3/22 Preview – Close Games, Close Defeats + Lineup Changes Expected, LAK/UTA History, FDSN So-Cal Tonight

TODAY’S MATCHUP: Following two missed opportunities at home, the Kings hit the road to start a three-game trip, beginning this evening against the Utah Mammoth.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Joel Armia scored two goals when these teams met in Utah earlier this season to lead the Kings to a 4-2 victory over the Mammoth. Forward Adrian Kempe also collected multiple points in that game, as he scored a goal and added an assist. Kempe has five points (2-3-5) in four career games versus the Mammoth.

KINGS VITALS: With the back-to-back and flight, the Kings did not hold a morning skate today in Utah.

After Anton Forsberg got the start yesterday at home, would expect to see goaltender Darcy Kuemper between the pipes tonight at Delta Center. Kuemper brings with him a 4-0-0 lifetime record against Utah, delivering a .914 save percentage and a 2.25 goals-against average in those four starts.

Anticipating a couple of changes for the Kings tonight, but here is last game’s Kings lineup below for reference –

Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –

Panarin – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Byfield – Laferriere
Turcotte – Laughton – Wright
Malott – Helenius – Ward

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci

Kuemper
Forsberg

Kempe takes rushes, will see if he’s good to go.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 20, 2026

After yesterday’s loss against Buffalo, Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith spoke about looking to put Alex Turcotte and Mathieu Joseph into the lineup tonight in Utah. Unsure if both will play, or where, but look for the potential of a couple of changes for the Kings this evening. Defenseman Jacob Moverare is also on the trip and ready to go should the Kings make a change on the blueline.

MAMMOTH VITALS: Utah enters tonight’s game with a five-point cushion on the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, as it continues to move towards securing the first playoff berth in franchise history.

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

Friday night lineup ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/n28a3jc7nR

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) March 21, 2026

Forward Clayton Keller had a multi-point game in the first meeting of the season, as he collected a goal and an assist back in December. Keller leads his team in assists (45) and points (67) this season to date and is on pace for his fourth consecutive season with at least 75 points. Former Kings defenseman Sean Durzi will play tonight against his former team,

Storyline Of The Day – Are They Who We Thought They Were
Under D.J. Smith, the Kings have played ten games. Eight of those 10 games were tied in the third period, while the other two were multi-goal victories. The Kings have only won two of those eight games, with a 2-4-2 record in those eight contests. You obviously don’t need me to explain that it’s not a new trend. If you’d like the numbers though…….

The Kings have played 39 one-goal games this season out of the 69 they have played in total, which leaves 30 games decided by more than one goal.

By my calculations, of the 30 games that were not one-goal games, eight of those games were tied at some point in the third period, including yesterday’s defeat against Buffalo. A further 11 games were one-goal games at some point during the third period. If my numbers are correct, that makes 58 of 69 games that were within one goal in the third period this season.

I did the math by hand, so it could be a game or two off in either direction, but I think you get the point – basically every single night, the game is up for grabs during the third period.

Odds might say you win half of those games. Record in one-goal games is fickle, so they say, but winning half of 58 games played would be 29 wins, which is one more than the Kings have this season and that doesn’t factor in a 5-6-0 record in the games that fall outside of that description, which would mean an additional five wins. Last night was another in the bunch. The Kings skated with the NHL’s hottest team, one of the best in the league overall. The Sabres are very good and the game was competitive throughout. The Kings deserved to be tied in the third period, which is obviously a familiar place for this club.

Once again, they came up short, which has also been a familiar place for the club this season. Some teams find ways to win games and others find ways to lose them. Last season’s Kings team found ways to win games. This team, 69 games in, is finding creative ways to lose them.

At some point, you run out of ways to talk about those kinds of situations. Not every game is the same. Some of those 58 games were comeback efforts that fell short. Others leads that were not held. Couple of backdoor covers too. But the common denominator is that the Kings have consistently played well enough to put themselves in positions to win games this season. They have also consistently found ways not to win those games. It is the difference between a point outside a playoff spot as of today and, frankly, maybe even a place atop the Pacific Division. Instead, the Kings lead the league in overtime defeats. The 39 one-goal games they’ve played are tied with the Dallas Stars for the NHL lead. Dallas has points in 35 of those games, compared to 33 for the Kings. Very close. The difference is that the Stars have 24 one-goal wins, tied for second in the NHL.

Makes me thing of that Dennis Green post-game rant. they are who we thought they were. Remember that one?

Pretty epic. They used to play it on Sports Center all the time when I was growing up.

I was thinking about that yesterday, after the Kings saw yet another tight game go the other way. The Kings are not a bad team. You don’t find yourself with the chance to win just about every night if you’re a bad team. They have not shown themselves to be a good team either, though. Good teams win more of those games than the Kings have.

There is, somehow, still more than enough time to get into the playoffs. As Connor McDavid put it yesterday, there are a lot of teams fortunate to play in this division, in a “pillow fight” for the playoffs. The Kings will continue to have opportunities to win games in the third period. 13 games remaining. History suggests they’ll likely have, what, 10 or 11 of those opportunities down the stretch?

Until those games start going the other way, they are who we thought they were. 13 games left to show something to the contrary.

3 To Watch For –
– Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith went out of his way to note that he might make a couple of lineup changes up front this evening.

“We’re traveling and it’s a back-to-back, so I’ll look to put some new guys in tomorrow and have some fresh guys in. I’ve got Turc and Jo, and we’ve got to win ourselves a game.”

Snith has been pretty forthcoming in his pre-game media availabilities and we will hear from him at Delta Center later on today on who those players might go in for, assuming everyone came through the Buffalo game healthy enough to go. So, assuming we should learn about his decisions before the game.

Looking at the bottom six, the fourth line was on the ice for a goal against versus the Sabres, with an opportunity to clear the puck out of the zone against Buffalo’s top line. I don’t think one goal against, versus Tage Thompson, is enough to merit coming out necessarily, but it might be the first time he looks in that area.

With the third line, Joel Armia just returned from injury, so it’s possible the Kings don’t want him going back-to-back. Jared Wright could be an option as well, though I thought he had one of his best games yesterday.

Remains to be seen. Turcotte and Joseph are more speed focused than traditional fourth-line players, so those two guys offer a different look to the group. So, if the Kings want to change the look of their bottom six, they could insert some speed with those two players to shake things up a bit.

No skate today, so we wait until closer to puck drop to know for sure.

– Two stats in the Kings favor this evening.

Los Angeles and Utah have squared off twice since the Mammoth entered the NHL. The Kings have won all four games, including two played here at Delta Center. Most recently, the Kings won 4-2 in this building back in December, one of the more complete 60-minute efforts from the team this season .

Additionally, the Kings enter tonight’s game with the sixth-most away points this season. Los Angeles has collected 44 of its 71 points this season away from home. That equates to 62 percent of their points on the season, the second-highest percentage in the NHL behind only the New York Rangers.

– Lastly, a reminder for those watching that tonight’s game is on FanDuel Sports Network So-Cal, not FanDuel Sports Network West.

For those who have subscribed directly via FanDuel and watch on their website or their app, I have confirmed that those subscriptions will still work as they always have. It should be no changes to that viewing pattern.

For those watching via a cable or television package, FanDuel Sports Network SoCal is available on channel #693 on DirecTV and channel #41 on Spectrum. Hopefully nothing that is disruptive for those trying to watch in the LA market.

Kings and Mammoth, as a three-game roadtrip begins this evening for the Kings in Utah. Big two points on the line at Delta Center.