10/16 Preview – Kopitar a “game-time decision” + Goaltending Updates, Confidence in Forsberg, Limiting Penalties a Focus

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back in California for a short, two-game homestand, beginning tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Adrian Kempe led the Kings last season with two goals in the two games played versus Pittsburgh, with forward Anze Kopitar providing the assist on both tallies. Kempe has 10 goals in 14 career games played against the Penguins and his 1.07 points-per-game is his highest against any NHL opponent.

KINGS VITALS: After making several lineup changes on Monday in Minnesota, look for some of those moves to remain consistent today against the Penguins, with a couple of potential outliers.

With goaltender Darcy Kuemper currently day-to-day with a lower-body injury, look for Anton Forsberg to make his second start of the season tonight against Pittsburgh. In four career appearances against the Penguins, Forsberg has a 1-0-1 record, with a .908 save percentage and a 3.01 goals-against average.

Coming off yesterday’s full-team practice, the Kings went with an optional skate today at Toyota Sports Performance Center. Sharing last game’s lineup below for reference –

Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –

Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Armia
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Malott – Turcotte – Laferriere

Dumoulin – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci

Kuemper
Forsberg

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 13, 2025

With forward Anze Kopitar and goaltender Darcy Kuemper both day-to-day, that would be the driving factor towards any potential lineup changes for tonight. More on Kopitar below, while Kuemper feels likely to be out tonight, which honestly might’ve been the case either way based on rotation of games.

PENGUINS VITALS: Pittsburgh is on the middle game of its three-game California roadtrip, coming off of Tuesday’s 4-3 defeat in Anaheim against the Ducks.

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

How we’re lining up in Anaheim.#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/GfgHdjIoD1

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 15, 2025

A familiar face in those lines with forward Blake Lizotte entering his second season with Pittsburgh. Lizotte was a successful undrafted free agent signing by the Kings in 2018 and spent five seasons in the organization. Lizotte has a goal from four games played with Pittsburgh this season, where he’s found a good home as a regular in the bottom six.

Storyline Of The Day – Forsa Forsberg
With Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper currently day-to-day with a lower-body injury, tonight could be Anton Forsberg’s time between the pipes.

Now, day-to-day does not signal a long-term situation here. Kuemper got through the entire 65 minutes in Minnesota and held the Wild off the board over the final 45 minutes. But based on his designation yesterday, not practicing yesterday and not skating this morning, there are signs that point towards Forsberg at least getting the nod here tonight against Pittsburgh, with the reacquired Pheonix Copley backing up.

For Forsberg, this is a guy who has carried the load in the NHL before, at least for stretches of a season. He’s been a starter, he’s played in a tandem situation and he’s been a backup. So he knows the drill here, regardless of what situation he’s thrust into.

“It’s tough, you never want to see that, [Kuemper is] a super important piece of this team, you saw it last year what he did,” Forsberg said in advance of his first start at home. “Obviously it’s fun to get an opportunity to play and show what I can do, hopefully being able to step up and do my thing.”

In part, this is why the Kings made signing him a priority this summer. Forsberg is a player the Kings have had their eye on for awhile now and while Kuemper was outstanding last season, he is 35 years old an did miss time on two separate occasions last season with minor injuries. Forsberg is a guy the Kings believe can step up in moments like this to provide quality minutes in net both as a backup and as a fill-in starter when Kuemper is banged up, as he is now.

Head Coach Jim Hiller believes that Forsberg is ready to carry the load, whether it’s just for tonight or beyond.

“You hate to see the situation but Forsy has a lot of experience in the league, he’s played well for us here already to start the season, so yeah, now it’s his time,” Jim Hiller said. “Nobody wants to see that happen but he’s ready, I can tell you that he’s ready when called upon. We’ve had the conversation with him when we brought him in that we can’t tell you how many games it’s going to be but he’s really off to a good start and he’s gained the confidence of the team already.”

