As they geared up to host the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Kings carried confidence from their recent games but were decidedly less certain as to which players might be available to them in Saturday’s showdown.
Their four-game points streak was interrupted by Thursday’s 4-2 loss to Vancouver, a match that both teams described as offering playoff intensity in early November. In that contest, the Kings lost two players: winger Tanner Jeannot to a match penalty and defenseman Mikey Anderson to a grisly upper-body injury that left him face down on the ice leaking blood from his head.
Coach Jim Hiller told reporters on Friday that Anderson was “feeling good” and that the club was “optimistic” about his status, possibly even for Saturday’s game.
That update came on the heels of news that Alex Turcotte’s upper-body injury was not the third serious concussion of his young pro career and that Arthur Kaliyev (broken collarbone) had ramped up his participation, albeit in the same non-contact jersey sported by Turcotte.
Jeannot, on the other hand, was suspended for three games after a phone hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety to discuss his hit on Canucks winger and Kings killer Brock Boeser in the first period that left Boeser with a likely head injury and no clear timeline for his return.
Hiller had said after the Vancouver game that he did not expect Jeannot to be suspended, categorizing the illegal check to the head –– which also could have been called as charging or interference –– as a “split-second reaction.” The league, evidently, did not concur.
Whatever group of Kings –– they’ve also been missing top defenseman Drew Doughty (broken ankle) since early in the preseason –– hits the ice against Columbus, they’ll have the constance of having dominated the Blue Jackets historically (39-21-1-6), including wins in three straight meetings and five of the past six.
Columbus has managed a .500 points percentage despite low expectations and the heft of tragically losing their best winger, Johnny Gaudreau, after he and his brother Matthew were killed by a drunk driver during the offseason.
The Blue Jackets have gone winless in their last three games but another more esoteric trend might be in their favor. Their last loss, a 2-1 overtime squeaker, was to San Jose, giving the Sharks their fourth win of the season. In each of their previous three victories –– over the Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and Utah HC –– their defeated opponent went on to win its next game. Not only that, each of those teams’ three victories came against a team that had a better position in the standings as the Kings beat Vegas, Chicago upset the Kings and Utah toppled Calgary.
Columbus parted ways with another scorer, Patrik Laine, in a trade with Montreal this summer. Its new nucleus of leading scorer Kirill Marchenko, free-agent acquisition Sean Monahan (who played with Gaudreau in Calgary, as did the Kings’ Trevor Lewis and David Rittich, while Vladislav Gavrikov was his teammate in Columbus), a healthy Zach Werenski and a robust mix of recent first-rounders has kept Columbus afloat. The injured Kent Johnson as well as Adam Fantilli, Cole Sillinger and Yegor Chinakhov have arrived as regulars, with four more first-rounders from the past five drafts waiting in the wings.
Columbus at Kings
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: KCAL (Ch. 9)