10/21 Preview – Corey Perry Time! Perry To Debut in STL + Kuemper to Dress, Kopitar Update/IR, Cleaning Up The Breakdowns

TODAY’S MATCHUP: A five-game roadtrip for the Kings begins this evening, as they visit St. Louis for the first time this season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Five different Kings collected multiple points in the 2024-25 season series against St. Louis, led by two goals from forward Quinton Byfield and two assists each from defensemen Mikey Anderson and Drew Doughty. Over the last five seasons, only Colorado’s Cale Makar has more points against St. Louis among defensemen than Doughty, who has collected 14 (3-11-14) from 17 games played in that span.

KINGS VITALS: From a lineup perspective, looks like at least two changes based on today’s events.

Unclear on tonight’s starting goaltender. Darcy Kuemper will dress, per Jim Hiller, but unconfirmed on whether he or Anton Forsberg will be in net. Forsberg has four career games played against the Blues, bringing with him a 1-2-0 record with a .889 save percentage and a 2.88 goals-against average. Should Kuemper return from injury tonight, he brings with him a 10-6-1 career record against St. Louis, with a .915 save percentage and a 2.41 goals-against average.

After a full-team practice yesterday, the Kings held an optional morning skate today in Missouri. For reference, here’s Saturday’s lineup against Carolina –

Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –

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

Dumoulin – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci

Forsberg
Copley

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 19, 2025

So. Corey Perry will play tonight. Darcy Kuemper, as noted above, will dress. That’s two of the four injured players referenced HERE in yesterday’s article. The other two players are Anze Kopitar and Kyle Burroughs, who both skated in non-contact jerseys at today’s morning skate. Based on morning skate, expecting Perry to check in for Samuel Helenius, with Alex Turcotte moving to center, but we’ll learn for sure during warmups tonight.

BLUES VITALS: Tonight is game three of four on the current Blues homestand, after they evened their record at 1-1 on Saturday with a 3-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Per Chris Pinkert of the Blues team website, here’s how St. Louis lined up on Saturday –

Dylan Holloway – Robert Thomas – Jake Neighbours
Pavel Buchnevich – Pius Suter – Jimmy Snuggerud
Mathieu Joseph – Brayden Schenn – Jordan Kyrou
Alexandre Texier – Nick Bjugstad – Nathan Walker

Cam Fowler – Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg – Justin Faulk
Tyler Tucker – Matthew Kessel

Jordan Binnington

Forward Jake Neighbours is off to a strong start this season with a team-high four goals from his first five games played. Neighbours has been productive against the Kings over the last two seasons, as he leads all St. Louis skaters with three goals and five points from six games played. Neighbours set career highs in assists (24) and points (46) during the 2024-25 season.

Storyline Of The Day – Disappointment, Not Discouragement
Corey Perry time!

After missing the first six games of the season following knee surgery, Perry will make both his season debut and his LA Kings debut this evening in St. Louis.

“He’s the type of player that I think was an important addition for us,” Jim Hiller said this morning. “We’re really looking for the stuff he does for us on the ice, on the bench and in the room. All those intangibles that go along with his storied career to this point.”

Perry has been skating on his own for a few weeks now and has integrated himself into the team a bit more over the last week or so. Expecting Perry to likely play on the fourth line tonight while also potentially integrating onto the power play.

Perry is known for his ability in front of the net, as well as the way he plays in the corners. Ask Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson. Both players make a living in front of the net, with Edmundson a big, strong defenseman who prides himself on clearing that space and Perry a forward who does the same but in an attacking way. Edmundson knows just how hard to handle Perry can be and he’s looking forward to having him in the lineup tonight.

“He’s sneaky, he goes to the blue paint, and he’s hard to push to the corner,” Edmundson said. “He’s been doing it for 20 years. I think some of our young guys are picking his brain about how to do that around the net and I think he gets under the goalies skin and definitely the defenders. It’s something that we need in our lineup and I’m looking forward to it.”

