The 39-year-old native of Mexico City said he pitched the idea of calling a game in English as a way to attract Hispanic fans who may not speak Spanish.
"I've got great stories of people telling me, 'You know what, I really don't speak Spanish. I understand it but I don't speak it well,'" Rivera said. "… Since I've been here (in California), every team is trying to appeal to the Latino community by doing things in Spanish.
"When I started as a consultant for the Kings, I'm like, 'Well, I think our fan base is different.' We have to go about it a different way. And not only do we have to accommodate Latinos speaking Spanish, but at the same time we have to do things where we can cater to them regardless of language."
Ontario president Darren Abbott said it was an easy decision to have Rivera broadcast the game Saturday.
"He has been doing great work with the Kings and has had dialogue with us about supporting our outreach in Ontario in the future," Abbott said. "We're excited for his debut and hope our fans will tune (in) and enjoy."
Rivera will follow in the footsteps of Harnarayan Singh, the play-by-play voice of "Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition," who fulfilled a life-long dream when he broadcast the game between the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers in English on Sportsnet on Jan. 13.
"For me, being a visible minority, person of color, being on the mainstream stage, it helps plant a seed in all of the kids and the youth watching that they can also be part of the hockey world," said Singh, who has broadcast six other NHL games in English this season. "Having multi-language hockey broadcasting is a great way to help grow the game. ... I think also on the mainstream broadcasting side, you want to have proper representation of the country. You want your broadcast to emulate and reflect what society is."
Rivera said his and Singh's crossover, along with the Seattle Kraken hiring radio play-by-play voice Everett Fitzhugh as the first Black broadcaster for an NHL team, represents a movement in hockey that, "I'm glad I can be part of."
Rivera already was a broadcasting trailblazer. He was the youngest Hispanic broadcaster in the United States to call a World Series game (San Francisco Giants vs. Detroit Tigers, 2012), the first Mexico-born broadcaster on FOX's English side and was part of the team that broadcast the first Super Bowl in Spanish in 2014 (Seattle Seahawks vs. Denver Broncos).