{"id":899243,"date":"2026-10-29T22:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T22:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/899243\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T22:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T22:46:09","slug":"10-29-preview-special-teams-important-tonight-kuemper-to-start-fiala-zuccarello-week-to-week-chromiak-recalled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/899243\/","title":{"rendered":"10\/29 Preview – Special Teams Important Tonight + Kuemper To Start, Fiala\/Zuccarello “week-to-week”, Chromiak recalled"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (3-6-2) vs. Ottawa Senators (8-5-0)
WHAT: 2026-27 NHL Regular Season, Game 12\/84
WHEN: Thursday, October 29 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena \u2013 Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ABTV, DAZN \u2013 VIDEO: ESPN LA 710, 830 AM KLAA, ESPN LA App, LA Kings App \u2013 TWITTER: @dooleylak<\/a> & @lakings<\/a><\/p>\n

TODAY\u2019S MATCHUP: The Kings begin a seven-game homestand tonight, as they host the Ottawa Senators at Crypto.com Arena, in search of their first home win of the season. <\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Just three players in the NHL have more points against Ottawa over the last five seasons than forward Artemi Panarin, who has totaled 22 points (9-13-22) in 14 games played. Defenseman Joel Edmundson was the only Kings skater with multiple points against the Senators, as he tallied two assists in the two games played. Forward Adrian Kempe has five points (2-3-5) in his last five games played against Ottawa. <\/p>\n

KINGS VITALS: After a day off yesterday, following the return from Chicago, the Kings hit the ice this morning for a full-team skate at Toyota Sports Performance Center. <\/p>\n

Coming off a 3-0-0 roadtrip, look for goaltender Darcy Kuemper to make the start tonight for the Kings at home. Kuemper has a lifetime record of 8-3-2 against the Senators, with a .897 save percentage and a 3.27 goals-against average. <\/p>\n

Below is how the Kings lined up during today\u2019s morning skate, an indicator of what we could see this evening \u2013 <\/p>\n

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

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

Kuemper
Forsberg<\/p>\n

Lots of updates with regards to personnel, which is broken down a bit further down in the article. In terms of tonight\u2019s lineup, expecting to see the alignment above, which leaves defenseman Cody Ceci as a scratch, along with the recently recalled Martin Chromiak. More on lineup notes below. <\/p>\n

SENATORS VITALS: Ottawa began a five-game roadtrip on Tuesday, with a 4-1 defeat in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights. <\/p>\n

From the Ottawa team account, here\u2019s how the Senators lined up last time out \u2013 <\/p>\n

How we\u2019re projected to line up tonight in Vegas \ud83d\udc4a #GoSensGo https:\/\/t.co\/nbBjBB1DbM<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Kings forward Warren Foegele will not play against his former team, after he left the game in Vegas due to injury. Foegele would have been one of three former Kings in the lineup, along with forward Michael Amadio and defenseman Jordan Spence. The Senators are also without the NHL\u2019s best goaltender, statistically speaking, in Linus Ullmark, but could see the return of defenseman Thomas Chabot, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. <\/p>\n

Storyline Of The Day \u2013 Not So Special Teams
You can\u2019t say the Kings didn\u2019t try to address special teams over the summer. A full overhaul of the staff, with a ton of work put into revamping those units. They practiced it a lot during training camp, specifically the power play. Sure, there are players out of the lineup, but this was supposed to be one of the parts of the game that helped bolster last season\u2019s group. Hasn\u2019t panned out that way yet.<\/p>\n

The Kings are 26th on the power play and 32nd on the penalty kill. Accounting for shorthanded goals, they jump to 23rd and 29th respectively. <\/p>\n

With the man advantage, the Kings hoped the goal they scored at Madison Square Garden might help to get things going. Then came Chicago, when they had a four-minute sequence at the end of the second period, carrying into the third, which came and went without a goal. Felt like it came and went without a Grade-A. It was a massive moment in the game and it wasn\u2019t converted on, a trend that has plagued the Kings all season. <\/p>\n

