Preview 1/5 – Power-Play Progression + Kuemper Off First, “Difficult Conversations”, F3 vs. Wild Defensemen, Suite Night 10 Days Out!

MATCH OF THE DAY: The Kings wrap up a two-game mini-series against Minnesota tonight at Crypto.com Arena, following a 5-4 shootout victory over the Wild on Saturday.

FACE-TO-FACE: Forward Quinton Byfield had a goal and an assist Saturday, his second multi-point effort in as many games against Minnesota this season. Byfield has two multi-point games in his last four games and ranks third on the Kings this season with 23 points. Forward Adrian Kempe also scored Saturday, his second in as many games against the Wild this season. Kempe leads all Pacific Division players with eight goals against Minnesota over the last five seasons.

VITALS OF KINGS: After a day off yesterday for the team, the Kings held a morning practice with the entire team earlier today at the Toyota Sports Performance Center.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper was the first out after today’s morning skate, making him the expected starter in net tonight against Minnesota. Kuemper picked up his sixth career win against the Wild on Saturday and brings with him a 6-7-2 record, .901 save percentage and 2.84 goals-against average throughout his career against Minnesota.

Based on today’s morning skate, here’s how the Kings should line up tonight against the Wild:

Laferrière – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Byfield – Army
Fiala – Turcotte – Kouzmenko
Malott-Helenius-Perry

Anderson-Doughty
Edmundson-Clarke
Dumoulin-Céci

Kuemper
Forsberg

Forward Trevor Moore is expected to miss his third straight game as he did not participate in line runs and was late for extra work this morning. Moore skated again this morning but no real update to provide, other than that he’s “close.” If the Kings are looking for additional changes, defenseman Jacob Moverare is an option to check in for the Kings.

WILD VITALS: Minnesota has just one regulation loss in its last 14 games, extended by a shootout loss to the Kings on Saturday. He is 10-1-3 over that span.

According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, here’s how Minnesota lined up this morning –

#mnwild lines

Kaprizov-Yurov-Zuccarello
Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Tarasenko-Hartman-Hinostroza
Foligno-Sturm-Trenin

Hughes-Pitlick***
Brodin-Spurgeon
Middleton-Kiersted***

No, Motsimo, Faber

Gustavsson should start

–Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 5, 2026

Forward Matt Boldy found the back of the net on Saturday, scoring goals in both games against the Kings so far this season. Boldy’s goal was his 26th overall for the 2025-26 season, ranking second in the NHL behind Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. Defenseman Brock Faber did not skate this morning but is expected to play tonight, according to Russo. Faber, a 2020 draft pick by Los Angeles, had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s game. Boldy and Faber will represent the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Scenario of the Day – Power Play Progression
I wrote what seemed like endless words about the LA Kings power play this season.

These comments have been almost universally negative. And rightly so, for a unit that has underperformed most of the season.

Perhaps, however, we are beginning to see a turning point for this unit. Along with Corey Perry’s power play goal Saturday against Minnesota, it marks four straight games with a power play goal, the first time this season the Kings have done that. A first time since Games 77 to 81 last season.

THE @LAKings have now scored a power play goal in four consecutive games. A first time since Games 78 to 81 last season.

The 92/55/22/96/10 unit is clicking very well, responsible for all five goals. As good as PP has been all season.

-Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) January 4, 2026

During that span, the Kings have scored a total of five goals. Perry led the way with two goals, while forwards Quinton Byfield, Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko each scored one. The common factor is that all five goals came from the same unit, with Brandt Clarke being the fifth member alongside the four attackers and all five players contributing.

Coming back from vacation, the Kings adopted a new approach to the power play. Rather than trying to create what they thought would be a PP1 and PP2, they separated their two most dangerous scorers, Fiala and striker Adrian Kempe. Jim Hiller said it simply. The unit that scores is the unit that will play.

