The Kings are set to make one last stop on their four-game road trip before returning back to Los Angeles later tonight. The only thing standing between them and a 3-1-0 successful trip is Sydney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. As if that doesn’t sound difficult enough, it will also be the second half of a back-to-back situation, with LA coming off of a thrilling overtime victory in Boston on Saturday. Rookie defenseman Brandt Clarke scored his first career goal to cap off a 5-4 come-from-behind win at Boston Garden.
In doing so, he became the first player in franchise history to score his first NHL goal in overtime.
Turning to today, the big question for LA will be if they have enough energy to give a complete 60 minute effort. There is no time left to bask in the glory
of yesterday’s win with another two points up for grabs. New head coach Jim Hiller will be looking to create separation between the Kings and several teams chasing them in the wild card race. They are now six points ahead of Nashville, with two games in hand.
In order to pad that lead, Hiller and the Kings will likely rely on Cam Talbot to get a win between the pipes. It’s been a tough go for Talbot since December. He hasn’t put up numbers anywhere close to what he was doing in the first two months of the campaign, which has led to him not getting much playing time of late. There are two ways of viewing the Talbot situation coming into tonight: On one hand, maybe all this time off for Talbot has allowed him to find his game again. Or, could the lack of playing time mess with his confidence and only cause more problems in games? By the way, it’s a big test for Talbot and the rest and the squad as they look to put a positive stamp on this road trip and return to Los Angeles with full momentum.
Statistically Speaking
— Hockey legend Jaromir Jagr will have his number 68 retired and a pregame ceremony. The fifth overall pick a 1990 made his NHL debut at just 18 years old and went on to record more points in the league than anybody other than Wayne Gretzky. He won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 1991 and 1992, as well as five Art Ross Trophies.
— Quinton Byfield skates into PPG Paints Arena with 10 points (5G, 5A) over his last eight games. By doing so, Byfield became the 15th different Kings player with at least 40 points in a season at age 21 or younger and the first since Drew Doughty (11-29=40 in 2010-11).
– Anze Kopitar has scored in back-to-back games.
— With Alex Turcotte in the lineup, LA is 4-1-1 this season.
— The Kings penalty kill continues to show up, having allowed just eight power-play goals over their last 61 shorthanded situations dating back to the beginning of the New Year (Jan. 2 vs. TOR). LA carries a league-best 87.0 penalty killing percentage (PK%) into Pittsburgh, having allowed a league-low 22 power-play goals in 165 shorthanded situations.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Penguins
Byfield – Kopitar – Fiala
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Laferriere – Dubois – Kempe
JAD – Turcotte – Lewis
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Clarke
Talbot (starter)
Rittich
Likely scratches: Spence, Kaliyev
Injured: Copley, Grundstrom, Lizotte (all on LTIR)
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 3:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised by Bally Sports.
Across the Ice
Pittsburgh is coming off a 4-1 win over Chicago on Thursday.
Here’s how they lined up for that one:
In their last 10 games, the Bruins are 4-5-1. As the Home team, they’re 13-9-3 this season.
On This Day in Kings History
Almost five years to the day…
RELATED CONTENT:
Follow @mayorNHL
Continue reading...
