Artemi Panarin will make his Los Angeles debut on Wednesday night when the Kings host the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights.
The 34-year-old left winger, who has scored 321 goals and 606 assists in 804 career games, was acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 4 in exchange for forward Liam Greentree and two conditional draft picks. He is expected to provide a necessary offensive boost to a Kings offense that ranks 31st out of 32 teams with 142 goals scored.
“He’s such an incredible player, and he’s going to be a huge piece for our team,” Alex Laferriere, who is expected to center a line with Panarin and Adrian Kempe, said following a recent practice. “Some of the plays that he was making out there were unbelievable. I’m just trying to read off him and just try and find the open ice, because I know he’s going to find me. He’s an unbelievable passer and can score a lot of goals. He’s a really fun player to play with.”
Panarin, who has scored 30 or more goals in a season five times in his career, has tallied 19 goals and 38 assists in 52 games this season. He’s also being counted on to quarterback a Los Angeles power play that ranks just 29th at 16.0%.
“Panarin is going to be the player who has the puck, primarily, and is running the power play,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “So, it’s how do we give him the most amount of options.”
“He’ll give us a spark on the power play, offensive play,” forward Anze Kopitar said. “I mean, you guys have seen him play enough, we’ve played against him enough to know, even going back to his Chicago days. As soon as he got in the league, you could tell he was going to be a very good offensive player, and he didn’t disappoint.”
Los Angeles starts the post-Olympic break in fifth place in the Pacific Division, eight points behind the first-place Golden Knights, and three points behind the Anaheim Ducks for the final Western Conference wild-card spot.
It will be the second game of a home-and-home series with Vegas that started before the break in Las Vegas with a 4-1 win by the Golden Knights.
Vegas scored four goals in the first 13:49 and cruised to its second straight win following a five-game losing streak (0-3-2). Mark Stone led the way with a goal and two assists, and Jack Eichel and Pavel Dorofeyev each added a goal and an assist. Adin Hill made 32 saves en route to his 100th career win.
Kempe, who played for Sweden in the Olympics, practiced Tuesday and Hiller said he expects defenseman Drew Doughty and goalie Darcy Kuemper, both members of the silver medal-winning Canadian team, as well as forward Joel Armia, who took bronze with Finland, to be available for Wednesday’s contest.
Forward Kevin Fiala, who has scored 18 goals, will miss the rest of the season after suffering multiple fractures in his left leg while playing for Switzerland in the Olympics.
Vegas, which is beginning a five-game road trip with stops at Washington, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Detroit, will be without center Jack Eichel and defenseman Noah Hanifin. Both were part of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team that visited the White House on Tuesday, and they will rejoin the team Friday for the game against the Capitals.
Stone, forward Mitch Marner and defenseman Shea Theodore, members of the Canadian Olympic team, also didn’t practice Tuesday. Head coach Bruce Cassidy, an assistant for that team, said he was unsure if that trio would play on Wednesday.
“That’s a little fluid,” Cassidy said. “The American guys are at the State of the Union (Tuesday), so they won’t join us (in Los Angeles). They’re going to go and enjoy that moment. They deserve it. They earned it. The Canadian guys, we’re still sorting through and see how they feel.”
–Field Level Media