Overall, the power play was 0-for-3, which puts them as 2-for-18 over the last seven games. When you aren\u2019t scoring 5-on-5 on a consistent basis, the power play can be a real boost, but it hasn\u2019t been in the early goings. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be better in that area, the power play just hasn\u2019t been good enough,\u201d forward Adrian Kempe said. \u201cWe had one [in New York], I was hoping that was going to build some confidence, but it\u2019s got to be better. Better communicating, passes, just everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Per SportLOGIQ, the Kings have 42 shots from the slot on the power play this season, a number that ranks fourth-to-last in the NHL. Where they rate highly is on second chances \u2013 tied for eighth \u2013 but they haven\u2019t scored on any of those looks. In speaking this morning with forward Alex Laferriere, he preached a message of direct play. Said that he can do a better job of that himself. I do understand the message of being more direct and maybe when it\u2019s struggling, that has to be the start. <\/p>\n

At the same time, though, you\u2019re up a man and need to get to the dangerous areas. Finding players like Kempe for one-timer chances. I\u2019m not sur I can remember one he\u2019s had on the power play\u2026\u2026maybe his goal in San Jose in Game 2? He\u2019s the best shooter on the team and isn\u2019t getting those feeds. Maybe that needs to be the step after the Kings get things going with the direct plays. Opposing penalty kills are specifically gameplanning to take away one-timer looks. I think it starts, though, with getting Kempe more involved in goalscoring positions. He is a threat and can make the difference with one opportunity. <\/p>\n

Chicago, on the other hand, did score a power-play goal. The Kings dug themselves an ugly number in Game 1, with four against in Colorado, which is hard to recover from, but while they\u2019ve tightened things up from there, there are still a lot of power-play goals going into their net right now. <\/p>\n

Ottawa brings a bottom-five power-play unit into tonight\u2019s game and ranks 31st in Net PK. A team struggling like Los Angeles is in those departments. Important for the penalty-killing unit to contribute tonight. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not good \u2013 I think in stretches, we\u2019ve been pretty good and you have to get some breaks too, but I think we have to make it harder on their top players, force pressure,\u201d forward Scott Laughton assessed. \u201cWe\u2019ve let entries come in too easily and ket them have time and space. We\u2019re facing a pretty good power play that can move the puck around both units. It starts tonight. We need to be better to give ourselves a chance to win and you can\u2019t let up a PK goal every game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, tapping into SportLOGIQ\u2019s numbers, the Kings have struggled to defend the entry this season, which supports what Laughton has seen. <\/p>\n

They have the second-fewest denials on the PK this season and rank sixth from the bottom in denial rate. In-zone, they rank towards the bottom of the league in stick checks and breaking up passes in the defensive end. They block shots effectively and willingly, ranking in the Top-10 in that category. It\u2019s a good trait, but it\u2019s the preventing of the chances that lead to shot blocks that seems to be where the breakdowns occur. <\/p>\n

All in all, the special teams are really an area that can drive overall improvements. Hasn\u2019t happened to this point but will be under the microscope on the upcoming homestand. <\/p>\n

3 To Watch For \u2013
\u2013 On the injury front.<\/p>\n

Defenseman Drew Doughty and forward Corey Perry both missed the game in Chicago but were both on the ice this morning. Per Peter Laviolette, both players are expected to play tonight against the Senators, as a part of a 12\/6 alignment. Coming out will be Cody Ceci on the blueline and Jared Wright up front, with the latter assigned to the AHL this morning. <\/p>\n

Also on the ice today were forwards Kevin Fiala and Mats Zuccarello. Neither was in a full-contact capacity, although there really isn\u2019t all that much contact to go around during a morning skate. Interested to see what tomorrow brings for those two specifically. Both players are out week-to-week at this time, per Peter Laviolette. <\/p>\n

As Laviolette said, they are two very different situations. Zuccarello just went on injured reserve and is not even eligible to factor in tonight, but seeing him on the ice is pretty interesting actually, especially with the week-to-week designation. I suppose with an upper-body injury, there isn\u2019t anything impacting his skating, but getting him where he needs to be, to be an impact player, is important. <\/p>\n

