WHO: Los Angeles Kings (15-12-9) vs. Anaheim Ducks (21-14-2)
WHAT: 2025 Regular-Season Game 37/82
WHEN: Saturday, December 27 @ 6:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA 710, ESPN LA App & LA Kings App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings return to action tonight coming out of the NHL’s holiday break, as they host the Anaheim Ducks for the second Freeway Faceoff of the season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings got six points from their blueline when these teams met back in November, led by a goal from defenseman Joel Edmundson and multi-assist games from Brandt Clarke and Brian Dumoulin. Forward Kevin Fiala also scored in that game, giving him 15 goals against Anaheim since 2020, tied for the third most in the NHL, trailing only Adrian Kempe and Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, who have each scored 16.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate earlier today, coming off three consecutive days off for the holiday break.

With goaltender Darcy Kuemper still working his way back from an upper-body injury that has sidelined him for the last four games, look for Anton Forsberg to get the start tonight between the pipes. Forsberg has strong December splits, with a .910 save percentage and 2.80 goals-against average, despite a 1-3-1 record in that time.

For reference, here’s how the Kings lined up last time out versus Seattle on Tuesday –

Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –

Laferriere – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Byfield – Foegele
Fiala – Turcotte – Kuzmenko
Armia – Helenius – Perry

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci

Copley
Forsberg

— Jared Shafran (@jaredshafran) December 24, 2025

The above lineup represented the same 18 skaters as Tuesday’s loss to Columbus, but with the forward lines moved around a bit in search of more offensive contributions. Should the Kings look to make any changes to that alignment, forward Jeff Malott and defenseman Jacob Moverare are available to check in.

DUCKS VITALS: Anaheim is tied for the division lead entering tonight’s game, though it’s lost five of its last seven coming into the contest.

Per the Ducks team account, here’s how tonight’s visitors lined up last time out, on Monday against the Kraken –

Leo Carlsson is out with a lower-body injury. Here’s who we fly with. #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/2OB9tC99b7

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) December 23, 2025

Forward Leo Carlsson, Anaheim’s number-one center, missed his team’s last game before the break with a lower-body injury but is expected to return for tonight’s game in Los Angeles. Carlsson had three points (1-2-3) when these teams met back in November. Anaheim also got two goals from the blueline in that game, as Owen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov each found the back of the net in the Ducks shootout victory.

Storyline Of The Day – LA Kings Power Play, A New Look
An interesting approach here for the Kings on the power play.

Don’t expect to see Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala on the same unit. First time this season we’ve seen that to my knowledge. Think it mixed in during the Kraken game on Tuesday and it’ll continue tonight, coming off of morning skate today when the Kings had everyone on the ice, as we saw two very defined and evenly split units.

Doughty – Kempe – Armia – Kopitar – Laferriere
Clarke – Fiala – Kuzmenko – Byfield – Perry

The Kings rank 31st in the NHL at 13.5 percent on the power play this season, so any change makes sense. What I liked that Jim Hiller talked about this morning was the word competition. There is not a PP1 and a PP2 right now. The units are balanced between who you would think is a PP1 player versus a PP2 player. The unit that scores will start and for Hiller, it’s as simple as that to try and help a struggling group.

“[We’re] trying to make it more competitive between the two units and see if we can’t get one of them to get hot,” Hiller said. “You get hot, you get scoring and you go, there’s not 1A/1B, it’s whoever is producing gets the opportunity to get up there and go first. Everybody wants to go first on the power play, that’s the big carrot. So, let’s see who can get up there and score and earn the opportunity.”

I also like the word that he used there at the end – earn.

My guess would be that Kopitar’s unit starts the first power play, considering his prowess in the faceoff circle, but without a goal, I wouldn’t expect that unit to get 90 seconds of each power play. Feels like it’ll be a split, until one unit scores or one unit clearly goes out and creates more chances. Then that unit will get the first go on the power play. It feels almost overly simplistic and it’s not the approach you often see. Again, though. 13.5 percent, 31st in the NHL.

