1/16 Preview – Armia To Return Tonight + Today’s Line Rushes, Defensive Pairs Being Discussed, Fiala of Late

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings begin a home-and-home with the Anaheim Ducks, starting tonight at Crypto.com Arena and ending tomorrow evening at Honda Center.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings have been led offensively against the Ducks this season by defensemen Brandt Clarke and Brian Dumoulin, who have both collected multiple assists in each game to date versus Anaheim. Dumoulin’s +5 rating leads all Kings skaters. Forward Alex Laferriere scored his first career professional hat trick against the Ducks on December 27, as a part of the 6-0 victory on home ice.

KINGS VITALS: This morning saw the full team on the ice for the Kings, coming off of yesterday’s scheduled day off.

Expect to see the goaltenders split the starts this weekend against the Ducks, with Darcy Kuemper slotted to play today at home. Kuemper has a lifetime record of 10-6-1 against the Ducks, with a .912 save percentage and a 2.48 goals-against average. With Kuemper starting tonight, look for goaltender Anton Forsberg to get the nod tomorrow in Orange County.

Here’ is tonight’s projected lineup for the Kings, based on what we saw during morning skate today –

Malott – Laferriere – Kempe
Foegele – Byfield – Armia
Fiala – Turcotte – Kuzmenko
Lee – Helenius – Ward

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci

Kuemper
Forsberg

Per Head Coach Jim Hiller, forward Joel Armia will play tonight, after he skated this morning in a full-contact capacity. As such, the Kings are expected to return to an alignment with 12 forwards and six defensemen, with Jacob Moverare the odd-player out in that scenario. Armia took rushes this morning with Quinton Byfield and Warren Foegele and will likely slot in there as he comes back in tonight.

DUCKS VITALS: Anaheim snapped a nine-game losing streak on Tuesday with a 3-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Per the Anaheim team account, here’s how tonight’s visitors lined up last time out –

Leo Carlsson is out tonight with a lower-body injury. Cutter Gauthier is out with an illness. Troy Terry remains out with an upper-body injury.

Here’s who we fly with. #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/PSsiWCDHZo

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) January 14, 2026

The Ducks were without three of their top offensive players in the win over the Stars in Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Troy Terry. Terry and Gauthier are expected to return to the lineup this evening in Los Angeles, per Patrick Present of The Hockey News, though Carlsson is expected to remain out of action with an lower-body injury. Additionally, forward Chris Kreider is a game-time decision due to illness.

Storyline Of The Day – Good To See A Little Fight In You, Dog

You ever just watch a movie a bunch of times and the most random line sticks with you? This one is from Coach Carter. Not even all that relevant to the storyline overall. But I remember it, from Timo Cruz.

It was concerning to me after the Dallas game that there seemed to be almost a content feeling after a loss. Yeah, the Kings played pretty well, but that games marked 11 losses from 16 games. Regardless of how they played, I didn’t think there was enough intensity or urgency from what we heard after the game.

Felt like a very different story after the Vegas game. Very, very similar result, though the Kings did earn a point with a late goal, but another hard fought and close game that went the other way.

Post-game reaction?

The players were, for lack of a better word, pissed.

Pretty pointed from Adrian Kempe after tonight’s game.

“Clearly, something isn’t going right for us.”

Good leadership from 9. Accountable for his own production of late, offered some honest thoughts on where he and the team are at. Feels Kings are playing better than results.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) January 15, 2026

Kempe and defensemen Mikey Anderson spoke in the room. Both players, who are typically very composed, were almost shaking with anger as they answered questions with a lot of honesty. Two homegrown, young leaders who have been thrust into larger leadership roles with Anze Kopitar injured and Phillip Danault traded to Montreal. I felt they both handled the situation well and understood that while the team is competitive every night and has a chance to win every night, the wins and losses right now aren’t where they need to be.

I liked the honestly. Shows they care. Shows there’s still some fight in the team and it shows they’re still playing hard for the coach. Shows there’s still a pulse on a team that has continued to compete, despite results that have not been good enough as of late. You can brush these things off if you want. It’s the NHL and these should be non-negotiables. I get that. But I think it’s important to recognize that they are there and as we’ve seen the same things so often this season, there’s at least something that felt a little bit different in response for another difficult defeat.

So, we press on now.

