LA Kings at Washington Capitals; Brandt Clarke Watch in D.C.

If there is one thing that can potentially get LA back on track, a six-game road trip should do the trick. It’s no secret the Kings have struggled on home ice this season, while looking like a completely different team on the road. Having dropped four straight, they’ll have a chance to right the ship this afternoon when the Kings pay a visit to the Capitals. Puck drop is scheduled for 12:00 Pacific.

Coach Todd McLellan continues to accentuate both the positive and negative over the team’s recent stretch, offering thoughts from both sides of the coin during his post-game press conferences. Following the team’s most recent loss on Thursday to Detroit (in a shootout), he talked about why the team hasn’t fared well in the ‘skills competition’ this year, putting it quite bluntly — “We’re not getting any saves and we’re not scoring goals, so the combination of those two things are a disaster in the shootout.”

Looking ahead, his group can take pride in the fact they have been so dominant at winning games in regulation on the road. Their overall game looks much more dangerous on the road, but especially on the power play. Quite frankly, they will need to have a successful road trip to stay afloat in the top of the Pacific Division given how poorly the month of December went at home.

Although McLellan has been tinkering with his forward lines coming out of the recent Christmas break, he has yet to switch things up defensively. That is expected to change at some point on this road trip, as the team brought rookie Brandt Clarke along for the ride. He was recalled earlier this week and has skated in two full practices with the club since then. He’s expected to draw in sometime soon. However, without a morning practice today, it isn’t known at this time if he’ll replace Jordan Spence vs. the Caps. Over the next five days, the Kings are scheduled to hold two additional practices (Monday and Wednesday). If McLellan thinks Clarke isn’t quite adjusted to things just yet, the coaching staff will have a few more opportunities to fine tune things with the 20-year-old defender before he makes his eventual season debut.

On the injury front, some unfortunate news was released regarding goaltender Pheonix Copley on Saturday:

REPORT: Copley Out for the Season, Kings Add Goalie Depth

Stats Worth Knowing

— Entering play this afternoon, the Kings have allowed just one power-play goal in their last 19 shorthanded situations against the Capitals, dating back to the 2019-20 season. During that time, the Kings have established a penalty killing percentage (PK%) of 94.7% (18-for-19), the highest in the league vs. Washington since the 2019-20 season.

— No team has a lower goals-against per game this season than the Kings (2.37 GA/GP).

— In the Kings last game away from SoCal (in Vegas last week), Anze Kopitar recorded the 199th goal of his career on the road, surpassing Dave Taylor (198) for the third most in franchise history and now sits one shy of becoming just the third Kings skater to eclipse the 200-goal mark on the road.

Kings Projected Lineup vs. Capitals

Byfield – Kopitar – Moore
Laferriere – Dubois – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Kaliyev
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Lewis

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence / Clarke

Talbot (starter)
Rittich

Likely scratches: Anderson-Dolan, Clarke

Injured: Arvidsson (LTIR), Copley (LTIR)

Key Game Info

Puck drop is set for 12:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised by Bally Sports.

Across the Ice

Washington is coming off a 6-2 loss to Carolina on Friday.

Here’s how they lined up for that one:

More on the Caps lineup situation:

On This Day in Kings History

RELATED CONTENT:

REPORT: Copley Out for the Season, Kings Add Goalie Depth

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