Laviolette said of Ward. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for him to jump into the lineup. We\u2019re looking to find ways to produce offense and he gives us a chance for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Ward, he\u2019s been around for a few different recalls now. He understands that he\u2019s here for a reason, he\u2019s in the lineup for a reason and he has to do certain things to enhance his linemates, not just keep up. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sort of an easy way to go, to defer once you come up here and you don\u2019t want to take charge of your own game, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the best mindset for myself,\u201d Ward said. \u201cI\u2019m going to go in there, do what I can and be the best I can be tonight. Hopefully that works out in two points for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

When a player enters the lineup, there is always a balance between wanting to make an impact and doing to much as you try to make an impact. <\/p>\n

For Ward, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s really a concern. He plays the way he plays and doesn\u2019t usually deviate from that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think what works best for me is just when I do my best to try to help the team win, I think that\u2019s when I\u2019m playing my best,\u201d Ward said. \u201cI don\u2019t even really think about what I\u2019m trying to do individually. For myself, just do what I can to help the team win and that\u2019ll be good enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 The biggest reason why the Kings are 2-1-0 on this trip is their goaltending. It\u2019s been a real bright spot. <\/p>\n

In\u00a0total, Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg have combined for a .940 save percentage over the first three games, allowing just two goals in each contest.\u00a0Over the three games, the two netminders have combined for nearly five goals saved above average, per Natural Stat Trick. They\u2019ve allowed just six total goals and are a combined 22-for-22 on high-danger chances against, at all strengths. <\/p>\n

Relying on goaltending to be at that level every single night is unsustainable. Getting it right now, though, has been very encouraging. Kuemper looks like he did during the 2024-25 season, when he finished third in the Vezina voting. I thought he has been excellent in both of his starts on this trip and he collected two well-deserved wins. Forsberg played his best game of the season against New Jersey on Saturday. <\/p>\n

Against a team that has yet to lose a single game at home, it\u2019ll have to be good again. <\/p>\n

Only Colorado has scored more goals at home this season than New York, which has 29 in six games played at Madison Square Garden. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers rank seventh in scoring chances and eighth in high-danger chances at home this season, on a per\/60 basis. So, it could be another night in which the Kings need Kuemper, even if they resolve the long stretches that hurt them against the Islanders and Devils. More on the second periods to come tomorrow, but they\u2019ve been problematic. <\/p>\n

Kings and Rangers, before the trip shifts to Central Time for the finale tomorrow evening against the Blackhawks. A challenging test awaits, against a team off to a strong start to the season in New York.<\/p>\n