LOS ANGELES — Long road trips have been kind to the Kings this season and now they’ve embarked on a six-game sprint that will include a daunting stretch of five matches in seven days.
They’ll begin in St. Louis on Saturday, head to Columbus on Monday, visit former coach Todd McLellan in Detroit on Tuesday, finish the month in Philadelphia and then conclude their jaunt in Carolina to start February.
On their two previous tours of five or more games, they earned 18 of a possible 22 points early in the year. They could certainly use a repeat performance given that on Friday morning four points separated six teams in the center of the Western Conference.
After some uncertainty following Tuesday’s 4-3 squeaker over the New York Rangers in which starting goalie Darcy Kuemper exited a game where the Kings were already down captain Anže Kopitar (lower-body injury), minutes leader Drew Doughty (illness) and forward Trevor Moore (upper-body injury), the Kings shared encouraging news on Thursday.
Per multiple reports from practice, Kuemper escaped any serious injury to his head or neck from a goalmouth collision with the Rangers’ Jonny Brodzinski, sustaining only a stinger. With two back-to-back sets on this trip, the Kings could ill afford to lose Kuemper, who has already had two stints on the injury list, including one from a somewhat similar play in Dallas in December.
“It was just weird, I was just kind of waiting for (sensation in my arm) to come back, that’s why I was trying to buy some time and then in the intermission, same thing, but with neck stuff, they want to be precautionary,” Kuemper told reporters. “The next morning, it was feeling better.”
Kopitar, Doughty and Moore will all travel, with Moore and Doughty practicing on Thursday, though Kopitar did not.
The Kings, who entered the season with the NHL’s second-oldest roster, were without those four veterans in what was just their sixth regulation win at home this season on Tuesday night. But they got a boost from the return of 40-year-old Corey Perry, whose very presence has been a bellwether for the Kings (20-16-13) despite his initially limited role.
Perry began the year as a fourth-liner with power-play duties, but he has been playing up the lineup, skating on the first trio against the Rangers. That was after missing two stretches of games to attend to an ill family member.
“He’s only practiced like twice in the last two weeks and he’s out there against some of the best players in important minutes,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said.
Perry missed five of the past 12 games, and the Kings lost all five, but won four of the last five tilts in which Perry participated. In all, he has been in the lineup for 19 of their 20 victories.
He also missed the first six games of the season after undergoing knee surgery. The Kings took just one of those half-dozen decisions. Without Perry in the lineup this year, they are 1-4-6, a meager .091 winning percentage.
“He makes a lot of good plays down low. Man-on-man, he’s really hard to handle,” Adrian Kempe said. “He does a really good job of sucking guys in and then making plays. He talks a lot out there, which helps.”
Perry was a longtime nemesis of the Kings, with the rival Ducks, Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks. On a balanced trip with two elite opponents, one competitive one and a pair of struggling squads, the Kings will see some other familiar faces.
McLellan, whom the Kings fired in February of 2024, and former Kings assistant coach Trent Yawney have the Red Wings on track for their first playoff berth in a decade. They’re situated in a points tie with Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Former blue-liner Sean Walker, whom the Kings traded for negative value in the three-team Cal Petersen foist with Walker a season removed from major knee surgery, will skate opposite the Kings in Raleigh.
He’s the only Hurricanes defenseman to have played in all 51 games to date, mostly alongside big-ticket addition K’Andre Miller. Walker has been described as the perennially contending ’Canes “team MVP” by Coach Rod Brind’Amour this season.
KINGS AT BLUES
When: Saturday, 5 p.m. PT
Where: Enterprise Center, St. Louis
TV: FDSN West, KCAL (Ch. 9)