Game 77 Preview: Phoenix at Los Angeles

Los Angeles Kings (44-26-6) vs Phoenix Coyotes (36-27-13)
Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 7:30 p.m. PT
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #13 Dan O’Halloran, #37 Kyle Rehman
Linesmen: #74 Lonnie Cameron, #57 Jay Sharrers
NBCSN, KEIB 1150 AM

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2013-14 Season: 45 GP (45 GS) / 26-16-2 record / 2.08 GAA / .915 Sv% / 5 SHO
Career vs Phoenix: 29 (29) / 13-13-3 / 2.68 / .904 / 4
Last Game vs Phoenix: 3/17/14 / 58 MP / 23-27 shots / 3-4 L
2013-14, Home: 28 (28) / 16-11-1 / 2.15 / .908 / 3

Phoenix Projected Starting Goaltender – Thomas Greiss
2013-14 Season: 20 GP (15 GS) / 9-6-3 record / 2.21 GAA / .926 Sv% / 2 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 5 (1) / 2-2-0 / 1.41 / .944 / 1
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 1/28/14 / 60 MP / 30-30 shots / 3-0 W
2013-14, Away: 11 (8) / 5-3-2 / 2.50 / .918 / 0

2013-14 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (24-39=63)
Goals: Jeff Carter (26-21=47)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (24-39=63)
Plus/Minus: Anze Kopitar (+30; 24-39=63)
Penalty Minutes: Kyle Clifford (81; 3-5=8)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (26:00; 9-27=36)

2013-14 Phoenix Leaders
Total Points: Keith Yandle (8-43=51)
Goals: Antoine Vermette (24-21=45)
Assists: Keith Yandle (8-43=51)
Plus/Minus: Zbynek Michalek (+8; 2-7=9)
Penalty Minutes: Marin Hanzal (73; 15-25=40)
Time On Ice: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (25:58; 13-28=41)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 26 / 2.41; PHX – 18 / 2.64
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 2 / 2.08; PHX – 19 / 2.74
Power Play: LAK – 26 / 15.1%; PHX – 5 / 20.5%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 12 / 83.0%; PHX – 25 / 79.9%
Shots/Game: LAK – 8 / 31.4; PHX – t-12 / 30.7
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 3 / 26.5; PHX – 24 / 31.3
Faceoffs: LAK – t-2 / 52.8%; PHX – t-6 / 52.0%
Save Percentage: LAK – 2 / .921; PHX – t-12 / .913

Los Angeles Projected Lines

Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Tanner Pearson – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Jordan Nolan – Jarret Stoll – Dustin Brown
Kyle Clifford – Mike Richards – Trevor Lewis

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Robyn Regehr – Slava Voynov
Willie Mitchell – Alec Martinez

Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones

Level of confidence in projected lines: A. Dwight King remains out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury. He took the ice after the Kings’ morning skate and took shots on Martin Jones with Matt Greene, who is expected to be scratched tonight. Jonathan Quick left the ice first during the morning skate and is projected to start in net.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 79-96-32 all-time against the Phoenix franchise, a record that includes a home mark of 44-42-16. Though the Kings are 7-2-0 in the last nine home meetings against the Coyotes, they have lost three straight in the overall series. … After going 126-1-11 when leading after two periods in the 138 games prior to March 17, Los Angeles is now 4-2-0 in their last six games when leading after two. The Kings have surrendered a third period lead in five of their last eight games. … Los Angeles will close out the series facing each of their six Pacific Division opponents once (vs PHX, @ SJ, @ VAN, @ CGY, @ EDM, vs ANA). … The Kings’ penalty kill has allowed four goals in the last 15 shorthanded situations. … By finishing 11-4-0 record (22 points) in March, Los Angeles finished with the best March in club history and tied January, 2002 for the most wins in any month in team history.… With one goal and one assist in the last nine games, Drew Doughty is in his least productive nine-game stretch of the season. He remains one assist behind Marty McSorley for fifth place amongst defensemen on the franchise’s all-time assist list. … Anze Kopitar has 20 points (8-12=20) in the last 19 games. … Alec Martinez, who scored seven goals in March, has 12 points (7-5=12) in the last 15 games. … Marian Gaborik has points in four straight games (1-4=5). He has 21 goals in 30 career games against the Coyotes. … Willie Mitchell has five assists and a plus-six rating in the last six games. … Since shutting the Coyotes out in a 4-0 win at Staples Center on March 18, 2013, Jonathan Quick is 1-3-0 with a 3.52 goals-against average and .878 save percentage in four games against Phoenix. … The Kings are 14-8-1 against the Pacific Division. … Los Angeles has won 1,499 games in franchise history.

Jarret Stoll, on facing only Pacific Division teams to conclude the regular season:

Phoenix Projected Lines

Mikkel Boedker – Antoine Vermette – Shane Doan
Lauri Korpikoski – Martin Hanzal – Radim Vrbata
Brandon McMillan – Mike Ribeiro – Martin Erat
Rob Klinkhammer – Kyle Chipchura – Jeff Halpern

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Zbynek Michalek
Keith Yandle – Michael Stone
Chris Summers – Derek Morris

Thomas Greiss
Mark Visentin

Notes and milestones: Lines via Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic … David Schlemko (lower-body), Mike Smith (lower body) and David Moss (lower-body) are out. … Phoenix is 14-7-5 against the Pacific Division. … The Coyotes lead the NHL with eight players having accumulated at least 40 points. … In 10 previous seasons as an NHL head coach, Dave Tippett has guided teams to the playoffs eight times. … With five points, Keith Yandle leads all players in scoring in the season series. He also leads Phoenix with 22 points (6-16=22) against Pacific Division opponents. … Martin Hanzal’s next goal will tie his career high of 16, set in 2010-11. … Shane Doan has 76 points (36-40=76) in 96 career games against Los Angeles, registering more points against L.A. than any other NHL team. He has nine points (6-3=9) in his last nine games against the Kings. … Antoine Vermette (387 consecutive games) and Keith Yandle (379 consecutive games) rank third and fourth on the league’s active consecutive games played list. Jay Bouwmeester of St. Louis (710) and Andrew Cogliano of Anaheim (533) rank first and second.