Kings’ blueprint for success in 2026 starts at home ...Middle East

On Monday, the Kings walked out of a measuring-stick game talking about moral victories.

On Thursday, they’ll kick off 2026 with another tale-of-the-tape opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning, ahead of consecutive games hosting the soaring Minnesota Wild.

Most recently, the Kings went into arguably the toughest home-ice environment in the NHL against inarguably the league’s best team this season, the Colorado Avalanche.

They improved their penalty kill, even scoring an NHL-leading seventh shorthanded goal, four of which have come from Joel Armia. They also played competitively in many areas and moments of the match, but still fell 5-2 for Colorado’s eighth consecutive victory and 14th straight win at Ball Arena, where they are 16-0-2 this season.

“Defensively, we’re still doing the right things, checking-wise and effort-wise,” leading scorer Adrian Kempe told reporters. “That’s the most important thing, that we’re still relying on our identity and all that kind of stuff. Hopefully the goals will start coming. That’s all I can say, but everything else was there.”

The Kings (16-13-9) have taken just two of their past nine tilts (2-5-2) and, more broadly, they’ve scored two or fewer goals in 21 of their 38 matches. Despite recent six-goal outbursts against the Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks at Crypto.com Arena, they remained the NHL’s second-lowest scoring team at home, where they have a 5-8-4 record, albeit its third stingiest as well. That hasn’t translated to results, however, as they have the league’s third-lowest points percentage on home ice and its least effective home power play.

In a five-game stretch that began with a rousing 6-1 victory over the Ducks, they were to play three of the NHL’s top five attacks in the Ducks, Avalanche and Lightning. That’ll be followed by a pair of games against a Wild squad that has ranked fifth in goals per game in December against the backdrop of its blockbuster acquisition of 2024 Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes.

While the Kings may still be figuring out how to score more halfway through the season, their most important player this year and last in terms of preventing goals will be back in the mix. Goalie Darcy Kuemper (upper body) was activated from injured reserve Tuesday.

He was a Vezina Trophy finalist last season and, along with veteran defenseman Drew Doughty, will be headed to Milan to represent Canada in the Winter Olympics. In 2025-26, the Kings have a .591 points percentage with Kuemper in net, which dips to .469 when he isn’t between the pipes.

Tampa Bay just got a key player back, too. Winger Brandon Hagel, who will also play for Team Canada at the Olympics along with Tampa teammates Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli, returned to action (upper body) after nearly two weeks away. He played 21:25 in a shootout win over Montreal on Sunday that was the Bolts’ fourth consecutive victory.

Former Kings draft pick Erik Černák (hand) was also nearing a return after not having played since Nov. 22. He was part of a rash of injuries on the back end that also sidelined top defenseman Victor Hedman, veteran Ryan McDonagh and Emil Lilleberg.

Tampa Bay at Kings

When: 4 p.m. Thursday

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV: FDSN West

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