TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings continue their three-game homestand here tonight, with the Dallas Stars in town for the first time this season.

HEAD TO HEAD: Dallas won each of the three games played between the teams last season by a combined score of 13-3.

Kings forward Kevin Fiala scored in two of the three games against the Stars, the only King expected to play tonight who had multiple points against Dallas last season. Over the course of his NHL career, Fiala has 20 points (10-10-20) in 27 games played against the Stars.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings hosted an optional morning skate with the entire team today following yesterday’s practice.

Look for goaltender David Rittich to start for the Kings tonight, his seventh start in the team’s last eight games played. Rittich has a lifetime record of 2-3-1 against Dallas, with a .912 save percentage and a 2.50 goals-against average.

Here is the projected lineup for tonight, based on yesterday’s practice:

Moore – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Byfield – Jeannot
Fiala – Danault – Laferrière
Helenius – Turcotte – (Lee)

Anderson-Gavrikov
Edmundson-Clarke
Moverare – Spence
(Burroughs)

Rittich
Kümper

When speaking to Jim Hiller this morning, he referred to an 11/7 alignment as a “possibility” for today’s game. It looked like Kyle Burroughs got off work early while Andre Lee was late due to extra work. This could be a game-time decision though as it didn’t sound final, but I would go for an 11/7 look on line rushes today. If not, I would contact Lee to ask again on the fourth line. Anyway, this player comes in for Trevor Lewis, who is out in 2025 with a lower-body injury and was placed on injured reserve today.

In net, goaltender Darcy Kuemper was brought off injured reserve this evening and will serve as Rittich’s backup goaltender this evening.

STARS VITALS: Dallas enters today’s game on a three-game winning streak, which was last extended on Monday with a 2-1 victory over the Utah Hockey Club.

According to Mike Heika of DallasStars.com, the visitors lined up like this last time:

Stars warming up:

Robertson-Hintz-Johnston
Marchment-Duchene-Stankoven
Benn Steel Dadonov
Bakery Bourque Blackwell

Heiskanen-Lyubushkin
Lindell-Lundkvist
Harley Dumba

DeSmith

— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) December 3, 2024

Dallas forward and California native Jason Robertson led the Kings with five points (1-4-5) during the 2023-24 season. The Arcadia, California, native has 12 points (5-7-12) in eight career games against Los Angeles. Striker Wyatt Johnston scored three goals in the three head-to-head games last season, leading all Stars players.

Dallas will be without forward Tyler Seguin tonight. The team announced that Seguin will be out four to six months with a hip injury.

Action of the day – Mass week
The Dallas Stars wore the Kings’ number last season. The gap in these three games felt pretty big. The Stars outscored the Kings 13-3 in three meetings that ultimately weren’t particularly hard-fought, all resulting in Dallas victories. Coming into Saturday’s game is a Minnesota team that the Kings have handled quite well on the road, but is currently on a four-game winning streak and sits atop the Western Conference with 38 points. Two very high-profile tests.

If you still think the Kings haven’t performed well against the higher caliber teams, then this is the week to keep an eye on. It’s been a mixed bag in these games so far: The Kings are 3-4-1 against teams currently in a playoff spot. Last week’s win over Winnipeg was convincing, joining the win over Minnesota and the win over Vegas before that, but last month there were losses in Calgary and Colorado and a couple of lopsided defeats before that that pushed that record down.

So what is it?

Suppose we find out soon enough.

“It’s always fun playing against these top teams, you always want the challenge and you know you have to give your best, that’s what makes it exciting,” said goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper. “We’re going to meet everyone (eventually), so this is a good test for the group and these are the games that make you better.”

The Kings certainly struggled with inconsistency in the early stages of the season. The recent low point was the 7-2 defeat in San Jose on November 25th. At the time, I thought there would be a lot of comparisons to the 6-0 loss in Buffalo in the 2022-23 season. In both games, the Kings went into the third half tied and conceded more than 5 goals. Both teams struggled for consistency, but both teams followed that loss with a win over the team that leads the NHL in points. This year it was Winnipeg.