While he was in net for five against in Vegas, Forsberg delivered the team’s only victory of the season, as he made several saves down the stretch to keep the game close.

Forsberg was under siege for large portions of that game, especially in the second period when then Kings found themselves in penalty trouble. He ultimately made 30 saves on 35 shots but was 7-of-8 on high-danger chances against, including a few key saves in the third period and two big stops in the shootout.

“At the end of the day, I’ve just got to play my game, focus on the same things I would do if I hadn’t let in any goals, the game hasn’t changed from my perspective,” Forsberg said. “I’m still supposed to do the same thing, stop the puck, so that doesn’t change. It’s just the score that’s different and I try to focus on that no matter what and this time we came back, we got two points, which is super nice.”

For the first time at home, we could see Forsberg tonight, another chance for him to show what he can do.

3 To Watch For –
– Anze Kopitar is officially a game-time decision tonight.

Kopitar missed yesterday’s practice with a lower-body injury and also did not take the morning skate today. Kopitar often does like to skate in the mornings on gamedays but he’s gone both directions at times. In hearing from Jim Hiller this morning, Kopitar is a true game-time decision for tonight.

Should Kopitar play, tonight would be the final time that he, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin would share the ice in Los Angeles.

In Kopitar’s final regular season, the Kings host Eastern Conference opposition only once, meaning today’s early-season showdown with the Penguins will be the only time this season they visit Crypto.com Arena, barring a matchup in the 2026 Stanley Cup Finals. Which would, admittedly, be sick. But should Kopitar play and today be the final time, it’s special to see three players at the same position sharing the ice, especially when it’s the final time we’ll likely see it here.

If Kopitar can’t go, I’d expect Samuel Helenius to check in up front, which could potentially shuffle the lines a bit. Until warmups we wait for a formal confirmation.

– Focal point here continues to be penalties.

No team in the NHL has been shorthanded more than the Kings and that includes four teams that have each played five games. The Kings have been shorthanded 22 times in four games, including a 5-on-3 in Minnesota and a major penalty in Vegas, which yielded a total of four power-play goals against between those two scenarios.

There’s not a drill you can practice to take fewer penalties. The Kings also can’t become passive in trying to take fewer penalties. It’s understandably a fine line. But the numbers thus far are just not sustainable for a successful team and the players understand it’s a total that just simply has to go down.

“We’ve had a couple [conversations with the team] and it either didn’t resonate or we just didn’t put ourselves in the right spots,” Hiller said this morning. “When I look at it, I don’t think they’re undisciplined penalties necessarily, after the whistle or selfish penalties, that’s the biggest concern. The next concern is we’ve taken too many in the o-zone and too many with the sticks and the holds, so it’s just being more diligent in that area and getting body position probably more important than anything else. They have to come down. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot in that regard because our 5-on-5 game is strong.”

At 25.8 percent last season, Pittsburgh ranked eighth in the NHL in power-play percentage. A dangerous unit with Crosby, Malkin, Karlsson, etc. Staying out of the box a big key tonight.

– Lastly, nice to see Pheonix Copley at today’s morning skate.

Copley was reacquired yesterday from Tampa Bay and if Darcy Kuemper is unable to go, he would be the backup goaltender for Forsberg, as Copley was on late for extra work today. Hiller spoke highly of having Copley back and likes that there’s not going to be any adjustment period here.

“For us, he’s somebody that fits in, has played very well for us in the Kings jersey, knows his way around, knows the guys, there’s no get to know you period there at all,” Hiller said. “I haven’t had a chance to speak with him yet, I hope he’s happy to be back, but he’s somebody that we can really lean on, he’s somebody you can always trust. He’s got the greatest attitude, good teammate, so those guys, you can’t have enough of them in your locker room.”

Kings and Penguins, 7 PM faceoff tonight from Downtown Los Angeles as the Kings look to return to .500 here in the early goings.