WHO: Los Angeles Kings (40-21-9) @ Colorado Avalanche (44-25-3)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Thursday, March 27 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Ball Arena – Denver, CO
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ESPN – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings
TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back on the road for a single game, as they visit the Colorado Avalanche for a Thursday-evening broadcast.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Avalanche will meet for the second time this season in Denver and the second of three meetings in total.
Forwards Adrian Kempe scored twice in a 4-2 defeat back in November, as the Kings saw a 2-1 lead ultimately turn into a 4-2 defeat. Forward Mikko Rantanen scored three of his team’s four goals and had the primary assist on the other, but has since been traded away from the Colorado organization.
KINGS VITALS: Following a travel day yesterday, the Kings held a mostly full morning skate today in Colorado.
Goaltender David Rittich will get the start between the pipes tonight for the Kings. Rittich brings a lifetime record of 5-6-0 against Colorado, with a .891 save percentage and a 3.37 goals-against average.
Here’s how the Kings appeared to line up this morning at Ball Arena –
Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe Foegele – Danault – Moore Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Malott – Helenius – Lewis
Anderson – (Burroughs) Gavrikov – Spence Edmundson – Clarke
Moverare – Thomas
Defenseman Drew Doughty did not skate today but that is to be expected as he manages his ankle injury.
On forwards Alex Turcotte and Tanner Jeannot, neither player made the trip here to Denver and naturally neither will play tonight against the Avalanche.
Expecting forward Jeff Malott to make his LA Kings debut this evening in place of Jeannot, skating on the fourth line with forwards Samuel Helenius and Trevor Lewis. More on Malott below.
AVALANCHE VITALS: Since March 1, Colorado has posted a record of 9-1-1 and enters tonight on a three-game winning streak, most recently over Detroit by a 5-2 scoreline on Tuesday.
Per Colorado’s team account, here’s how the hosts lined up against the Red Wings –
Line ’em up! #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/qtXpd68PHO
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) March 26, 2025
Forward Nathan MacKinnon collected three assists in the first game of the season between the Kings and Avalanche. MacKinnon has 34 points (13-21-34) from 32 career games played against the Kings.
Storyline Of The Day – A Pretty Exciting Opportunity
Talk about an opportunity.
Thanks to a 9-1-0 run over their last 10 games, the Kings have vaulted into second place in the Pacific Division. Win or lose tonight, they’ll remain there when they wake up tomorrow. But consider the stakes here.
Last night, the Edmonton Oilers took on the Dallas Stars without forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Without their two best players, the Oilers were coming off a win over Seattle but came up just short against another cup contender versus the Stars. That leaves the Kings two points ahead of the Oilers with a game in hand. Both teams play tonight, with the Kings in Colorado and Edmonton visiting Seattle for the return fixture from earlier in the week.
If you take it back to November, the Kings came into this building and played an excellent first period, exiting with a 2-1 lead. In the second, they did not record a shot on goal before they eventually fell in the third period. Kind of reflective of what we’ve seen at times from the Kings, who lead the NHL in fewest goals allowed in the first period this season but have a negative differential in the second.
The Kings have had measuring-stick games before and they’ve largely handled them gracefully, winning far more often than they haven’t.
Tonight, though, is an opportunity to not just keep pace but to pull ahead. All season, as the Kings have strung together wins, trying to catch or pass Edmonton or Vegas, those teams have matched them, point for point. Now the Kings have the opportunity to pull four points ahead in the standings, if things go their way both in Colorado and Washington. But it will not be easy.
The Kings are in Denver, a building they lost in earlier this season and last season. A building in which Colorado posted the NHL’s best home record last season, a title the Kings are eager to take here in 2024-25. It won’t be easy, certainly, but what an exciting opportunity.
“I look at it as the opportunity to beat what many people think is the hottest or best team in the NHL and that’s Colorado,” Head Coach Jim Hiller said. “We’re not really getting into the situation too much of scoreboard watching too much, with the number of games that are remaining, but we’ve got our sights focused on Colorado, because that will require enough mental energy. They’re a heck of a hockey club.”
The Kings are 20-11-2 against current playoff teams this season, so they’ve answered the bell a number of times. They’ve won games in Vegas, Winnipeg and Carolina but they’ve naturally done the bulk of their damage in Los Angeles, where they’ve been the league’s best team, with 15 of those 20 wins coming on home ice. That makes tonight’s game a little bit different.
So, the Kings are certainly expecting a test. They know they’ll get one. But they also don’t fear a test. They believe that they present a test as well, whether at home or on the road, and that should make tonight’s game a really interesting one. When the Kings play the right way, they’re a really difficult team to play against and a hard team to beat. While Colorado carries the stigma of a cup contender and the Kings carry one of a team yet to get over the hump, they enter the evening separated by just three points in the standings.
