3 ice cold LA Kings players who must step up this week

A terrible start on Saturday night against the Carolina Hurricanes couldn't keep a very resilient Los Angeles Kings squad from making a big comeback effort in the third period at home on Oct. 18. The Kings came back from down 3-0 early in the second period last night to push the game into overtime against the Hurricanes and head coach Rod Brind'Amour.

The Los Angeles Kings need more out of the forward lines from struggling wingers like Alex Laferriere and Warren Foegele this regular season

Jim Hiller and the Kings have been well below expectations early this regular season this fall. After the season's first six games, the Kings have played three games that ended in overtime or a shootout. Most of those games have swung against the Kings, with LA going 1-3-2 in the season's first six games this fall.

The Kings must figure out a way to right the ship going into a crucial five-game Western Conference road trip this upcoming week, starting on Tuesday night (Oct. 21). Playing a full 60 minutes is critical for the Kings to stop playing up and down to the competition and missing opportunities to win games in regulation early this regular season.

Here are three cold Kings' players who must step up going into the upcoming five-game road trip, starting this week on Oct. 21 against the St. Louis Blues.

Alex Laferriere, W

Winger Alex Laferriere is the Kings' only forward who hasn't registered a single point this fall in the regular season.

The Kings tried Laferriere as the first-line center in the first period on Saturday night against the Hurricanes. But that first line for the Kings gave up a goal just 12 seconds into the opening frame, which is about as quick as that could've possibly happened.

By the second period, Hiller and the Kings had adjusted to put Laferriere back with the bottom-six forward lines and moved Quinton Byfield up to be the first-line center.

For the first time in his career, early in the regular season, Laferriere has gone the season's first half-dozen games without scoring a single point. At this time this past regular season in the 2024-25 campaign, Laferriere had scored four goals and five total points through six games.

Warren Foegele, W

The Kings need more out of the third line early this regular season in the offensive zone scoring the puck. The third-line combination of wingers Warren Foegele and Trevor Moore and two-way center Phillip Danault is the Kings' only one of the top nine forward core early this regular season that is responsible for only one goal scored 5-on-5 (per Natural Stat Trick).

Moore has been pretty good lately for the Kings. He scored one of the goals that helped the Kings get back into the game on the scoreboard in the third period against Carolina yesterday.

Foegele almost had his second goal of the regular season in the game's final 40 minutes, when it looked like the Kings had cut the Canes' lead to just a one-goal margin on the scoreboard. But the Kings' would-be second goal was disallowed due to goalie interference.

Foegele got something going early in the Kings' game a few nights ago (Oct. 16) against the Penguins. He scored around the net for his first goal of the regular season for the Kings when the team opened up a two-goal lead against Pittsburgh in the middle of the opening frame in the first period.

Cody Ceci, D

The adjustments Hiller made to play Cody Ceci on the defensive pairing with Mikey Anderson has worked pretty well in the past couple of games. The top-six defensive pairings the Kings had in the past three games have been less noticeable in a good way, including Ceci and Anderson, than they were in the season's first three games this fall.

In the game's first goal that was scored against the Kings just 12 seconds into the opening frame last night, Cody Ceci was beaten around the back of the net. A pass got through Byfield in front of the net, allowing center Jordan Staal to score the game's first goal for the Hurricanes.

I don't know why the Kings are giving Ceci more playing time in the past three games early this regular season than Brandt Clarke. Adjustments should be made to give the team's most promising young defenseman more playing time and offensive opportunities to make things happen on the ice this fall.

In the third period alone last night vs. Carolina, Hiller and the Kings gave Ceci twice as many minutes on the ice in clutch time than they gave Clarke on the blue line.