LOS ANGELES KINGS NOTES:
OCTOBER 19 vs. Minnesota Wild – 7:00 PM CT (5:00 PM PT) // Venue: Xcel Energy Center // TV: Bally Sports West // Radio: iHeartRadio
-The LA Kings visit the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center for the first of three meetings this season between these two clubs (March 20, April 15).
-Tonight’s matchup marks the last game of the team’s first road trip of the 2023-24 campaign (Oct. 16 at WPG).
-The Kings aim for their second win of the 2023-24 campaign.
-Following tonight’s game, the team will head back to Los Angeles for a two-game homestand against the Boston Bruins (Oct. 21) and Arizona Coyotes (Oct. 24).
WARM-UPS
1) Anze Kopitar (1,295) is set to tie Dustin Brown (1,296) for the most games played in franchise history. Tonight will also mark the captain’s 647th career road game, which will surpass Brown (646) for the most road games played all-time.
2) The Kings went 21-14-6 last season when scoring first on the road, the second-highest winning percentage (.875%) behind only Boston’s .950% (31-8-2).
3) Forward Adrian Kempe skates into Xcel Energy Center with a four-game road point streak (4-3=7) against the Wild, dating back to Feb. 27, 2021. A point tonight would tie Kempe with Ziggy Pálffy (5GP, 3-5=8) for the longest road point streak against the Wild in Kings history.
4) Rookie forward Alex Laferriere leads all Kings skaters in shots this season with 12.
VS. MINNESOTA ALL-TIME:
All-Time Record: 36-28-5-13
Home: 21-12-2-6
Away: 15-16-3-7
OT: 10-13 (5 ties)
Shootout: 4-6
2022-23: 2-1-0
LAST MEETING vs. MINNESOTA: Feb. 21, 2023 – LAK 1 vs. MIN 2
Venue: Xcel Energy Center
LAK Goals: Kopitar (19)
MIN Goals: Hartman (8, 9)
Goalies: LAK: Copley (L; 18 saves, 20 shots) MIN: Hellebuyck (W; 33 saves, 34 shots)
PP: 0-1
PK: 3-3
THE NEXT THREE:
Sat, Oct. 21 | vs. Boston | 7:30 p.m. PT | Bally’s Sports West | iHeart Radio
o Anze Kopitar has seven points (2-5=7) in his last nine games against Boston, dating back to Oct. 28, 2017.
Tues, Oct. 24 | vs. Arizona | 7:30 p.m. PT | Bally’s Sports West | iHeart Radio
o Kevin Fiala led all Kings skaters in points vs. Arizona last season with five (3-2=5).
Fri., Oct. 27 | at Arizona | 7:00 p.m. PT | Bally’s Sports West | iHeart Radio
o Phillip Danault is riding a six-game road point and assist streak (0-7=7) vs. Arizona, dating back to Feb. 9, 2017.
INJURY & MGL REPORT
Player, Status (Consecutive Games Missed, Total Games Missed, Dates)
F Viktor Arvidsson, 3 games, Oct. 11 – Pres.
2023-24 Total Regular-Season Man-Games Lost: 3
MINNESOTA WILD NOTES:
SERIES NOTES – LOS ANGELES KINGS
All-Time Wild Record: 41-26-15 (23-10-8 at Xcel Energy
Center, 18-16-7 at Los Angeles)
2022-23: The Wild went 1-2-0 against Los Angeles…Minnesota fell 7-6 to Los Angeles at Xcel Energy Center (10/15) in the first meeting, 1-0 at Crypto.com Arena (11/8) in the second contest and won the final matchup 2-1 in Saint Paul (2/21)…RW Mats Zuccarello (1-2=3), LW Kirill Kaprizov (1-1=2) and C Ryan Hartman (2-1=3) all had three points…C Joel Eriksson Ek (1-1=2), D Jake Middleton (1-1=2) and LW Matt Boldy (0-2=2) had two points each…G Marc-Andre Fluery went 0-1-0 with a 3.84 GAA and a .886 SV% in two starts…G Filip Gustavsson was 1-1-0 with a .246 GAA and a .926 SV% in two games (one start)…C Anze Kopitar led Los Angeles with four points (1-4=5)…C Adrian Kempe tallied four points (2-2=4)…LW Kevin Fiala (1-2=3) and C Gabriel Vilardi (2-1=3) recorded three points each…G Cal Petersen stopped 29 of 35 shots faced in the first contest…G Jonathan Quick started the second game and stopped all 21 shots faced…G Pheonix Copley started the final game and stopped 18-of-20 shots faced.
