LOS ANGELES –– The Kings, or some iteration thereof, had their passports out to mosey through Canadian customs ahead of a back-to-back set.
It will send them to Winnipeg to face the Jets on Friday and then on to Edmonton for a showdown with the archrival Oilers.
As they geared up for two opponents headed in opposite directions, they were still dealing with a void among their forwards.
The Kings lost a Thousand Oaks native when Trevor Moore (upper-body) was placed on injured reserve Thursday. But they gained Northridge-born Cole Guttman, who was recalled from the minors. Like Moore, Guttman is a University of Denver alumnus.
He’ll join recent call-ups Andre Lee and Tayor Ward, who played in Wednesday’s OT loss to San Jose, as well as depth players Jeff Malott, Samuel Helenius and Jacob Moverare.
Though the Kings didn’t practice Thursday, coach Jim Hiller’s postgame update Wednesday was vague but less than promising regarding team captain Anže Kopitar (lower-body), winger Joel Armia (upper-body) and “The Worm,” Corey Perry (personal).
“It sucks to have those guys out, but other guys have to step up. There’s no one-line show, no one-man show, it’s a team thing. I think they did a good job, the new guys here, they did an amazing job, in my opinion,” said Kevin Fiala, who had a goal and an assist Wednesday. “I’m happy for them to get one under their belt. It’s too bad we couldn’t get the win. On to the next one.”
Yet in their past two games, the Kings’ offense has effectively been a one-line and one-pairing show.
Fiala and his linemates, Andrei Kuzmenko and Alex Turcotte, have combined for four goals across 123 minutes of action and a 1-0-1 record. Their efforts have dovetailed with the Kings’ best defensive pairing this season, Brandt Clarke and Joel Edmundson, to keep the club afloat.
“They’re driving the offense, those two, from the back end and the [forward] line is driving the offense from the front,” Hiller said.
Clarke has been an F1-level driver all season, leading the Kings’ defensemen in goals for percentage, expected goals for percentage and possession metrics like Corsi for and Fenwick for percentage, per Natural Stat Trick.
On deck, the match in Manitoba will be the deciding game of the season series, which saw the Jets top the Kings 3-2 on Oct. 11 before falling 3-0 on Nov. 4. That loss portended woe for Winnipeg, beginning its freefall.
Through one month of the campaign, it had the seventh-best points percentage in the NHL. Yet so uncontrollable has the Jets’ tailspin been that they now have the worst point total and points percentage in the NHL since Oct. 12, five days after the 2025-26 season began.
Heading into their own clash with Edmonton on Thursday, they’d lost 10 straight games, one of many pick-your-poison examples to convey how precipitous their plummet has been. They’ve also won just five of their last 25 matches.
Last year’s recipient of the Hart and Vezina trophies, Connor Hellebuyck, returned well ahead of schedule from knee surgery. The Jets’ other top performers – Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey and former King Gabriel Vilardi – have all pulled their weight as well, but have had little in the way of support.
Saturday will mark the first of three meetings between the Kings and Oilers this season, and the only one to take place north of the border. The Oilers, of course, have eliminated the Kings in seemingly every fashion imaginable across four straight first-round series.
Edmonton leads the league in power-play efficiency and is on pace to break its own single-season record. Their 33.3% clip has been buoyed by a 42.4% mark since Dec. 15. After yet another stumble out of the starting blocks, they’ve had the NHL’s sixth-best points percentage since Dec. 4 and been its highest scoring team since Nov. 30.
Connor McDavid has piled up 50 points in his past 25 games to ascend to the top of the Art Ross race, while Leon Draisaitl also places in the top five.
KINGS AT WINNIPEG
When: 5 p.m. PT Friday
Where: Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba
TV: FDSN West
KINGS AT EDMONTON
When: 7 p.m. PT Saturday
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
TV: FDSN West