3/28 Preview – A Season-Long & Season-Defining Homestand + Winning in LA, Regulation Wins, Kuzmenko Update

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings begin a season-long, seven-game homestand tonight against Utah, as they enter the final ten games of the 2025-26 regular season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Quinton Byfield led the Kings with a goal and an assist when these teams met in Utah last week, a 4-3 Kings overtime defeat. Defensemen Drew Doughty and Joel Edmundson both rank in the Top-5 in all-time points versus Utah among blueliners. Doughty is tied for third with six points (2-4-6) while Edmundson is tied for fifth with five (2-3-5).

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate today with the 6:00 PM puck drop tonight.

Would lean towards Darcy Kuemper between the pipes coming off a shutout win over Vancouver on Thursday. Kuemper allowed four goals at Delta Center in Salt Lake City last week but has a 4-0-1 record lifetime versus the Mammoth, with a .906 save percentage and a 2.59 goals-against average.

For reference, here is how the Kings lined up against the Canucks last time out –

Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci

Kuemper
Forsberg

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 27, 2026

Not expecting any major lineup changes for the Kings, though forward Adrian Kempe will likely continue to be a game-time decision coming after warmups, as he did not skate today. Should any changes be needed, or required, defenseman Jacob Moverare and forwards Taylor Ward and Alex Turcotte are options to check in for tonight’s game.

MAMMOTH VITALS: Utah dropped a high-scoring game against Washington last time out, but currently sits in control of the top wild-card position in the Western Conference, four points ahead of the Kings.

Per the Utah team account, here’s how tonight’s opposition lined up on Thursday versus the Capitals –

Thursday night hockey on deck. pic.twitter.com/aS6KGEar1T

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) March 27, 2026

Forward Nick Schmaltz scored two goals when these teams met last weekend, including the game-winning goal in overtime. Over the last two seasons, Schmaltz leads all Mammoth skaters with six points (2-4-6) in five games played against Los Angeles.

Storyline Of The Day – Seventh Heaven
“We haven’t been great at home. I think it’s our time now to get hot here in the last little bit and really give ourselves a chance.”

That was Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith, following Thursday’s win over Vancouver. The 4-0 victory set the Kings up for what will be both a season-long and season-defining homestand. The Kings will host Utah, St. Louis, Nashville (x2), Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton over the next two weeks in a set of seven games that will likely determine how the 2025-26 season ends for the Kings – in the playoffs, or an early summer.

The Kings are coming home off a roadtrip that saw them leave two points on the table, though they still collected four of six in total. Now, it’s time to figure it out at home.

Los Angeles has one of the NHL’s worst records on home ice this season. They’ve collected 48 of 76 points this season on the road, which means that they’ve only got 28 at home, stemming from a record of 10-16-8 at Crypto.com Arena. Among teams currently in playoff contention, that’s by far the worst mark. The Kings have earned 63 percent of their points this season on the road, the highest percentage in the Pacific Division and one of the top clips around the NHL. Only three teams – Colorado, Tampa Bay and Dallas – have more road points this season than Los Angeles.

However, to reach the postseason, they’ll have to win games in their building. The energy and the level of play at home has risen this month. The Montreal loss, for example, was a game in which the Kings played extremely well, but found a way to lose late. That kind of level over 60 minutes will lead to some wins. It’s that number though, 60 minutes, that has eluded this team at home far too often. It’s that number that likely makes or breaks how successfully this homestand will go.

“We’ve got to find a way to play the exact same way every night,” Smith said. “If we’re on the same page and we’re doing the same things over and over and we’re faster and harder than the other team, we’re going to win.”

If the Kings can deliver complete, 60-minute efforts on the regular, they set themselves up to find some real success, regardless of who they play. Tonight’s game with Utah is one of four that will be played against a current playoff team on this trip, alongside two games against Nashville and the home finale versus Edmonton. So, it won’t be easy. Plus, the Kings have often played down against teams below them in the standings, which has cost several points along the way.

What this is, though, is an opportunity.

“There’s a lot of massive games coming up here, we’ve got Utah, Nashville, Edmonton as well, some of the teams that we’re trying to battle and get some spots off here,” forward Quinton Byfield said of the homestand ahead. “There’s a lot of big games coming up. Our playoffs started a couple games ago, so that’s the mentality that we have.”

