WHO: Los Angeles Kings (23-17-13) @ Carolina Hurricanes (33-15-6)
WHAT: 2025 Regular-Season Game 54/82
WHEN: Sunday, February 1 @ 12:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Lenovo Center – Raleigh, NC
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 have an opportunity to match their season-high for wins on a roadtrip as they conclude a five-game swing this afternoon in Carolina.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forwards Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield had multi-point games last season in Carolina, coming in a 4-2 Kings victory. Fiala scored twice in that game, with Byfield assisting on both goals. Both players have five points over the last two seasons against Carolina, with Fiala burying four goals and Byfield collecting four assists.
KINGS VITALS: Between the back-to-back and the early puck drop today, the Kings did not hold a morning skate today in Raleigh.
After Darcy Kuemper had the net yesterday in Philadelphia, would expect to see Anton Forsberg this afternoon against the Hurricanes. Forsberg made 36 saves when these teams met in Los Angeles back in October, a season-high for the Swedish netminder. Forsberg played three games as a member of the Hurricanes during the 2019-20 season.
Posting yesterday’s lineup below for reference –
Today’s @LAKings Line Rushes –
Moore – Kopitar – Armia
Perry – Laferriere – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Kuzmenko
Malott – Helenius – Ward
Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci
Kuemper
Forsberg
— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) January 31, 2026
Not necessarily expecting any changes today for the Kings, though it is unclear without the benefit of a morning skate. The Kings have forwards Warren Foegele and Kenny Connors available, as well as defenseman Jacob Moverare, should they opt to make any adjustments after yesterday’s win in Philadelphia.
HURRICANES VITALS: Like the Kings, Carolina comes into today’s game on a back-to-back, after a 4-3 overtime loss yesterday in Washington against the Capitals.
Per Walt Ruff of CarolinaHurricanes.com, here’s how tonight’s hosts lined up yesterday in DC –
No surprises for the #Canes during warmups at Capital One Arena –
Svechnikov – Aho – Jarvis
Hall – Stankoven – Blake
Ehlers – Staal – Martinook
Carrier – Jankowski – Kotkaniemi
Slavin – Chatfield
Miller – Walker
Gostisbehere – Nikishin
Andersen pic.twitter.com/d2yvlW1r1R
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) January 31, 2026
The Hurricanes have points in 12 of their last 13 games, posting a 9-1-3 record in that span. Carolina captain Jordan Staal led the Hurricanes with two goals in the 4-3 overtime win at Crypto.com Arena back in October. Former Kings defenseman Sean Walker has played in all 52 games this season for Carolina, totaling 14 points (4-10-14) from the backend, along with a team-high 47 penalty minutes.
Storyline Of The Day – Good To See You, Cap
January 31 in Philadelphia was a date that had been circled on the Kopitar family calendar.
As forward Anze Kopitar worked through an injury that came with it a series of day-to-day reactions, it was challenging for him to measure progress. Kopitar’s injury was not disclosed beyond a lower-body ailment but it wasn’t a broken bone, which often comes with a defined timeline. A lot of it came down to how he felt each day when he took the ice. How he felt on days when he tried to ramp up the intensity of his training. How he responded the next day after.
When push came to shove, this past week saw Kopitar able to up the ante a bit and it turned out to be yesterday’s afternoon game as the eventual return. back into the lineup.
“It’s just the progression of it,” Kopitar said of managing his injury. “I guess you look at the length of skates, the intensity of skates. We kind of had [the Philadelphia game] circled, but it’s always I guess touch and go with these things. I felt good enough and felt good this afternoon.”
Assessing his own game, Kopitar said he felt “fairly okay” out there. Made a couple of good plays with the puck that let you know he felt alright, even if it took him some time, by his own admission, to really get back into it. No matter how hard you skate on your own, he said it is very difficult to replicate game situations. The lack of a high-intensity practice didn’t help, either.
In total, Kopitar logged 16:39 in time on ice. He was on the second power-play unit and took a couple shifts on the penalty kill as well.
“There’s always the first game where you try to find the rhythm, find the timing of it,” he added. “It doesn’t really matter how hard you’re skating, you bag yourself, put in game situations, it’s a lot different. I think [last night] was pretty good, obviously a big win for the team and we’ll go build from there.”
If there was one area that Kopitar’s presence was really felt it was in the faceoff dot.
Kopitar is the team’s best faceoff man and he came back into the lineup with 10 wins from 14 opportunities in the circle. I believe that faceoffs are more important situationally than in the aggregate and Kopitar won four draws in the defensive zone. I think you’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel more comfortable in some of those situations with number 11 on the dot. I certainly did and I think Jim Hiller did as well.
“Some players, they do things in the big scheme of things that you take for granted and how obvious has it been not having 11 out there for d-zone faceoffs at the end of a game,” Hiller said recently of Kopitar. “That’s one of those areas that you just take for granted that Kopi goes out there and he doesn’t win every one but he doesn’t lose them clean. At minimum, there’s usually a scrum and everybody can get themselves organized. It’s just one of those parts of a game where we’ve really missed that.”