I think those stigmas are deserved, mind you, because they are earned based off of playoff performances. But the Kings do consider themselves to be a team that causes problems for others and that’s a good thing. They might not yet have the pedigree of a team ready to push, but they believe they are that team inside the room. With an opportunity to pull away by just a bit, and every point so critical down the stretch, opportunity awaits this evening. A grand opportunity at that.
“We’ve already talked about it this morning, how Colorado is known as one of the best teams in the league, so we’ve got to bring our A-Game tonight and we’re looking forward to it,” defenseman Joel Edmundson said. “We haven’t been happy with our road record, so we’re looking to change that tonight.”
3 To Watch For –
– On Malott, he has one career NHL game to his name, played with the Winnipeg Jets during the 2021-22 season.
Heard from a few different people over the last month or two that he’s been the guy at the AHL level who could potentially come up and make an impact. He certainly looks the part. He has size and a willingness to use it and it’s not like he can’t play the game to go along with it. He’s got 23 goals in the AHL and has already cracked 50 points. He’s got six goals and nine points in the last eight Reign games and 13 goals and 20 points over his last 20 games.
He’s been pretty solid at the AHL level. Now he will get a crack at the NHL level for the first time since the 2021-22 season.
“He had a really good training camp with us, went and played exhibition games, got into a fight in Sal Lake right away and he’s continued to have a great season in Ontario,” Hiller said. “I’ve talked to Marco [Sturm] quite a bit about him and what you see is what you get. Pretty consistent, night after night. He’s physical and he’s got 20-some odd goals, he’s going to the net. Really excited, he’s going to play tonight, we want to get a look at him, just go out and play.”
That was the mindset Malott himself took as well.
As he summarized, at the end of the day, it’s just a hockey game. He got up, took the morning skate, he’ll eat the pre-game meal and then he will show up and do what he does.
Though only his second NHL game, he’s not overwhelmed by the moment at all. He admitted to a mix of nerves and excitement this morning, but he’s really just excited to not only get into another NHL game, but to do so in such a pivotal moment.
“Just try to use my size, try to be big, physical, get to the net and try to be responsible. I try to be a systematic player,” Malott said of his approach. “All year, I’ve been in a top role with Ontario, but kind of just doing the same things, trying to be responsible and trying to help win hockey games. I don’t think there’s much to change, just try to play big and be physical.”
Simple enough. Excited to get a look at Malott tonight against the Avalanche.
– Regarding forwards Tanner Jeannot and Alex Turcotte, as noted above, neither player made the trip to Colorado with the team.
In Jeannot’s case, that was known after Tuesday’s game versus New York. For Turcotte, it was not known at the time, but he also did not make the trip.
In terms of an update from today, Jim Hiller shared the following –
On the day-to-day timeline, I want to stress the clarifier that both are day-to-day right now. With Jeannot, he is day-to-day “as we sort things out” per Hiller. That makes sense. If there is any unknown with Jeannot’s status, it doesn’t make sense to speculate for Hiller. Should have a firm update soon, but for now, he is day-to-day, alongside Turcotte.
This is awful timing, because I really liked the way that line was playing. Wrote about it several times this month. I thought the Kings were not just getting competent play from their fourth line, but impactful play. The were on the ice together for four goals for, compared to two against, and they controlled just shy of 60 percent of scoring chances when on the ice. Aggressive on the forecheck, tenacious in recovering pucks and they helped set the tone by playing at the right end of the ice.
For now, that line is not available. The Kings need others to step up and play that way to fill the void. Whether it’s getting even more from Samuel Helenius, an elevated level from Trevor Lewis, some minutes from Akil Thomas or the contributions of the newly recalled Jeff Malott, the Kings have to find a way to make that line work. For the time being, they’ll have to do it without two key members.
“We had all talked glowingly about that line and now, all of a sudden, there’s only one man standing in Helenius,” Hiller added. “It changes quick in hockey and we’ve got to try to find some chemistry with some othr guys.”
– Lastly, sharing a bit of a future focus, with the latest In The Pipeline video.
The focus today is on Jared Wright, James Reeder and Kenny Connors, who are three of 10 Kings prospects to get postseason play underway tonight or tomorrow between the NCAA and CHL. Jack Jablonski, who hosts the video, had more on all 10 players yesterday, LINKED HERE.
Long preview today, but there’s lots to discuss! Kings and Avalanche, should be a fun one tonight and the Kings continue to push towards home ice in Round 1.