Since Byfield’s goal against Anaheim, this unit has played an average of 6:36 per player, compared to 5:24 for the other unit. As Hiller said the other day, the unit above is currently the top unit and the other unit is playing “second fiddle” right now. This can certainly change, as the other unit finds the back of the net or production dries up. But for now, Hiller has stayed true to his word to reward the unit that produces.

So what went so well?

I think a lot of the success is due to putting the right combination of skills into the players who find their role in this unit.

“We know Perrs is around the net, we know Q is good down there and me, Kuzy and Kevin are working up top and that’s good,” Clarke said. “We can come from both ends, we channel pucks, we did it well and we collapse on loose pucks, preventing them from getting out of the zone. I think we’re doing all the right things right now.”

Byfield and Clarke highlighted Perry above all else and his role in net. He’s been doing it for 20 years, as Byfield says, and his presence encourages pucks to reach the net. Byfield is also the unit’s top puck-getter, although he is also capable of switching places with Fiala when situations call for it, as was the case Saturday when the Kings scored.

This leaves Fiala and Kuzmenko operating on the sides of the umbrella, with Clarke at the top. On Saturday, the Kings used a right side overload, not an umbrella, with Byfield and Fiala moving around to create space, which led to Byfield going higher while Fiala stayed on the right side, down low, to create a power play. I felt like earlier this season Kuzmenko and Perry sometimes struggled operating in the same unit earlier in the season because both players liked to play down low. This was not a problem since Kuzmenko was positioned a little higher in the area. He is able to run freely down the left flank or move into the middle and his goal came from a tighter angle, when he crashed low. He can also make plays from the circles, which allows Perry to play where he is most effective, in and around the net.

The combination of these five players has been as effective as the Kings have been on the power play so far this season. Four games is the smallest sample size, but the Kings are third in the NHL since the break with 38.5 percent. They won’t score every night, but keeping things at this pace will continue to help them score more goals as they have at 4.0 per game during this span.

3 To Watch –
– So the Kings played well against Minnesota on Saturday, especially offensively.

What is one thing they would like to clean?

“We really liked our game, and certainly the way we played in the o-zone,” Hiller said. “We gave up too much during the race, their D’s are active, the fourth guy is still there, especially with Faber and Hughes. Our F3, there were too many times where we lost our F3. If there’s one thing we can do better, it’s make sure they get results in their race, which is when they’re most dangerous.”

Looking at the Kings’ goals allowed, Minnesota’s third goal was an even-strength goal off the run with Faber on, just like Hiller described it. Joel Eriksson Ek’s goal was also off the mark, although it was a power play and more of a stretch pass than a true rushing attack.

Still, I think there’s a good point there. Keep the same approach offensively and try to clean up some things the other way, like what Hiller mentioned with F3, especially against a team with two elite defenders.

– I liked this quote from Alex Turcotte this morning about the team’s current situation –

“We talked about it a lot and I think we needed to have some tough conversations. I think everyone realizes that we’ve gotten a lot better as a team, individually as well. Just a mindset and being positive and kind of rinsing off the first half a little bit and moving on. I think we’ve kind of got a little less weight on our backs and we’re playing better. I hope we continue like that.”

I think the difficult conversations play into how I felt writing about the team yesterday. Turcotte added that the fact that the Kings didn’t qualify for the playoffs was “alarming” to some, but also that the team had known for a long time that it wasn’t playing up to par. I think the Kings meeting on Friday addressed some of the Kings’ concerns, things that we’ve certainly all seen. The upcoming schedule remains very difficult, so we’ll see how it goes. So far so good for night 1, hopefully something that continues into night 2.

– Finally, Insiders, another reminder about the LA Kings Insider Suite Night taking place on January 14th!

We will be in the Sky Box that evening, tickets are $56 each.

This is the first of two events of the season and we still have a few places left. Email me at zdooley@lakings.com for more information or feel free to visit this link HERE directly to purchase tickets for the Vegas game!

Kings and Wild will conclude the season series tonight. Los Angeles with a 1-0-1 record that they will look to extend to win the series overall.