{"id":420793,"date":"2026-01-22T00:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T00:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/420793\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T00:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T00:59:22","slug":"kings-coach-reacts-to-darcy-kuemper-update-after-rangers-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/420793\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings Coach Reacts to Darcy Kuemper Update After Rangers Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Kings<\/a> entered Tuesday night aiming to halt a four-game skid and stay within reach of the Western Conference wild-card race.<\/p>\n

After an explosive first period, the Kings held on for a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers<\/a> that kept them on the verge of the wild-card picture with 53 points \u2014 the same tally as that of the second wild-card holder, the San Jose Sharks<\/a>, and the Anaheim Ducks \u2014 despite losing veteran goaltender Darcy Kuemper.<\/p>\n

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Kuemper exited the game with 39 seconds left in the opening period after contact in the crease<\/a> with Rangers forward Jonny Brodzinski. Though the collision didn\u2019t appear serious, Kuemper immediately motioned for play to stop and skated off under his own power.<\/p>\n

The Kings ruled out<\/a> the 35-year-old veteran for the remainder of the game with an upper-body injury. Backup Anton Forsberg entered and recorded 27 saves on 28 shots to earn the win.<\/p>\n

Kuemper had returned to action on Jan. 1 following another upper-body issue<\/a> suffered in mid-December. Asked whether this latest issue was related to the previous incident, Kings head coach Jim Hiller offered some clarity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFrom what I\u2019m gathering, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to be the case,\u201d Hiller said. \u201cI don\u2019t know enough for sure, so I really shouldn\u2019t comment, but I did have a chance to speak to him quickly, and it seemed like he was doing OK from that perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hiller couldn’t confirm the specific nature of the injury but noted that more information would be available as soon as Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Kings goaltender Darcy KuemperKiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have too much to share,\u201d Hiller said. \u201cWe\u2019ll probably know a little bit more tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kuemper has appeared in 31 games this season and was recently named<\/a> to Team Canada\u2019s Olympic roster, along with teammate Drew Doughty. In those appearances, Kuemper has posted a 2.48 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.<\/p>\n

If Kuemper misses further time, the Kings will have to rely on Forsberg and potentially Pheonix Copley, who has spent time in the AHL.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles (20-16-13) will begin a six-game road trip Saturday, starting with a matchup against the St. Louis Blues at 8 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

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Related: Senators’ Linus Ullmark Reveals Reason Behind Personal Leave<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Oilers Share Leon Draisaitl Update Before Canucks Game<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jan 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the NHL<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Kings entered Tuesday night aiming to halt a four-game skid and stay within reach of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5126],"tags":[233,12966,368,883,5,2098,7287,186,1760,240,5303,793,145,5304,5302,35,4,3285,168,881,2071],"class_list":["post-420793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-kings","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anton-forsberg","tag-darcy-kuemper","tag-drew-doughty","tag-hockey","tag-jim-hiller","tag-jonny-brodzinski","tag-kings","tag-la","tag-la-kings","tag-lakings","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleskings","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-pheonix-copley","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-the-kings","tag-western-conference"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115936046035785084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}