12/14 Preview – No Morning Skate + Lee Recall, Helenius’ Progress, “Kings Way”, Quick 398

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings’ six-game winning streak came to an end on Thursday and they will look to get back on the winning streak today against the Rangers.

HEAD TO HEAD: The Kings and Rangers split the 2023–24 season, with each team winning on home ice.

The Kings only scored three goals total in the two games against the Rangers. Forwards Quinton Byfield, Phillip Danault and Kevin Fiala each scored once, while Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore each had an assist.

KINGS VITALS: Due to the early game today, the Kings had not had a morning run before.

The Kings have gotten strong goaltending lately from both Darcy Kuemper and David Rittich, so I would consider it a toss-up this afternoon. Should the Kings turn to Kuemper, he is 8-4-0 lifetime against the Rangers, with a .901 save percentage and a 2.85 goals-against average. Should the Kings return to Rittich, who started Thursday in New Jersey, he is 3-0-0 against New York, with a save percentage of .968 and a goals-against average of 1.00.

The Kings have gone 11/7 in their last four games, winning three of them. This lineup is shown below for reference –

Tonight @LAKings Line Rushes –

Moore – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Byfield – Jeannot
Fiala – Danault – Laferrière
Turcotte-Helenius

Anderson-Gavrikov
Edmundson-Clarke
Moverare – Spence
Burroughs

Rittich
Kümper

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) December 12, 2024

UPDATE – Trevor Moore is out today. Everyday injuries to the upper body. It’s unclear whether the Kings will go 11/7 or 12/6 with both Lee and Thomas checking in. This will happen in about 20 minutes.

However, you never know. The Kings have shown more confidence in the Helenius/Turcotte pairing lately and in 11/7. had success with the rotating winger. Akil Thomas is healthy and could check in. Striker Andre Lee is also here and available after being recalled on an emergency basis yesterday. If there is an injury up front it might make more sense to go to 12/6. In this case, one or both of Lee and Thomas could check in. There should be an update on this front soon.

RANGERS VITALS: New York has won just three times in its last 11 games, although it did eke out a victory last time out with a 3-2 victory in Buffalo on Wednesday.

Per Mollie Walker of the New York Post, here’s how the hosts competed against the Sabers –

#NYR Warm-up lines vs. Sabres:

Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Kreider-Zibanejad-Smith
Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko
Edström-Carrick-Berard

Lindgren Fox
Miller Schneider
Jones Mancini

Shesterkin
Fast

— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) December 11, 2024

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rangers use Jonathan Quick in net tonight considering his strong performances against the Kings last season. Quick went 1-1 against the Kings, with a .942 save percentage and 1.52 goals-against average in his two starts against Los Angeles. Will see it on that front.

The Rangers will be without defenseman K’Andre Miller this afternoon after he was placed on injured reserve yesterday. Defensemen Connor Mackey and Chad Ruhwedel have both been recalled from AHL-Hartford.

Plot of the Day – Big Sammy
Jim Hiller said Tuesday that he was upset with himself for not playing Samuel Helenius more often than he did. The same goes for Alex Turcotte, who has impacted games at a pretty high level this season, but let’s focus on the big man first.

On Long Island, Helenius played perhaps his best hockey game in the NHL. He was on the ice for 11 shot attempts, compared to 3 attempts against, and had some really nice looks to bury his first NHL goal of his career.

Two days later, Helenius surpassed his ice time from Tuesday in the first two periods of the game and finished the game against the Islanders with more than two minutes left. Overall, he logged 9:35 of 5-on-5 ice time, his most time in a game since Nov. 16.

Jim Hiller criticized himself after the last game for not playing more against Turcotte and Helenius.

After 40 minutes, Helenius has already exceeded his minutes from Tuesday. Once again the pairing at the front was aggressive and effective.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) December 13, 2024

It’s kind of a rollercoaster ride when you get called up to the NHL for the first time. Helenius impressed early, but he saw his play slip a bit. This led to a crucial time that could have gone one of two ways. Either Helenius finds his level again early or he will be moved to the AHL. Speaking to Hiller, the Finnish centerman managed to find the former and keep his place in the regular lineup even though the Kings were down to eleven forwards.