On Fiala though, it\u2019s just really encouraging to see him on the ice. Laviolette was cautious not to put any timelines on Fiala\u2019s return to the group from a game standpoint, but at the same time, he felt Fiala moved well and it was exciting for everyone I think to see him on the ice with everyone again. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to have Kevin, really good to see him out there and I thought he looked good, but he\u2019s week-to-week,\u201d Laviolette said. \u201cHe\u2019s been out a long time, right? I think him getting comfortable in his body out on the ice, with the speed of the game\u2026\u2026it\u2019s one thing to go out and do those morning skates by yourself, where there\u2019s no activity, but you have to react in a game. You can think, okay, go out and turn to the right, then turn to the left. In a game, it\u2019s just moving. I think he\u2019s got to get up to that speed. I\u2019m not really sure on the timeframe. I can tell you that he was out there and that\u2019s the first time that we saw him. I thought he looked really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lastly, on forward Alex Turcotte, he remains on injured reserve but he was also on the ice this morning, but working on his own. <\/p>\n

Alex Turcotte on the ice on his own today, working this morning. <\/p>\n

@LAKings on the ice in an hour or so, in advance of tonight\u2019s game versus Ottawa.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

I think there\u2019s a world where we also see him progress to the main group soon, but his day today seemed to skate pretty hard, just in his own, controlled setting. Maybe the solo work makes sense there. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Welcome to the NHL, Martin Chromiak!<\/p>\n

The Kings recalled him from the AHL\u2019s Ontario Reign this morning. Chromiak\u2019s recall is not all that surprising, right? The Kings aren\u2019t scoring goals on a consistent basis and Chromiak is burying them left and right in the AHL. He scored four goals in three games played last week and was selected as the AHL Player of the Week as a result, with six points overall. In total, Chromiak has six goals in eight games played this season, tied for seventh in the league in goals scored this season. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s played well down there, he\u2019s scoring some goals and now he comes up into the mix,\u201d Laviolette said of Chromiak. \u201cHe\u2019s not scheduled for tonight, but there\u2019s always things that pop up inside of the locker room. He\u2019ll be here with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chromiak has never played in the NHL but he scored a career-high 28 goals last season in the AHL. It took him some time to find his game but he\u2019s really started to thrive at that level. <\/p>\n

Now, he joins a Kings team in search of offense. That\u2019s his game. In my opinion, he\u2019s a guy who needs to get a chance to play a role that maximizes his strengths. Chromiak shouldn\u2019t come in and play on the fourth line. I don\u2019t think that puts him in a position to succeed. Let\u2019s see him on Byfield\u2019s line or maybe the third line, depending on the pieces, and see if he can help in that area. <\/p>\n

He won\u2019t play tonight, but he could be an option on Saturday against Buffalo. The Reign played yesterday in Henderson, so he\u2019ll get back and rested, with the Sabres game a possibility. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Lastly, I think Ottawa represents a difficult stylistic test for the Kings.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Laviolette\u2019s take on tonight\u2019s opponent \u2013<\/p>\n

\u201cThey play fast, they\u2019re good off the rush, they\u2019ve got skilled players and their top line is playing really well right now. They\u2019ve got a lot of skill in the lineup. They\u2019re scoring goals. We\u2019re going to have to continue to be sharp defensively and then push more offensively. They\u2019re a challenging team, I think, based on the speed and skill that they have and the way that they\u2019re playing the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kings struggled with the speed against the Islanders and Devils specifically, so if that\u2019s the opponent tonight, it\u2019ll be a test. Especially tonight. First game back after a long trip on the East Coast is always a tough one. Kings can\u2019t afford to let one just slip away, though, so it\u2019ll be interesting to see the adjustments they make to match up with a fast team. <\/p>\n

Kings and Senators as a seven-game homestand opens tonight, with six more to follow. 7 PM puck drop to being a two-week stretch in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n