The LA Kings are expected to look a little different in Kings Vs Sharks on October 3, 2026, with head coach Peter Laviolette set to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen as his team looks for a response to Wednesday’s season-opening defeat in Colorado.
It is an early-season reset for the Kings, who arrive in San Jose knowing the margin for error is already small. The Sharks, meanwhile, have had a game under their belt after opening their season with a 4-3 home win over Florida on Thursday, so this is not a case of one side easing into the schedule.
Why the Kings need a cleaner night
The immediate issue for Los Angeles is simple enough: they need to tidy up the details. Joel Armia said after the opener that too many of the goals against came from the Kings’ own mistakes, and that assessment fits the broader picture of a game in which their special teams left too much to be desired.
The Kings allowed four power-play goals and went 0-for-5 on their own chances, a combination that can quickly turn a tight game into a frustrating one. That is why this trip to SAP Center matters beyond the standings. It is a chance to show the opener was an outlier rather than the start of a trend.
Special teams already under the spotlight
Special teams were always going to be a talking point after that kind of night. When you give up four power-play goals and fail to convert five opportunities of your own, the result is usually less about one isolated breakdown and more about a game plan that never quite settles.
Armia’s message was not complicated. “I think a lot of the goals they scored were on our own mistakes that we made,” he said. “I’m sure that we’re going to be better. I just feel like everything was our own doing, how they scored. It’s simple stuff that we have to fix.”
That is the right kind of response heading into a road game against a Sharks side that already has confidence from its opening win. The Kings beat San Jose once at SAP Center during the 2025-26 season and finished 1-0-2 against them overall, so there is recent evidence they can handle this matchup. But that record will not matter much if the Kings repeat the same mistakes.
A familiar opponent, but a different test
San Jose has already shown it can take care of business at home, and the Kings are now being asked to answer a tougher question: can they do the simple things well enough away from home to build momentum? That is often the difference in early-season games, especially when one side has already been on the ice and the other is still trying to find rhythm after a disappointing opener.
For Laviolette, the projected 11-forward, seven-defenseman setup suggests a willingness to adjust and search for the right mix straight away. For the Kings, it is less about style points and more about settling the game down, defending properly, and making sure the Sharks are not handed easy scoring chances.
If Los Angeles can do that, Wednesday’s loss in Colorado will start to look like a warning rather than a pattern. If they cannot, the questions around their start to the 2025-26 season will only get louder.
