TONIGHT’S MATCH: The Kings continue their pre-season exhibition games for the 2024 season with a trip to Vegas to take on the Golden Knights in their second exhibition game of the week.

DIRECT: The Kings went 1-1-1 during the regular season against Vegas last year, and tonight is the first game of the 2024 preseason against the Golden Knights. Of those expected tonight, forward Trevor Moore led the team with two goals in three games against Vegas last season.

KING’S VITALITY: It appears the Kings will be a much more experienced team in the desert tonight.

On the goaltending side, Darcy Kuemper is expected to get the start between the posts. This would be Kuemper’s first appearance with the Kings since being acquired in a trade from Washington over the summer. Kuemper is expected to be paired with Carter George, who made his NHL preseason debut on Monday at Utah. George stopped all six shots he faced in the third period and gave up a goal in 3-on-3 overtime.

With the group below, the Kings are expected to be far more experienced tonight than they were Monday in Utah. While we won’t see Anze Kopitar, we will see Drew Doughty make his preseason debut, along with the entire top four of Mikey Anderson, Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence. We also expect to see the entire middle six in action, with Phillip Danault’s line and Quinton Byfield’s line all making the trip.

All in all a much more experienced group, even if not the full player pool we would expect on opening night. Today’s gaming group is below –

Attackers (12) – Byfield, Danault, Fiala, Foegele, Gawdin, Jamsen, Jeannot, Laferriere, Lee, Madden, Moore, Turcotte

Defenders (6) – Anderson, Burroughs, Doughty, Gavrikov, Spence, Woolley

Goalkeepers (2) – George, Kuemper

As for that group, I expect the Jeannot/Danault/Moore line and the Fiala/Danault/Foegele lines to see action. They’ve skated together every day of training camp so far and there’s no reason to suspect they won’t be playing together again tonight. The bottom six is ​​less clear, but it’s another great opportunity for an Alex Turcotte to show his improvement and for a player like Andre Lee to push for NHL looks. Both have impressed in camp and both are players to watch.

On the back end, the pairings feel simple – Doughty/Anderson, Gavrikov/Spence, Woolley/Burroughs. It will be Woolley’s first career NHL preseason game, making him the third member of the 2024 draft class to appear in a game this fall.

VEGAS INFORMATION: The Golden Knights won their season opener 4-2 away at San Jose on Sunday.

According to Sin Bin Vegas, this is the expected lineup of the hosts for tonight:

Here you see the group of players on the ice for the morning skating match. They will probably play tonight as well.

Holtz-Hertl-Roy
Brisson-Quinney-Pearson
Dorofeyev-Laczynski-Denisenko
Cataford-Sapovoliv-AstonReese

Theodore-Pietragelo
The Hague-Hanifin
McNabb-Whitecloud

Samsonov
Linden bomb

— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 25, 2024

A fair number of veterans are in action for Vegas, including what could be their NHL defensive line on Day 1. Up front, it’s largely a younger group, but also features forward Tomas Hertl on the top line. Former Kings winger Tanner Pearson, who is in camp with the Golden Knights on a PTO, is also dressing for Vegas.

Notes –
New look, new line
Tonight marks the first game for two new-look lines for the LA Kings.

Today we dive into Tanner Jeannot’s debut in an LA Kings jersey, as he skates alongside Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore. Jeannot brings a different approach than Viktor Arvidsson, but he seems to fit the approach that Danault and Moore bring to that line. While Jeannot and Arvidsson are different players, neither Danault nor Moore feels it changes the identity of their line.

Moor – I think our identity is working hard and then creating plays based on that hard work, I don’t think we were a float around line anyway. I think it’s a little bit different, (Jeannot) wants to get to the net a little bit more, which might allow us to do some things high up, but we’ll see. I think it’s been good so far.

Danault – “It’s an adjustment, but he’s hungry and we’re just going to work as hard as we can to play our game, that’s not going to change. Everyone adjusts and once you work, everyone shines. That’s not going to change at all.”

Jeannot is here in turn to play his game.

He’s scored 24 goals in a season before, so he’s done that. Still, he’s not the type of playmaker that Arvidsson was, but as Moore pointed out, Arvidsson was a worker too and that change doesn’t change the approach of the line as a whole.

“You can see they have that chemistry, they always know where they are,” Jeannot said. “I see them dancing around with the puck all the time, so I just try to be in a good spot and create space for them. They do a good job of that on their own, but I just want to add my own element to it. Be tough with the forecheck, maybe get a few more pucks in their hands and go to the net, be that extra piece that the other team has to worry about. It’s a lot of fun to play with them.”

This is an important phrase for the Kings, for a number of reasons.

Strength in the middle only works when it’s three lines at that level. Danault brings a two-way game that allows him to shine in a few different roles. He has last season’s top scorer on his wing and the addition of Jeannot offers another element as the third member of the line.

I’m curious to see how they do tonight.

Spen-sational
It’s a big season for defender Jordan Spence.

Last season was a step forward for the young defenseman, but this season will require another one. Given the way the summer went, the Kings are counting on Spence and Brandt Clarke to make strides on the right side of the defensive line to become not just NHL regulars, but NHL contributors. The Kings need those guys to play at that level, and both are capable of doing so.

“I was pretty happy with my season last year, but I think I can still go to another level,” Spence said. “I just want to be a complete player in the defensive zone, even the offensive zone. I think I’m more confident this year, so I’m really excited to get started.”

It’s encouraging to hear him talk about both ends of the ice, because the Kings need that growth in both zones.

Offensively, Spence ranked second among Kings defensemen with 22 assists, but he scored just two goals, his first on March 15. Spence has a good shot and is capable of scoring more than two goals. He knows it. The Kings also need to replace the defensive responsibilities of Matt Roy, who has played challenging matchups next to Vladislav Gavrikov. Spence’s offensive potential is higher, but he’s not yet at Roy’s level defensively.

He knows what Roy has to offer and is working to improve his own game to match that.

“At the end of the day, everybody wants to win and I just want to be the player that I am and show that on the ice, be good in all the zones,” Spence said. “Royzie, he’s a great player, so for me, I just have to improve my game, play good defense like he did last season and obviously help out in the o-zone and try to contribute as much as I can.”

During the first five days of training camp, as well as tonight’s game, Spence will work alongside the experienced Vladislav Gavrikov.

Gavrikov is experienced and more defensively oriented, but offers a two-way play, excelling in the neutral zone with an active defensive stick. He can also move pucks, and a Gavrikov/Spence pairing projects more as a two-way duo. It’s still early, and tonight will be the first time we’ll see that pairing against non-domestic competition, but Spence is optimistic about the partnership.

“It’s been great, I think I played with him a couple times last year and we played really well together,” Spence added. “Right now we’re just trying to build more chemistry, talk a lot on the ice, communicate, but even last year we talked a lot off the ice. I think we’re really good friends, so I think we just have to keep going on the ice, keep playing well together, keep communicating, and I think good things will happen.”

Kings and Golden Knights tonight at 7:00 p.m. The game is on ESPN LA, AM 710 and on NHL Network with the Vegas broadcast. I will be in Vegas for my preseason debut, full coverage to follow the game!