Naturally, the Kings can’t win seven games tonight. They can only compete against Utah and try to win that game collecting what would be a massive two points in the standings.

As Byfield said, the concept of playing games with playoff implications, that should have a playoff intensity, has already started. Should’ve probably kicked in before now. But it’s here. One at a time, for the mindset, but a seven-game stretch here that will likely define the season. Past performance aside, there’s some optimism in that, beginning with tonight’s matchup against Utah.

“It’s exciting that we get to do it in front of our fans, we have to do it at home, I think we all know what’s at stake,” defenseman Brandt Clarke added. “We all know how important these past few games have been and the next ten games are. We’re excited. This is a fun time of the year and we’re ready to show we can do it.”

3 To Watch For –
– So, how do you win games at home?

For Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith, he feels the Kings have given up too much against the other team’s top players.

“In our building, we have had a tough time this year shutting down the other team’s top players,” Smith said. “It’s something we have to do if you’re going to win at home, don’t give up slot shots, don’t give up rush chances. The best players in the league, how do they score? They score off the rush and they score in the slot. That’s something we’ve really got to tighten up.”

When on the road, the Kings have gotten some really good games from the Moore/Byfield/Laferriere line, which is the team’s matchup line of choice. They’ve got excellent speed and have really good chemistry, which has enabled them to spend time in the offensive zone, despite difficult matchups. That’s the task as the team come home, with the Kings armed with last change, so I’d expect to see that line deployed as routinely as possible against Utah’s top forwards.

On the morale side of things, the Kings know they’ll have the crowd behind them here at home, for seven games, which helps. The most important thing is honing in on the details. That has to be there. But they want to take advantage of the fan support as well over these seven massive games.

“Everyone knows our situation right now, so we need every point, every point matters right now, we’ve got to bear down and make the playoffs,” forward Samuel Helenius added. “It’s super nice we’ve got the good crowd here, so it’s nice to have that right now, all in a row here at home, it’s fun to play [these important games] at home.”

– Have seen a lot of conversation about the importance of regulation wins as of late.

I understand it, but when you really look at the standings, I don’t think that winning games in regulation is as important as it’s made out to be for the Kings the rest of the way. Frankly, the Kings will most likely lose every single regulation wins tiebreaker there is. The Kings are within five points of six different teams in either direction – Nashville, Utah, Vegas, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Seattle. They trail all six by at least five in the first tiebreaker against all of those teams. It’s not impossible, but it is unlikely that tiebreaker factors in.

Perhaps it’s more important if the Kings actually do go on a run here and string some regulation wins together. That, combined with a slip elsewhere, actually could become something that matters if some other teams find themselves winning several games in overtime or the shootout. In terms of simply qualifying, I won’t say it’s impossible, but it’s unlikely the Kings could win that tiebreakers in any matchup anyways.

If there is a wonky situation where the Kings can somehow pull even in the RW category, you obviously want to take advantage of that. However, I think that the more likely than not scenario is that the Kings need to make it in outright. So, when you look at one point out, it’s really more like two points, because it is extremely unlikely that a tie will do it. The Kings rank 31st in the league in regulation wins and it’s likely too little, too late on that front to make a real impact.

In matchups like tonight’s, I think the more important reason to win in regulation is that it would prevent a team within striking distance from collecting points themselves. The Vancouver game, it didn’t much matter. It does tonight, with Utah entering the action four points ahead of the Kings in the Wild Card standings.

Win your games, style be damned.

– Lastly, an update on Kings forward Andrei Kuzmenko.

Forward Andrei Kuzmenko is back on the ice, skating on his own.

Not all that close to a lineup return per Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith and hasn’t re-joined the group yet. Optimism, but certainly still some steps to take before he could play.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 28, 2026

Encouraging, but still seems like Kuzmenko is more likely to come back in the playoffs than the regular season, if the Kings are able to qualify. A good sign he has progressed back onto the ice and today was not his first time skating. However, the Kings are not counting on him over their final 10 games in the regular season at this time. Could change, but as of now, don’t expect Kuzmenko back until a possible postseason run.

Kings and Mammoth, as a massive seven-game homestand gets underway this evening at Crypto.com Arena. Big one for sure, with playoff implications on both sides.