Game 1 Preview: Los Angeles at Chicago

(3) Los Angeles Kings (8-6) at (3) Chicago Blackhawks (8-4)
Sunday, May 18, 2014, 12:00 p.m. PT
United Center, Chicago, IL
Referees: #25 Marc Joannette, #33 Kevin Pollock
Linesmen: #68 Scott Driscoll #89 Steve Miller
NBC, TSN, RDS, KEIB 1150 AM

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2013-14 Playoffs: 14 GP (14 GS) / 8-6 record / 2.72 GAA / .914 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career, Playoffs: 64 (64) / 37-27 / 2.17 / .926 / 8
2013-14 Playoffs, Away: 8 (8) / 5-3 / 2.81 / .916 / 1

Chicago Projected Starting Goaltender – Corey Crawford
2013-14 Playoffs: 12 GP (12 GS) / 8-4 record / 1.97 GAA / .931 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career, Playoffs: 49 (48) / 29-19 / 2.02 / .926 / 3
2013-14 Playoffs, Home: 6 (6) / 6-0 / 1.29 / .956 / 1

2013-14 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (5-14=19)
Goals: Marian Gaborik (9-6=15)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (5-14=19)
Plus/Minus: Anze Kopitar (+8; 5-14=19)
Penalty Minutes: Kyle Clifford (37; 0-3=3)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (27:24; 1-8=9)

2013-14 Chicago Leaders
Total Points: Marian Hossa (2-9=11), Brent Seabrook (2-9=11)
Goals: Patrick Kane (6-4=10), Bryan Bickell (6-3=9)
Assists: Marian Hossa (2-9=11), Brent Seabrook (2-9=11)
Plus/Minus: Four players tied, +5
Penalty Minutes: Brent Seabrook (17; 2-9=11)
Time On Ice: Duncan Keith (27:57; 2-6=8)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 1 / 3.21; CHI – 6 / 2.92
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 5 / 2.64; CHI – 3 / 2.25
Power Play: LAK – 7 / 22.9%; CHI – 8 / 18.2%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 9 / 83.9%; CHI – 1 / 91.3%
Shots/Game: LAK – 6 / 30.7; CHI – 12 / 27.0
Shots Against/Game: LAK – t-7 / 30.6; CHI – 10 / 31.5
Faceoffs: LAK – 2 / 52.7%; CHI – 9 / 51.2%
Save Percentage: LAK – t-4 / .914; CHI – 1 / .929

Los Angeles Projected Lineup

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

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Jeff Schultz – Slava Voynov
Alec Martinez – Matt Greene

Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones

Level of confidence in projected lines: B+. Willie Mitchell has resumed practicing, and there is a chance he would participate in this series. For Game 1, that seems a bit iffy. There are no morning skates in advance of 2:00 p.m. games, so there’s no firm indication of the lineup. Expect the Kings to roll with the same alignment of players used late in the Anaheim series.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 102-132 all-time in the playoffs, a record that includes a road mark of 45-78. … The Kings have advanced to the Western Conference Final for the third consecutive year. Prior to this stretch, their only conference final appearance was in 1993, a seven-game series win over Toronto. … Los Angeles is 2-8 all-time in the playoffs against Chicago (2-2 home, 0-6 road). … By advancing past Anaheim, the Kings became the first team in NHL history to have won consecutive series in a single postseason while losing three straight games in each series. … Los Angeles is 18-27 all-time in Game 1s. When winning Game 1, the Kings have won 12 of 18 series. When losing Game 1, they have won seven of 27 series. … Los Angeles is 8-1 in their last nine playoff series. They have played 52 playoff games since 2012, the most in the NHL. … Since losing the first three games of their first round series against the Sharks, the Kings have gone 8-3 overall and 5-1 on the road. … Justin Williams has 11 points (5-6=11) in the last 11 games. … In 33 regular season and playoff games with the Kings, Marian Gaborik has 31 points (14-17=31). He leads the NHL with nine playoff goals and is tied for second with 15 points. … Anze Kopitar has points in 13 of 14 playoff games (5-14=19). Dating back to the regular season, he has points in 16 of the last 17 games. Kopitar’s 53 career playoff points (58 GP; 18-35=53) rank fourth in club history behind Wayne Gretzky (60 GP; 29-65=94), Luc Robitaille (94 GP; 41-48=89) and Dave Taylor (92 GP; 26-33=59). … Kopitar (1-2=3) led all Kings scorers in the regular season series.

Chicago Projected Lines

Bryan Bickell – Jonathan Toews – Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp – Michal Handzus – Patrick Kane
Kris Versteeg – Peter Regin – Brandon Saad
Brandon Bollig – Marcus Kruger – Ben Smith

Duncan Keith – Brent Seabrook
Johnny Oduya – Niklas Hjalmarsson
Nick Leddy – Michal Rozsival

Corey Crawford
Antti Raanta

Notes and milestones: This series is the first Western Conference Final rematch since Colorado and Dallas faced each other in 1999 and 2000. … In addition to 2013, Los Angeles and Chicago also met in the 1974 quarterfinals. The Blackhawks won the series in five games after jumping out to a three-nothing series lead. … Chicago is 6-0 at the United Center this postseason and 17-2 in the last 19 home playoff games. … Joel Quenneville has a 54-33 career playoff record with Chicago, and his .621 winning percentage is the highest in franchise history. … Jonathan Toews leads the NHL with four game-winning goals this postseason and is the Blackhawks’ all-time leader with 10 career playoff game-winning goals. He is tied with Marian Hossa for the seventh most game-winning playoff goals in NHL history. … Patrick Kane (2-2=4) and Jonathan Toews (0-4=4) led all scorers in the regular season series.