4/2 Preview – Power-Play Progress, Laferriere’s Role + Kuemper To Start, Kopitar Ceremony, Suite Night Tonight!

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings will look to build off last night’s overtime victory, as they complete a back-to-back set this evening at Crypto.com Arena against the Nashville Predators.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Joel Armia (1-1-2) and defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-2-2) led the Kings with multi-point efforts when these teams met in Nashville back in October. Clarke has four points (0-4-4) versus Nashville over the last two seasons, including an assist the last time the Predators visited Crypto.com Arena in March of 2025.

KINGS VITALS: Having played yesterday, the Kings did not hold a morning skate in advance of tonight’s game.

Darcy Kuemper will get the start tonight for the Kings, following Anton Forsberg’s strong performance last night in the win over St. Louis. Kuemper has an all-time record of 8-2-5 versus Nashville, with a .919 save percentage, a 2.30 goals-against average and four shutouts, tied for his career-high against any one opponent.

No changes are expected at this time, at least for right now, so for reference, here is last night’s Kings lineup –

Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –

Panarin – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Byfield – Laferriere
Armia – Laughton – Wright
Joseph – Turcotte – Ward

Dumoulin – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci

Forsberg
Kuemper

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) April 2, 2026

Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith is set to address the media at 6:15 and will likely confirm tonight’s lineup then, including any potential changes. The Kings made two lineup changes yesterday evening, with forwards Samuel Helenius and Jeff Malott coming out. Helenius is day-to-day with an injury, though both forwards, along with defenseman Jacob Moverare, are potential options for tonight.

PREDATORS VITALS: Nashville begins a stretch of four-straight games in California tonight against the Kings, bringing a three-game losing streak into tonight’s contest.

From Brooks Bratton on NashvillePredators.com, here’s how the visitors lined up last time out versus Tampa Bay –

#Preds lineup in warmups:

L’Heureux-O’Reilly-Stamkos
Forsberg-Haula-Marchessault
Jost-Wood-Evangelista
Schaefer-Svechkov-Kemell

Skjei-Josi
Hague-Perbix
Wilsby-Barron

Annunen
Saros#NSHvsTBL

— Brooks Bratten (@brooksbratten) March 29, 2026

Forward Ryan O’Reilly powered his team to victory when the Kings visited Nashville back in October. The veteran forward scored twice and added an assist, including the game-tying goal late in the third period. O’Reilly leads the Predators with 42 assists this season, ranking second on his team with 66 points.

Storyline Of The Day – Power Play Produces
Before yesterday’s game, Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith said that he would welcome a game right now that puts the Kings on the power play numerous times.

In January, that statement would have been utter nonsense. A game played with 60 minutes, 5-on-5, would have been ideal for that Kings team. Smith believes that the presence of Artemi Panarin changes that mindset entirely.

“Probably our biggest strength right now is the bread man on the power play, so if we can get some power plays and get him the puck, that favors us,” he said.

With last night’s game tied 0-0 in the second period the Kings got on the man advantage and, as noted, Panarin got the puck, at the top of the left-hand circle. He draws so much attention and he moved it to forward Alex Laferriere, who plays lower in the zone. This time, though, it wasn’t Panarin who was incisive, but rather Laferriere, who is playing on PP1 for an extended stretch for the first time in his NHL career. Laferriere made a nifty pass to forward Adrian Kempe, at the back post, where he buried into essentially an empty net to open the scoring.

JUICY! pic.twitter.com/KNVASN3IjO

— LA Kings (@LAKings) April 2, 2026

Laferriere has had a chance to make that position his own and with plays like last night, he should be able to do so. the power play runs through Panarin, who operates from the left-hand circle and ideally, the Kings would have another right-shot forward down low for ease of exchange. A right-shot player down there has far more options. As we saw, he can make the spinning pass through the slot on his backhand. There’s a one-touch pass to the bumper position on the forehand, especially since the Kings use a left-shot player in that position. There’s also a move to be made directly to the net, using your body to shield the puck. A left-shot player in that role simply doesn’t have those options. Laferriere has the handedness, but also the ability and growing comfort to make those plays. We saw it last night.