That season, the Kings went on a 10-2-1 run over the next 13 games, transforming them from inconsistent middle ground into a solid playoff team. Included in that stretch were wins over Boston, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton and Vegas, teams that had the best point total (BOS) in the league and the four highest point totals in the Western Conference. So far, the Kings have a 3-0-0 record following the loss in San Jose, but now they face a very difficult December.

The test begins today with two home games here against Dallas and Minnesota, with the primary focus being on today’s opponent.

“They are two top teams in the league. “Obviously they’ve made it to the Western Conference finals tonight with Dallas in two of the last three years, so they’re a contender,” forward Warren Foegele said. “It’s a big step for us and a nice challenge today to measure where we stand.”

The Kings will begin the test on home ice, where they have done their best so far this season. The Kings are 8-2-1 on home ice this season, which is the fourth-best record in the NHL by win percentage. Under Jim Hiller, the record is 22-5-2, for a winning percentage of .793, the best in the NHL. Those numbers will be put to the test this week against two quality opponents.

“They’re obviously a really good team there, we know they have strengths, they’re a really fast team, they’re very good at attacking and they take up time and space pretty well,” added striker Tanner Jeannot. “We watched a video on it, we know our job and what we have to do, go out there and execute.”

3 to watch out for –
– 11/7, question mark?

However, based on this morning’s skate, it looks like it could be heading in that direction.

Jim Hiller has said in the past that he prefers the 11/7 alignment in some situations. It gives him a lot of flexibility up front and allows his top forwards extra shifts and more ice time.

“I played a lot of 11 forwards last year so I’m really comfortable with that, it’s almost a preference sometimes to be honest,” Hiller said.

The downside is on the backend, where the third pairing on the blueline in particular sees minute production.

“Seven, that shortens the ice time of not only the seventh defenseman, but probably the five and six and maybe a little bit for the four as well,” he added today.

The 11/7 is a preferred forward option and probably less so on the blueline. If the Kings go that route tonight, it’s likely that Kyle Burroughs will play his first game since November 7th against Vancouver. See how it works.

– Congratulations to Kings striker Adrian Kempe, who was today selected as a member of the Swedish team for the upcoming 4-nation faceoff in February.

Congratulations to @adriankempe for the naming @Trekronorse for the 4-nation faceoff in February 🇸🇪

In addition, Head Equipment Manager Darren Granger has been appointed @HockeyCanada staff, while goalkeeping coach Mike Buckley was appointed @usahockey Coaching staff! pic.twitter.com/Be96cVrzTJ

– LA Kings (@LAKings) December 4, 2024

Kempe was the only Kings player selected at the time and will represent his home country of Sweden for the first time in an international best-on-best format. Kempe has represented Sweden at the international senior level four times at the IIHF World Championships, winning a gold medal in 2018 and a bronze medal in 2024. Kempe scored a total of 25 points (6-19-25) in his four tournaments, the fourth-most all-time among active Swedish players.

The rosters for Team Sweden and Team Finland were announced today, with Team Canada and Team USA following in a few hours. Former Kings defenseman Olli Maatta was part of the Finnish contingent wanting to take part, while former Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson will join Kempe on the Swedish team.

– Information that has already been revealed, but Kempe will be accompanied at the tournament by two Kings employees – goalkeeping coach Mike Buckley and head equipment manager Darren Granger.

Buckley will be part of Mike Sullivan’s team at Team USA, while Granger will be part of Team Canada’s training squad. For Buckley it is his first international coaching experience. Granger won the gold medal with Team Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics and was on the bench at four IIHF World Championships and the 1996 Ice Hockey World Championship.

Congratulations to all three. More on this will follow tomorrow once we have the opportunity to speak to Kempe about joining Team Sweden!

Kings and Stars, national game on TNT from the Crypto.com Arena. See how things are going in the building with one of the best teams in the league.