The Los Angeles Kings are staring down a road trip that asks plenty of a team before the season even gets rolling. Their longest away stretch in 2026-27 runs seven games from Jan. 23-30, and it opens with a quick one-two punch: Nashville on Jan. 23, then the Florida Panthers on Jan. 24.
That early portion of the trip is packed with movement and little room to breathe. After those first two afternoon games, the Kings get one day off, then head to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
From there, it stays on the road with games against the Philadelphia Flyers and the Carolina Hurricanes before the All-Star break. The grind is real, but the way the schedule is shaped gives Los Angeles a slightly different kind of challenge than a straight seven-game push.
The Kings do not finish the trip by grinding through all seven in one uninterrupted block. Instead, the first five games form the long haul, then they come back out of the All-Star break for two more road games, starting Feb. 8 against the Dallas Stars and then Feb. 9 against the St.
Louis Blues. By then, the hope is that the break has done its job.
That pause comes at a useful time. The NHL All-Star break is set for Feb. 5-6 in Elmont, New York, and it will feature a 3-on-3 tournament with teams representing Canada, Sweden, the United States, Finland, and a “World” team made up of international players from other countries not mentioned out of the five. For the Kings, it’s a chance to catch their breath, reset, and get their legs back under them before the trip resumes.
Even with the travel, the bigger problem might be the opponents themselves. The two Florida stops stand out as especially important, because the Panthers and Lightning have been tough matchups for several seasons.
Playing them on the road only raises the degree of difficulty. There’s also the added wrinkle of Anze Kopitar’s absence, which means Los Angeles will need different voices to take charge.
If there’s one game that jumps off the page, it’s the meeting with the Hurricanes. The source described it as the most exciting yet difficult game on the trip, and that’s hard to argue with.
Carolina enters as the defending Stanley Cup champions, and the Kings will have to deal with Andrei Svechnikov and Brandon Bussi while keeping their own structure intact. Good defense and limiting Carolina’s chances will be the assignment.
So how does Los Angeles get through all of this? The answer is pretty straightforward: manage, scoring, and goaltending. If the Kings can control the opponent, get steady offense, and lean on their goaltender between the pipes along with their top line, they should have a real chance to survive the trip in good shape.
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