Red Wings chase a struggling Kings defense, seeking to exploit defensive gaps and build on recent momentum. McLellan faces his former club in a high-stakes matchup.
The Detroit Red Wings kick off their California swing Thursday night with a late tilt against the Los Angeles Kings. Riding high after a dominant home-and-home sweep of the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, Detroit enters the matchup with a scorching 7-3-0 record and momentum to burn.
Meanwhile, the Kings, who’ve had more eyes on Los Angeles in the World Series than their own blue line, are seeing cracks in their once-reliable defensive foundation. Known for their structured, low-event style (even earning a “boring” label from Chicago’s Connor Bedard), LA has struggled to contain opponents, surrendering three or more goals in eight of their first 11 games and four-plus goals in six of those contests. Their 5-3-3 record has been buoyed by timely offense, but the defensive lapses are hard to ignore. They enter Thursday with two straight wins looking to make it three.
Detroit hasn’t been immune to defensive woes either, allowing 19 goals over their last four outings. Expect the Kings to make this a hard fought game as they will look to show up their former bench boss in Detroit’s Todd McLellan, who helped initially set up the Kings’ fierce defensive system.
Lineup Storylines
The last time McLellan squared off against his former team was last January as the team caught fire with seven straight wins following his hire. They hosted the Kings while the Red Wings had a 10-3-1 record at the time under McLellan and Detroit stayed hot. After suffering two first period goals, they quickly recovered and rattled off five unanswered goals to win 5-2 with superstar Lucas Raymond collecting four points on the night.
The Kings enter this season with a slightly different look after making some unexpected veteran additions in the offseason. Los Angeles brought in Corey Perry, Joel Armia, Brian Dumoulin, and Cody Ceci, but the defensive results have been underwhelming.
Dumoulin has been on the ice for ten goals against, nine at even strength and one on the power play. Ceci has allowed nine goals, all at even strength, while another veteran on the team in Joel Edmundson has also been on for nine, split between five on the power play and four at even strength.
All three trail Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson, who handle top penalty kill duties and face tougher matchups. Even so, Dumoulin and Ceci have posted the worst even-strength goal differentials on the team at -4 and -5 respectively.
The Red Wings will look to capitalize on those matchups, though they have defensive concerns of their own to worry about. Rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka, a 20-year-old Swedish blueliner, has the worst even-strength goal differential on the team at -8 this season. That mark ranks sixth worst among NHL defensemen and ties him with Minnesota’s Zeev Buium.
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DET ML (+118) | LAK ML (-143)
DET +1.5 (-200) | LAK -1.5 (+165)
O/U 6.0 Goals
The Red Wings have won three of their last four matchups against the Kings with 14 total goals scored in their trio of victories. However, prior to their recent run of success, LA had dominated this matchup with wins in nine of their prior ten matchups.
Despite the Kings being known for their defense, these two clubs have totaled seven or more goals in six of their last seven matchups as well as eight or more goals in three of their last seven matchups. It’ll be a tightly contested game as both teams are looking to continue their winning ways with only one team being able to prevail.
it had a much better defensive effort Tuesday when they allowed just two goals to the Blues, marking the first time they allowed under three goals in three games. If they can replicate the level of play they showed last January, coupled with the success of Tuesday’s win, they could be poised for a surprising victory away from home.
Detroit will be counting on even more leadership from their captain, as Dylan Larkin continues to set the tone with a stellar start to the season. The Michigan native has racked up eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in just ten games, and he’ll aim to extend his solid history against the Kings. Over his last 12 meetings with LA, Larkin has posted six goals and five assists, including a recent surge with four goals and three assists across their last five matchups.
The Kings will look to respond with a healthy dose of Adrian Kempe as LA’s leading scorer has been lethal to start the season with five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 11 games. The 29-year-old Swedish winger has built a reputation as a scoring threat throughout his career, and his recent track record against Detroit backs it up, he’s found the back of the net in six of his last ten meetings with the Red Wings, racking up eight goals and two assists for a point-per-game pace over that span.