Kopitar’s return was a boost to those around him as well.
The Kings have been thin down the middle, with Quinton Byfield the only recognized top-nine center over the last two games. He certainly appreciates having Kopitar in the mix again, both on the ice and with what he brings to the room.
“We’re missing a ton of centers and you get your captain back, the leadership there, you know what he’s meant to the organization, he’s a huge part of our team,” forward Quinton Byfield said of Kopitar. “Being able to see him back on the ice, back in the locker room, it’s really good and it’s a big boost in the room and on the ice.”
Today’s game creates one more hurdle for Kopitar and that’s back-to-back games. It’s not as taxing as two evening games would be, as the Kings played early yesterday in Pennsylvania and got into Carolina at a very reasonable time. Today’s game is an afternoon tilt as well. But it’s back-to-back out of the gate nonetheless.
After yesterday’s win, Kopitar said he was planning to play in both games, though he admitted he’d have to see how everything felt for him the next day.
“I expect to be playing tomorrow” was Kopitar’s final words of the interview yesterday and that’s about all you can ask for. Good to see number 11 back on the ice yesterday and expect to see him in today’s lineup for the Kings as well.
3 To Watch For –
– Most of the fanfare on Byfield’s overtime game-winning goal went to the goalscorer and the man with the primary assist, Adrian Kempe. But in collecting the secondary helper, defenseman Drew Doughty recorded the 700th point of his NHL career, as he became the first defenseman in Kings history to collect 700 points with the franchise.
The first ever Kings defenseman to reach 700 points:
🗣️ DREWWWWWW pic.twitter.com/6lSDnpH5Oa
— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 31, 2026
Doughty became the 32nd defenseman in NHL history to collect 700 points. He is the 14th player to reach 700 points with one franchise and the first to do it as an LA King.
He nearly had it twice earlier in the game. His shot from the point created Kempe’s game-opening goal, but both Corey Perry and Alex Laferriere got a piece of it on the way through. The Kings collected the puck later in the first period on what appeared to be an Andrei Kuzmenko goal to put the Kings up 3-0, but it was overturned on an offside challenge.
Doughty took a big hit to make the play on Kuzmenko’s goal. Hiller thought the actual number 700 would leave a slightly better memory for a player who has done just about everything for the Kings throughout his career.
“Everybody knew the situation, so when the goal went in that ended up coming back, the bench was really excited for Drew, everybody was,” Hiller said. “It was, not a letdown to take it off the board, but everybody felt bad for Drew. In the end, he took a pretty good hit on that play, so this one probably has got a little bit better memory of the goal, of the assist, on an overtime winner.”
– Would be remiss to get this far without highlighting Adrian Kempe’s performance yesterday.
The Kings scored three goals and Kempe factored in on all three. He scored twice in the first period to give the Kings an early lead that they did not protect. Once the game progressed into overtime, however, Kempe provided the primary assist on a crisscrossing play with Byfield for the game-winning goal.
Kempe’s three-point game was his first of the season and it extended his point streak to six games. Feels like we haven’t looked enough at Kempe over that time, a quieter six-game streak than you might expect. But still. Kempe is always good for a run like this a few times per season. Where he just gets hot and the goals start to flow. He’s got five goals in six games. Kings certainly need that from him right now, as they continue to search for offense.
Is that perhaps the stretch we’re in, with more to come?
“Well, let’s hope so, I thought that line has been dangerous,” Hiller said. “I know you mentioned Juice has scored, there’s been some power plays in there too, but I thought they were dangerous, they have been. That’s why, in bringing Kopi back, we didn’t want to disrupt that line, get Kopi a chance to get his legs under him a little bit. I think Perry and Laferriere compliment him well. Laf is skating through the middle, Perrs strong in the o-zone, found him on that on the second goal. Good to see.”
Hiller alluded to keeping those three players together instead of reuniting Kempe and Kopitar in his first game back. Certainly felt like the correct decision, considering the goals scored. Could change going forward. But good to see Kempe delivering, as one guy who has really continued to produce offensively in a season where the Kings haven’t as a group.
– Lastly, I noted it above, but the Kings have the chance today to match their season-best for wins on a roadtrip. They’re currently 3-1-0 and with a win tonight, it would make their third trip this season with four victories. The Kings went 4-0-1 on their first long trip and 4-1-0 on their second.
Have talked a couple of times about the opportunity this trip presented for the Kings. It has been far from perfect in terms of performance but the Kings have taken care of business with three wins in four games. That’s a winning trip regardless. But there’s a difference between a winning trip and a great trip. An opportunity today to make it a great trip with a win in Carolina.
Kings and Canes, one last game before the team takes the long flight home. Winning trip already secured, but a win today turns a good trip into a great trip. More to come!