“He’s a right shot and that’s the biggest thing for the bread man, when he rolls up, he needs a right shot at the bottom that’s able to attack,” Smith said. “If you can make those plays, more and more, people come to you and you’re going to see, over time, if you can continue to make those plays, teams are going to be forced to cover the guy at the back [post] harder. It will give you more room to score. Laf is a guy who is team, team, team and it’s great to see him have success.”

For Laferriere’s part, his comfort and confidence are both certainly growing in that area.

He said that he and Panarin have spent 1-on-1 time after practices working on those kinds of plays. Laferriere is arguably the easiest option, especially if Panarin gets into trouble. So, he’s got to offer something there. Last night he certainly did. He said that their communication has been really good and that’s helping him to settle into that role.

“Being able to be out there with him after practice, he’s just talking me through things, about where he wants me in certain situations when he’s carrying the puck,” Laferriere said. “I’m just trying to be a sponge and absorb it all from hom, he’s such an unbelievable player to learn from.”

Laferriere added that, as a whole, he has liked the direct nature that unit has played with. His assist to Kempe a good example. Since March 1, the Kings are converting at over 24 percent on the man advantage, an eight-percent increase from the season prior to that point. Certainly a turnaround for that unit, from a huge weakness to a strength. With more players getting involved, with guys like Laferriere meriting respect in their roles as well, that should only continue to get better. Special teams can decide games, especially at this time of the season. Getting goals on the power play is huge and it’s nice to see Laferriere earn that chance.

3 To Watch For –
– 78 points versus 77.

With last night’s win, the Kings moved into the second wild-card position in the Western Conference. In doing so, they jumped tonight’s opponent in the standings, while remaining one point clear of San Jose and two points ahead of Winnipeg, which both won as well over the last 48 hours.

Sets the stage here tonight for the first of two games between the Kings and Predators over the next five days, which could go a long way towards determining the playoff fate of that position. While Vegas is, on paper, catchable for the Kings, making up five points of ground over the final eight games, for an inconsistent team, feels like a tall task. Could happen. But not sure I would say it’s likely, especially of the coaching change for the Golden Knights. The spot that Los Angeles and Nashville are competing against each other for is the most likely route to the playoffs for both clubs.

If you buy into this sort of thing, the above screenshot is from MoneyPuck. A win of any kind, by their model, would push the Kings’ playoff odds over 50 percent and their odds of catching Vegas to just shy of 17 percent. A loss in regulation would put those numbers below 23 percent and six percent respectively. It’s all math, taking out too many important variables, to put too much stock into it. But it’s a good representation of the importance of tonight’s game, for both teams.

Though the Kings have the final playoff spot as of today, it’s actually San Jose that controls its own destiny. The Kings and Sharks already concluded their season series and the Kings will more likely than not lose the regulation wins tiebreaker, barring a very strange set of games down the stretch. So, San Jose has one more point to be won than the Kings do. Two more when you factor in tiebreaker. So, while it’s unlikely either team runs the table, the Sharks are currently the team to scoreboard watch the hardest as it pertains to that final spot. They host Toronto tonight to conclude a back-to-back of their own.

– Prior to tonight’s game, the Kings will honor forward Anze Kopitar with a pre-game ceremony, in recognition of his career with the organization.

Specifically, Kopitar reached the 1,500-game milestone earlier this season and last month in New Jersey, he became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, passing Marcel Dionne for the most career points in a Kings jersey. Just 25 players have played in 1,500 career regular-season games and naturally there are 32 active franchise leaders in scoring. Kopitar has amassed so many franchise records throughout his career and he is now entering his final eight regular-season games, with the chance to potentially extend his final season into the playoffs with enough wins down the stretch.

A special night, certainly, to honor the King of Kings. For those coming tonight, would recommend getting to the building early! The ceremony should start right around 7:30, with puck drop slightly delayed, so would recommend getting to the building well before that in order to avoid any issues.

– Lastly, just wanted to share my excitement for LAKI Suite Night this evening!

Looking forward to seeing many of you there at the game! Live Thread tonight won’t be as active throughout the game as I will be in the suite with the Insiders, but I will have it up as always for Insiders who aren’t at the game to be active on. Hope the team can win one for the Insiders, as Notre Dame once said.

Kings and Predators, to conclude the back-to-back. One of the most consequential games of the season, with just one point separating the teams in the standings.