WILD LEADERS: D Alex Goligoski leads Minnesota with 29 points (4-25=29) in 53 games against Los Angeles…Zuccarello owns 17 points (5-12=17) in 27 contests…Kaprizov has 14 points (8-6=14) in 14 games…D Jared Spurgeon (4-9=13, in 39 games) and LW Marcus Johansson (7-6=13, in 22 games) each have 13 points.
WILD GOALIES: Fleury is 12-9-4 with a 2.58 GAA, a .916 SV% and three shutouts in 26 career starts against the Kings…Gustavsson is 1-3-0 with a 2.52 GAA and a .929 SV% in four games (three starts).
KINGS LEADERS: Kopitar leads Los Angeles with 54 points (16-38=54) in 62 games vs. Minnesota…D Drew Doughty owns 34 points (7-27=34) in 52 contests…C Adrian Kempe (5-7=12, in 23 games) and RW Viktor Arvidsson (5-7=12, in 24 games) have 12 points each.
KINGS GOALIES: Copley is 1-1-0 with a 2.04 GAA and a .917 SV% in two starts against Minnesota…G David Rittich is 3-0-1 with a 2.89 GAA and a .917 SV% in four starts…G Cam Talbot is 7-7-1 with a 2.28 GAA and a .929 SV% in 15 games.
FAST FACTS: Minnesota is 18-8-4 in the last 30 games vs. Los Angeles with 16 of the games decided by one goal…The Wild is 22-6-5 in the last 33 contests played at Xcel Energy Center…Minnesota owns points in 11 of its last 18 games at Crypto.com Arena (8-7-3).
INJURIES
Matt Boldy: upper body
Alex Goligoski: lower body
Jared Spurgeon: upper body
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
October 8 – October 18, 2023
10/18/23 Placed D Alex Goligoski on long-term injured reserve
HOME SWEET HOME
- Dating back to Nov. 19th, 2022, Minnesota is 24-7-3 at home for a .750 point percentage, the third-most wins and third-best home point percentage in the NHL during that span.
- In home games since Nov. 19, 2022, the Wild has allowed 2.12 goals per game (tied for second-best in NHL) and recorded a .928 save percentage (second-best in NHL).
- Minnesota ranked tied for sixth in the NHL with a .659 home point percentage and tied for seventh with 25 home victories during the 2022-23 season.
ON THE POWER PLAY
- Minnesota has converted four-of-13 power-play opportunities (30.8 pct.) this season, the sixth-best mark in the NHL.
- Minnesota set the single-season franchise record for power-play percentage (21.4 pct), converting 54 for 252 power-play opportunities during the 2022-23 campaign.
- The Wild converted 26.2 percent (33 of 126) of power-play opportunities at home this season, sixth-best in the NHL last season.
PENALTY KILLERS
- The Wild recorded a streak of 27 consecutive successful penalty kills across 14 total games from 2/6/23 to 3/2/23. Did not allow a powerplay goal in 12 consecutive games from 2/8/23 – 2/28/23, the longest streak in the NHL this season, tied for the longest streak in franchise history and tied for the 13th-longest streak in the NHL’s Expansion Era (since 1967-68 season).
- Allowed 20 opposing power-play goals on 118 opportunities (83.1 pct.) at home during the 2022-23 season, the seventh-best rate in the NHL.
LOCK-DOWN DEFENSE
- Minnesota went 42-7-8 (.807) last season when obtaining a lead at any point in the game, the seventh-best point percentage in the NHL in such situations.
- The Wild was 31-0-3 (.956) last season when leading through two periods, the third-best point percentage in the NHL.
- Minnesota was 15-1-11 (.759) last season in games that became tied with less than five minutes left in regulation, tied for the fifth-most victories in the NHL.
- Minnesota conceded less than two goals in 27 games during the 2022- 23 season, second-most the NHL. The Wild holds a 24-1-2 record when allowing less than two goals.
- In 56 games from Dec. 10 through the end of the season, the Wild posted a 2.43 GA/Gm average, the second-best mark in the NHL during that span.
SHORT (HANDED) KINGS
- The Wild scored two shorthanded goals on the same first-period penalty kill at MTL (10/17), first from Brandon Duhaime at 9:20 and second from Connor Dewar at 9:45, marking the second time in franchise history scoring multiple SHGs on the same penalty kill, the third time in franchise history scoring two SHGs in the same period, and the sixth time in franchise history scoring multiple SHGs in a single game.
- Minnesota currently ranks second in the NHL with two shorthanded goals this season (Carolina, four).
- Minnesota ranked third in the NHL with 14 shorthanded goals (SHG) during the 2022-23 season.
- The Wild scored its 14th SHG of the season at CHI (4/10), breaking the franchise’s previous single-season record set in the 2000-01 season.
- Minnesota recorded two SHG in a single game twice a 10-day span (3/29 at COL, 4/8 vs. STL) after doing so only three times previously in franchise history.
