3/24 Preview – Joseph Earns Another Game + Doughty on Close Games, Panarin’s Scoring Streak, Struggles in CGY

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings have lost three consecutive games, with a record of 0-2-1, entering tonight’s game in Calgary, the middle stop of a three-game trip.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Adrian Kempe has scored in both games these two teams have played this season in California, including an insurance goal in a 2-0 Kings win last month at Crypto.com Arena. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Kempe has scored nine goals in 14 games played versus the Flames, tied for the fourth-most in the NHL in that span.

KINGS VITALS: Los Angeles held a full-team morning skate today, in advance of tonight’s matchup with Calgary.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper was the first netminder off after today’s morning skate, though Interim Coach D.J. Smith did not confirm a starter in net, so we’ll have to wait until warmups to know for sure.. Kuemper has very strong career numbers against the Flames, with an 8-3-2 record, a .949 save percentage and a 1.77 goals-against average. Should Anton Forsberg get the start, he’s coming off a 29-save shutout when these teams met in February in Los Angeles, a 2-0 Kings victory.

Here is how the Kings lined up during morning skate earlier today –

Panarin – Kopitar – Ward*
Moore – Byfield – Laferriere
Joseph – Laughton – Wright
Malott – Helenius – Armia

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci

Forsberg
Kuemper

*Forward Adrian Kempe did not skate this morning, as has been the case of late as he manages a lower-body injury, with forward Taylor Ward skating in his spot during the rushes.

The Kings will likely have some game-time decisions today, including Kempe, to make after warmups, with the team currently battling a few injuries. So, don’t consider these to be set in stone. In addition to the above group, forward Alex Turcotte and defenseman Jacob Moverare are also options to check into the lineup, should any additional changes need to be made.

FLAMES VITALS: Calgary is on a three-game winning streak entering tonight’s action, coming off an impressive, 4-3 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Per Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960, here’s how the Flames lined up last time out versus Tampa Bay –

#Flames projected tonight vs. Tampa Bay:

Coleman-Backlund-Farabee
Gridin-Frost-Coronato
Sharangovich-Strome-Olofsson
Pospisil-Gross-Klapka

Bahl-Whitecloud
Maatta-Brzustewicz
Hanley-Parekh

Cooley

— Pat Steinberg (@Fan960Steinberg) March 22, 2026

Forward Morgan Frost scored the game-winning goal when these teams met at Crypto.com Arena earlier back in November, a 2-1 overtime victory for Calgary. Overall for the 2025-26 campaign, Frost leads all Flames players with 17 goals, while his 35 points rank third-most on the team.

Storyline Of The Day – Gotta Go To Jo
Mathieu Joseph was inserted into the Kings lineup by Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith in advance of Sunday’s game in Utah.

The Kings were on the back end of a 3-in-4 and Smith wanted to get fresh legs into the lineup, with both Joseph and forward Alex Turcotte checking in. I thought that both players played well – Turcotte had a couple of key blocks and puck battles won that stood out positively – but Joseph played what I felt was his best game as a member of the Kings.

He started the game on the fourth line but was quickly bumped up onto the third line with Scott Laughton and Jared Wright. It was a line that I thought clicked pretty well, with Joseph hardly stepping foot in the defensive zone all night. It’s not necessarily a line that feels all that cohesive on paper, but it certainly looked that way in action.

The Kings controlled shot attempts 16-5 with Joseph on the ice in Utah. Scoring chances were 7-2 to the good, with three high-danger chances for compared to none against. It was a really good showing from Joseph, who gave the team a shot in the arm of sorts when Smith felt they needed some fresh legs. He’s now earned his place in tonight’s lineup as well, set to start again with Laughton and Wright on a line that should be capable of bringing the group some energy.

“We’re trying to be on the same page offensively, defensively, trying to ways to create offense, I think we’ve had a lot of chances the last two or three games together and we’re going to get rewarded at some point,” Joseph said this morning. “I think you’ve got to play the right way and I think when you defend hard first, you usually get some chance offensively and I think that’s what we did last game.”

Certainly a rewarding feeling for a player who has come to Los Angeles in search of a fresh start here. Joseph was a solid player in St. Louis and played playoff games with the Blues just last April, scoring a goal in Round 1, Game 7 versus Winnipeg in an eventual overtime defeat. But, as that team struggled this season, it became the right time for a fresh start for both parties. That fresh start came at the benefit of the Kings, who quickly signed Joseph to a one-year contract through the end of the season, indirectly replacing forward Warren Foegele, who was traded to Ottawa in advance of the NHL’s Trade Deadline.

Joseph pointed to his familiarity with Smith, from their time together in Ottawa, as helping to integrate into a new group midseason, while also working to restore his confidence after a difficult season in St. Louis. Last game is what he hopes is the start of something with the Kings, as he delivered a really strong night in Utah, by leaning into what he does best.

“I felt like I needed to skate, I needed to hit and that line, that’s what we do to be efficient on the ice,” Joseph said. “Wrighter and Laughts are really good skaters. They’re guys that play the right way and they play my type of game, so I was just trying to skate, win battles and go to the net.”