Perry is new to the Kings as a teammate, certainly, but that doesn’t go for everyone. Warren Foegele and Cody Ceci both played with Perry in Edmonton, as Edmundson and forwards Phillip Danault and Joel Armia did in Montreal.

Ceci – It’s huge, just to have a veteran guy like him in the lineup, just saying the right things, leading by example. He gets to the net and I think a lot of guys can do the same. It’s going to be big when he does come back.

Foegele – He’s such a smart player, lots of leadership, he brings experience, he’s a great teammate. It’s good to see him back out there. We’ve missed him.

Not expecting Perry to play a ton of minutes tonight and Hiller said as much. First game back, likely in a fourth-line role to begin, with some power-play time as well. But even in that capacity, he can help the team. Veteran player who has been around and knows what he’s doing here. Does a lot of the things that perhaps the Kings have been missing, things he was signed specifically to bring. Good to have Perry in action tonight against the Blues.

3 To Watch For –
– The other note from this morning is that goaltender Darcy Kuemper will dress tonight, coming off a lower-body injury. Jim Hiller confirmed that Kuemper will dress but did not disclose who will start. That will be a game-time reveal.

Kuemper was never placed on injured reserve so there’s no roster move required there.

For Perry to play, though, he does need to be activated to an active roster that currently has 23 players on it, including goaltender Pheonix Copley. Would expect some clarity in that area later

On Anze Kopitar, who re-joined the group today in a non-contact capacity, Hiller was optimistic in seeing him practicing in the red jersey this morning.

“Nice to see him on skates, skating and anytime a guy gets that red on, gets around the guys, at least you’re getting some hope internally that he’s not as far away as you think he is,” Hiller said of Kopitar.

So, it won’t be tonight. Kopitar is week-to-week, so a little patience there is likely the approach. But him being on the ice is certainly a positive that things are trending closer to week than weeks at this time. Kopitar was placed on injured reserve today to accommodate Perry, but since his injury came last week on Monday, a retroactive designation means he could be activated at any point if he is ready, with a corresponding move.

We don’t know yet for when that day would be just yet, so will provide updates throughout the week.

– One area of focus tonight has to be inner-slot goals against.

On Saturday, goals one and two were simply blown coverages in the inner slot. One off the rush and on the backcheck for the Kings and the other off an in-zone read.

What’s interesting is the Kings have actually defended the inner slot very well this season. Per SportLOGIQ, the Kings are a Top-5 team in limiting shot attempts and shots on goal from the inner slot. That’s very good. However, 35.6 percent of those attempts have come unpressured, as both goals against were on Saturday. That’s 26th in the NHL. To me, that signals individual breakdowns, as opposed to structural flaws.

“It’s something we talked about, just cleaning up those moments in the games and trying to play a clean 60,” defenseman Cody Ceci said. “It’s not going to happen every night, but the more we can push for that, the better for our group.”

The Kings, again, are a Top-5 at prevention of non-pressured inner-slot attempts, it’s just that of the limited number that they are allowing, a higher rate are coming unpressured than most teams. As you might expect, unpressured chances from the inner slot are winding up in the back of the net at a high rate. Clean up those individual breakdowns, those moments within games, without sacrificing the overall structure and I think you’ll see improvement.

– Lastly, a special homecoming for Kings broadcast John Kelly.

Kelly was the play-by-play voice of the Blues for several seasons, from 2005–25 and will call tonight’s game for the Kings on FanDuel Sports Network. Kelly made his Kings debut in Minnesota one week ago and will call three games on this trip, including tonight’s opener against St. Louis. Kelly has family and friends here, raised a family here and that obviously leads to a special night for him. Hoping that tonight’s game affords him a moment he certainly deserves.

Kings and Blues, first of five on the road for the Kings here on their first extended trip of the season. Big one to start the trip off on the right foot.