“I think that’s what the plan is, if one unit gets really hot and it’s scoring a couple goals in a row, they’re going to keep rolling out and I think we all understand that, that’s how that works,” Clarke said. “As of right now, I think we’re just kind of jumbling it up, seeing what works, throwing stuff at the wall and we’re just going to see if it works out. Obviously we’re all good players and both units have really high-end skill on it, so we’re just going to try to do the best we can. If one unit gets hot, they’re going to roll and that’s just how it’s going to go.”

Each unit has a defenseman at the top in Clarke and Doughty. Each unit has one of the team’s top scorers in Kempe and Fiala, with both players likely to be put into shooting positions, something you can’t always do when they play together. Each unit also has a center, a right-shot forward on the side and a right-shot forward in front of the net.

So, it’s balanced in just about every way. Should be a similar mentality, a similar mindset for the Kings regardless of which unit is on the ice.

“I think it just goes back to simplifying things and I think giving a little switch up and changing things up just shows you that you just have to simplify things and stick to what works and that’s getting pucks on net and creating havoc,” Laferriere added. “I think on both units now we have unbelievable net-front guys and we want to get the puck to those guys, so anytime we can get the puck around the net, good things are going to happen. I can’t talk to why they switched it up, but I think for us, it’s about just sending us a little message to simplify things and get pucks to the net.”

Certainly can’t hurt. At the very least, it’s something new and something to look for as the Kings hit the ice 5-on-4 tonight.

3 To Watch For –
– Darcy Kuemper watch continues.

Kuemper was on the ice this morning with the Kings for morning skate, as he joined the group after starting netminder Anton Forsberg hit the ice.

Previously, Kuemper had returned to the ice at the start of the week, working 1-on-1 with Kings goaltending coach Mike Buckley. The pair was on the ice then before practice, the first time we saw Kuemper taking shots since he left the lineup with an upper-body injury. Now, he was in a bit of a larger group, though he wasn’t participating in the full skate. He worked more with the extras, after most guys had left the ice.

Logistically, the Kings have an open roster spot to activate Kuemper when he is ready, even without assigning goaltender Pheonix Copley to the AHL. So, when he is ready, they could bring him back despite a roster freeze that remains in place until tomorrow. However, doesn’t seem like it’ll be tonight for Kuemper, with Anton Forsberg expected to get the start between the pipes this evening.

“It’s hard to give you guys anything outside of the more you see him out there, the more he progresses, the more it’s shooting and you get into practice, then obviously the closer we get,” Hiller said today. “I don’t want to say too much, because you just never know.”

So, we continue to wait. Kuemper is a big part of this team, especially when you consider the dearth of offensive production. With an extremely difficult slate of games upcoming, the Kings will hope to have Kuemper back as soon as he’s ready, without rushing him and further complicating anything down the road.

– The three days off presented an opportunity for the Kings to get away from it a little bit.

“I think for everybody, it’s been well documented, it’s been a grind, based on record and not winning as much as we’d like, based on how tight the games have been,” Hiller said. “I think that was probably beneficial for everybody. We’re refreshed, so let’s roll.”

The team has lost six of its last seven games, scoring two or fewer goals in all seven games, including the 2-1 win over Tampa Bay. Getting away from the rink a bit I think did everybody a lot of good. Proof will be in the pudding tonight, certainly.

But this morning, things felt good around the group.

“It was nice to just debrief for a little bit and just kind of get away from the game,” Clarke said. “Now, getting back to it tonight, it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be intense, so we want to beat these guys really badly. I think that elevates everyone’s game and hopefully things go well.”

It was a few days of time spent with family, away from the rink. No one was at the rink, no team practices, no games. That goes for all 32 teams around the league, not just the Kings. Hopefully here, it’s a break that can benefit the Kings more than most, with a potential to reset things mentally tonight against the Ducks.

– Lastly, just wanted to add in that I will have an email going out about Insider Suite Night on Monday! Will be ready to take payment and processing then.

As a reminder, the Suite Night will be held in the Sky Box at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday, January 14 against Vegas. The cost per person will be $56. Please reach out at zdooley@lakings.com if you would like to attend and haven’t contacted me just yet! If I haven’t answered your email just yet, I will do so in due time, but I have received it!

Have already gotten a ton of interest and looking forward to another fun evening!

Kings and Ducks, tonight at 6 PM at Crypto.com Arena. Start of a very tricky run for the Kings, which they’d do well to kick off with two points.