“I thought he started really strong and I thought he slowed down. I was a little worried about him, but I think he’s starting to recover now, which is always a good sign,” Hiller said. “The first ones are easy and then it goes like this (downwards). That’s normal and sometimes you can’t get out of it and he managed to get back up.”

Helenius has generally performed well in limited action.

He has played 13 games and was on the ice for just two goals, one of which came in stoppage time against Minnesota on Saturday, with the Kings leading 3-0 in the final minutes of the game.

He barely reached the 50 percent mark at the faceoff point and was able to keep up with the speed of the game. In general it was reliable and stable. He’s also impressed Hiller in another area, and that’s his offensive instincts. Still looking for his first goal, Helenius had more chances than Hiller perhaps expected.

“He’s had some great chances, I’m surprised he hasn’t scored yet,” Hiller said. “I think in the last few games he’s had some quality chances, four or five of them, and he shoots the puck well. That’s something I didn’t know about him. He shoots the puck well, obviously he gets to the net well, he has a few tips. Sooner or later he’ll get one.”

He is by no means the leader of a team in these areas, but he is increasingly showing up with the puck on his stick and has the chance to influence the game. All while being a 6-foot-4 man who understands his size and is willing to play a physical brand of hockey. The Kings don’t live or die by whether they score goals from their fourth line. You just want that line to be consistent night after night. A bonus though if they can get something.

The catwalk is still long for Helenius. He just turned 22 a few weeks ago and has only started to make a name for himself at the NHL level. For this organization, however, he represents something different. A player with a defined role who plays it. So far, so good and we hope he can keep it up.

3 to watch out for –
– Two seasons in New Jersey I thought the Kings played their game.

That’s not to say they dominated or asserted their game, but with two quality clubs meeting, I got the impression there was a playoff-like feel at the Prudential Center. However, the third period belonged to New Jersey.

“They came to play in the third period and were better than us,” defenseman Jordan Spence said bluntly.

The Kings had 36 shot attempts in 54 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey and only seven came in the third period. Those who spoke after the New Jersey game stressed that lack of looks was something that needed to be improved against the Rangers. Despite the appropriate pace and intensity, the players felt like they underperformed offensively in this game.

However, it is not doom and gloom. Six wins in a row before that, so take a deep breath and start again. The Kings have won these games with a certain style of play, and they’ll look to repeat that today.

“We won six games in a row for a reason, we played the Kings way,” Spence added. “I don’t think we did that (in New Jersey) … taking a step back in the third period, that’s disappointing, but at the same time we just have to keep going and play the Kings way in the next game.”

– The Kings urgently recalled forward Andre Lee between games on Friday.

I hope to have some context on the nature of the transaction shortly. The Kings traveled with just 22 players, so the roster space is there, but the move was called an emergency transaction, which usually means a player is at least potentially injured. Jim Hiller is expected to speak at MSG shortly to provide additional clarity on the situation.

Lee has two assists in 16 NHL games this season and two points (1-1-2) in four games with the AHL’s Ontario Reign.

– If Jonathan Quick gets the nod today, he would be looking for career win number 399.

If he was already on 399, you would just know he would have gotten it today, right? It’s probably a good thing for the Kings that he has two players out, not one.

“Of course I’m super happy for him, he’s been in the league for a long time and he’s a big part of our organization, a big part if not most of us that’s won a few cups,” said striker Anze Kopitar. “I’m really happy for him.”

Koptiar said he’s been keeping an eye on Quick’s season with the Rangers, actually his last two seasons, and joked that he’d like to think he and the Kings helped him a little in some of those wins. However, only a few.

For the legendary goalkeeper it won’t be today, but soon.

Kings and Rangers, an early one from the Big Apple. Try getting back on track in a Saturday afternoon matinee.