The Kings need more games like that from guys in energy roles. Every night has importance. As Laughton said after the Utah game, that line needs to get a goal here and there as well, to support the Top-6, but if they play the game at the right end of the ice, even on the scoreboard, they’re bringing something to the group as well. Both players feel that if they keep playing that way, offense will follow.

Like Laughton, Joseph came here hoping to be a part of a playoff push and games like he delivered in Utah are him doing his part in that area. Hopefully, the start of things to come down the stretch.

“I like the position that we were in when I came here, having the chance to push for the playoffs,” Joseph added. “There’s nothing like the NHL playoffs, it’s hard to get there but when you get in, you never know what can happen, that’s the beauty of it. I’ve been on both sides, being really high in the standings and losing in the first round to being a [lower] seed and going all the way. I think when playoffs happen, if one team can get hot, that’s the purpose of it. These meaningful games definitely help to get into the playoffs, like in St. Louis last year.”

3 To Watch For –
– Asked Drew Doughty this morning about where the team is at recently, with the Kings competing each night, being in each game, but continuing to fall short in turning those types of performances into wins.

Here is his answer –

“We’ve got to keep doing the things we’re doing, we’re playing good hockey, but yeah, the bottom line is, we’re not getting wins and when we’re in those tight situations, third periods, we’ve got to get the confidence that we think we’re going to go out there and win. The only way to do that is by winning. It’s frustrating, because I think we’ve been playing really good hockey and the wins are not coming.”

I think he makes a good point of a team that is getting into these moments and not fully having the confidence to deliver wins. It’s a chicken/egg situation, where you build that by getting the job done, but the Kings continue to lose in those moments, either in the third period, in overtime or in the shootout. Doughty is not a player who lacks confidence in those situations, but he is a leader on a team that does.

Been beaten to death, but it continues to happen. The Kings are struggling to finish off one-goal games and with 12 games remaining, those situations will likely make or break their playoff prospects.

– Forward Artemi Panarin kept things rolling offensively as he buried the game-tying goal in Sunday’s overtime defeat in Utah.

Panarin’s goal saw him find the back of the net for the third consecutive game, as he extended his overall point streak to six games. Only three players in the NHL have longer active scoring streaks than Panarin does. He now has 17 points (6-11-17) in 14 games since he joined the Kings, tied for the eighth-most in the NHL since the Olympic break.

“PP alone, he just creates every single thing on the power play,” Doughty said of Panarin. “Our PP is one of the worst in the league all season and then he comes in and it seems like we’re scoring goals now, it feels like whenever the PP goes out there, we’re probably going to score with him. I can’t say enough good things about his, he’s a great player. I didn’t know just how good he was until I got to play with him these last few weeks.”

Panarin’s impact on the team has certainly been obvious. On the power play, where he has made the largest difference, the Kings have clicked at 25.8 percent with Panarin on the roster, as compared to 16.0 percent beforehand. That’s a difference of nearly 10 percent, as the team jumped from 29th in the NHL to eighth. The team, overall, is up from 2.54 goals per/game to 2.93, a combination of Panarin’s impact and a stylistic change in approach.

His goal in Utah was a tying goal to secure a point. Same story as the game against Philadelphia on Thursday, as Panarin’s third-period goal against earned the Kings a point. He had a game-winning assist in overtime in Columbus earlier this month and his timely offensive production is directly securing points in the standings. He’s one guy who is pulling his weight as of late and has the team closer in the race than they might’ve been otherwise.

– Lastly, needs to be pointed out that the Scotiabank Saddledome has been a very difficult building for the Kings in recent memory.

Los Angeles has lost six consecutive games in regulation in Calgary, all coming in regulation. The Kings did win the last matchup with Calgary overall, however, a 2-0 victory on home ice in February.

Unsure what it is that has made this place so tricky for the Kings.

Over the last three seasons, Calgary ranks 20th in the NHL in home points percentage (.585), so it’s not like the Flames have been a juggernaut. At the same time, the Kings are 5-1-1 in their last seven home games played against Calgary, with the lone regulation loss being a dead-rubber game at the end of last season, with the Kings resting several players in advance of the postseason. So, it’s not like it’s just a bad matchup against Calgary, but just a building where the Kings have consistently struggled.

“We talked about it this morning, [six] in a row and nine of ten, whatever it is, at the end of the day, we need to get points,” Smith said. “It’s like the roulette table, you think it’s going to go red and it keeps going red. For us, we’re going to try and curb the odds in our favor by taking care of the puck, being disciplined, giving them nothing if we can and scoring on our opportunities. Hopefully, the ball lands on our number.”

There’s not necessarily a rhyme or reason to it, because the Kings have controlled the matchup in Los Angeles, but they have not gotten results in this building of late. With no time for streaks to factor in, they’ll have to find a way to put that beyond them this evening.

Kings and Flames, 12 to go here in the regular season. Kings need to find a win in a building they have struggled in of late. 7 PM puck drop in Calgary, 6 PM Pacific time.