New environments were just what the Kings needed, but a familiar face was awaiting them back home in the form of former bench boss Todd McLellan and his Detroit Red Wings.
It’ll be McLellan’s first visit to Southern California since he was fired by the Kings in February 2024 amid the Pierre-Luc Dubois debacle and a month spent in quicksand for the Kings. His Wings beat the Kings 5-2 in Detroit last season, but their games in Los Angeles and Anaheim had already been played by the time McLellan and his longtime assistant Trent Yawney came aboard in Detroit.
For the Kings, they’ll be another in a series of challenges coming off a smashingly successful albeit less-than-scenic road trip.
While the trends of sinewy games and extra sessions continued, the tide of losses, five of them in the Kings’ first six games, was stemmed by a journey that saw the Kings capture nine of a possible 10 points.
The Kings (5-3-3) went to overtime in six of their first nine games, earning nine points without a single regulation win. That included stealing wins in Vegas and Dallas. They earned their first two 60-minute victories of the campaign against bottom feeders, first Chicago and then San Jose. There, the trip concluded with the Kings blowing a 3-0 lead but prevailing thanks to Brandt Clarke’s game-winner in what fellow defenseman Drew Doughty described as “our worst game of the season by far.”
But those analyses and fineries will be unimportant minutiae come Game 82, when the nine of 10 points in the standings will remain vital as the Kings seek to make the playoffs for a fifth straight season.
“We’re really happy [with the road trip], especially (after) the not-ideal start of the season,” Clarke told reporters in San Jose. “It wasn’t easy; guys weren’t feeling 100%. We made it work … huge credit up and down the lineup, because everyone stepped up.”
Clarke spoke of not letting “highs, lows and momentum swings” dictate how the Kings were playing. Indeed there were plenty of those this season and on the trip itself.
The first three games all reached overtime with the loss in Nashville going to a shootout. The Kings led by one and tacked on an empty-netter in Chicago in what was a de-facto one-goal affair and then staved off the Sharks’ three-goal rally to win narrowly once more.
“This [trip] was just scratching and clawing from zero to 60 [minutes], and into 65 some nights,” Coach Jim Hiller told reporters.
The Kings got Darcy Kuemper (lower body) and Corey Perry (knee surgery) back. Both thrived.
Perry finished the trip with three goals and five points in four games to quickly ingratiate himself among the Kings’ faithful, who were booing the former Ducks and Oilers agitator in full throat as recently as last spring. Kuemper won three of four starts and sparkled in those victories.
They were also boosted by the expeditious return of the ever-durable Anže Kopitar (foot) for the past three matches and Doughty’s goal in San Jose, which tied him with Rob Blake for most career goals by a Kings blue-liner. On the downside, winger Warren Foegele was destined for some time in the press box after sustaining an apparent injury to his arm when he was checked into the boards by Chicago captain Nick Foligno.
On deck is McLellan’s club, the same one with which he won a Stanley Cup as an assistant in 2008 before beginning his head coaching career, now in its fourth stop. The Red Wings (7-3-0) are led mostly by the usual suspects – captain Dylan Larkin spearheads their attack with 16 points in 10 games – though 20-year-old rookie Emmitt Finnie has been a pleasant surprise. The 2023 seventh-rounder has eight points and +7 rating while playing a stunningly complete game.
Detroit at Kings
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: FDSN West