Can the Kings channel that frustration, that anger into tonight’s game? You’d certainly hope so. Really felt that same level one other time this season and the Kings turned a loss against Tampa Bay into two wins over Minnesota. Lots of games left for the Kings if they can make them count. Five straight against teams currently outside the playoff picture, beginning with the home-and-home versus the Ducks. Certainly not a bad place to start.

3 To Watch For –
– As noted above, the Kings will welcome back forward Joel Armia into the lineup tonight against the Ducks.

As he did in line rushes this morning, look for Armia to slot in with Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield on the line that will likely be used against Anaheim’s top offensive players when available. Armia was a full-contact participant today after skating apart from the group over the last couple of days. A welcomed addition for the team at 5-on-5, but especially on the penalty kill.

“When he told us this morning, all the boys were pretty excited,” defenseman Joel Edmundson said of Armia returning. “You never want to see guys injured but a quick turnaround for him. We obviously need him on the PK, he’s been huge for us. We don’t expect him to score those PK goals but it’s always nice when he does. He’s got a big body, he’s got a great stick out there, he’s been doing it for years in the league. Just a reliable guy.”

Jim Hiller was quick to agree with Edmundson on what Armia brings, especially in those man-down situations.

“Army’s been one of our best penalty killers, arguably our top penalty-killing forward, when you factor in the shorthanded goals, so we’ve missed him there, there’s no question. We’re happy to get him back in.”

Regarding the trio of forwards who remain out, none of Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore or Corey Perry were with the team for morning skate today. Have seen Kopitar and Moore on the ice apart from the group, Kopitar certainly today, while Perry remains away from the team to attend to an illness in his family. Don’t look for those three guys today and we’ll see if there is any change on that front tomorrow or perhaps heading into next week against the Rangers.

– Lots of talk about the forward lines and how those are analyzed, constructed and changed at times. Definitely accounts for the bulk of the personnel questions.

But, as of late, the Kings are also putting some deeper thought into the defensive pairs. Mikey Anderson and Drew Doughty have been the undisputed top pairing here when available for the better part of six seasons. And there’s rarely been anything in their play that would challenge that. Of late, though, a difficult stretch when analyzing the goals against, with the Anderson/Doughty duo at -5 since the start of the new year, after a +8 line coming into the holiday break.

You can point to underlying numbers that have been much friendlier – expected goals share is at 56.4 percent, which is very good – but this is a pairing that has always excelled in the numbers that really matter and that’s actual goals. They’ve consistently posted good underlying numbers but even better actual numbers. Before this recent stretch, the underlying numbers were nearly identical, but actual goals were even better. Right now, they aren’t getting the latter. Does that, potentially, merit a change of the pairings?

“Yeah, it’s a conversation,” Hiller said. “We walk through the lineup daily, sometimes it’s a quick. discussion and you just move past it, but sometimes, the discussions go deeper, for some of the reasons that you just mentioned, up front and defense, and goaltending. We’ve had those discussions, we’re aware it. They’re set for now, but they can change at a moment’s notice.”

So, for now, status quo in terms of the defensive pairings. But as Hiller addressed, it’s something that is being considered, even if on a temporary basis, to get those guys back to their best, which was an extremely high level until the last 10 games or so.

– Lastly, how about a little love for Kevin Fiala, who has been the most dangerous player for the Kings, in my opinion, over the last stretch of games.

Fiala had an impact on both goals the Kings scored on Wednesday, as he collected a goal and an assist in the 3-2 overtime defeat. Fiala has three multi-point games so far this month, giving him eight points from eight games played, leading all Kings players since the calendar flipped to January. No secret that the Kings have tried Fiala in a lot of different situations, with a lot of different players. Seems to have found a home with

“Those two guys are great, it’s a good line,” Fiala said of his currently deployment. “Turc is very fast, very competitive, he wins all the battles, he’s a great faceoff guy. Kuzy, he’s creative, finds plays and I think we understand each other well and Turc is very creative too, he finds us, goes to the net and does a little bit of the dirty work. It’s a compliment to him, sometimes you don’t see that and without him it wouldn’t work. It’s a line combination that works together.”

Certainly, right now, it’s the most effective forward line this team has at its disposal. Glad they have gotten an extended run and while not everyone has been productive enough, Fiala has delivered, with Turcotte and Kuzmenko raising their games alongside of him.

Kings and Ducks, first of two games between the teams here over the next 48 hours. Every game is a big game right now for the Kings, who sit two points outside the playoff picture entering the day.