Game 3 Preview: Los Angeles at New York

(3) Los Angeles Kings (14-9) at (2) New York Rangers (12-10)
Monday, June 9, 2014, 5:00 p.m. PT
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Referees: #23 Brad Watson, #40 Steve Kozari
Linesmen: #55 Shane Heyer, #68 Scott Driscoll
NBCSN, CBC, RDS, KEIB 1150 AM

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2013-14 Playoffs: 23 GP (23 GS) /14-9 record / 2.80 GAA / .906 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career, Playoffs: 73 (73) / 43-30 / 2.27 / .922 / 8
2013-14 Playoffs, Away 12 (12) / 7-5 / 2.94 / .908 / 1

New York Projected Starting Goaltender – Henrik Lundqvist
2013-14 Playoffs: 22 GP (22 GS) / 12-9 record / 2.16 GAA / .925 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career, Playoffs: 88 (88) / 42-45 / 2.23 / .922 / 9
2013-14 Playoffs, Home: 10 (10) / 6-4 / 1.90 / .922 / 1

2013-14 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (5-20=25)
Goals: Marian Gaborik (13-7=20)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (5-20=25)
Plus/Minus: Justin Williams (+13; 8-15=23)
Penalty Minutes: Kyle Clifford (37; 1-4=5)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (28:24; 5-12=17)

2013-14 New York Leaders
Total Points: Ryan McDonah (4-12=16)
Goals: Martin St. Louis (7-7=14) Carl Hagelin (7-4=11)
Assists: Ryan McDonagh (4-12=16)
Plus/Minus: Kevin Klein (+8; 1-3=4), Benoit Pouliot (+8; 4-5=9)
Penalty Minutes: Benoit Pouliot (22; 4-5=9), Daniel Carcillo (22; 2-0=2)
Time On Ice: Ryan McDonagh (26:02; 4-12=16)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 1 / 3.52; NYR – 8 / 2.73
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 9 / 2.87; NYR – 2 / 2.41
Power Play: LAK – t-5 / 24.0%; NYR – 10 / 13.5%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 9 / 81.8%; NYR – 2 / 86.1%
Shots/Game: LAK – 6 / 31.8; NYR – 10 / 29.6
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 7 / 30.5; NYR – 5 / 29.4
Faceoffs: LAK – 2 / 52.7%; NYR – 12 / 47.7%
Save Percentage: LAK – t-8 / .906; NYR – 2 / .918

Los Angeles Projected Lines

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

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell – Slava Voynov
Alec Martinez – Matt Greene

Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones

Level of confidence in projected lines: B. The only real lineup question is whether Robyn Regehr will draw in for Matt Greene. It didn’t happen for Game 2, but with the potential that minutes will be spread around more evenly after three consecutive overtime games, the choice remains there for Darryl Sutter.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 108-135 all-time in the playoffs, a record that includes an away mark of 47-80. … The Kings are 3-5 all-time against the Rangers in the playoffs (3-2 home, 0-3 road). … Los Angeles is 17-26 all-time and 1-2 this postseason in Game 3s. When winning Game 3, the Kings have won 12 of 17 series. When losing Game 3, they have won 7 of 26 series. … Los Angeles is the first team in league history to win three consecutive playoff games in which they trailed by two goals. The Kings have produced four multi-goal comebacks in one playoff year since the Flyers accomplished the feat in 1987. … Los Angeles has fallen behind 2-0 five times in the past nine games; they are 4-1 in those games. … The Kings are the first team to hold a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final after not holding a lead in either of the first two games. The only other time this has happened at any point in the Stanley Cup Playoffs was in 1951, when the Canadiens defeated the Red Wings 3-2 in quadruple-overtime and 1-0 in triple-overtime during a 4-2 semifinal series win. … Los Angeles has not led in the past 229:15, a span covering four games. The team’s most recent lead ended when Duncan Keith scored at 11:34 of the third period in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final. … The winning team has led for fewer than 60 seconds of game action in five of the past eight Stanley Cup Final games. … Los Angeles has scored in 19 of the last 23 regulation periods. … The Kings are 5-9 when allowing a power play goal and 9-0 when they do not allow a power play goal. … Los Angeles has outscored their opponents 29-16 in third periods this postseason. … Anze Kopitar has points in 18 of 23 playoff games and 25 points (5-20=25) total, tying him with Tomas Sandstrom for the second-most in a single Kings postseason. … Justin Williams has posted a career high in assists (15) and points (23) in a single playoff year. He has points in four straight games and 12 points (4-8=12) in the last eight games. Williams leads the NHL with a plus-13 rating. … With 13 goals, Marian Gaborik leads all postseason goal scorers and trails only Wayne Gretzky (15 goals / 1993) for the most goals in a single postseason in franchise history. … Dwight King has six points (2-4=6) in his last five games. … The Kings have played 61 playoff games since 2012, the most in the NHL. The record for the most playoff games in a three-year span is 63, held by Dallas (1998-00) and Detroit (2007-09).

New York Projected Lines

Chris Kreider – Derek Stepan – Rick Nash
Carl Hagelin – Brad Richards – Martin St. Louis
Benoit Pouliot – Derick Brassard – Mats Zuccarello
Brian Boyle – Dominic Moore – Derek Dorsett

Ryan McDonagh – Dan Girardi
Marc Staal – Anton Stralman
John Moore – Kevin Klein

Henrik Lundqvist
David Leneveu

Notes and milestones: Goaltender Cam Talbot remains out with an undisclosed injury. David Leneveu will continue to back up Henrik Lundqvist. … New York has outscored opponents 25-11 in first periods and has been outscored 42-35 from the second period on. … The Rangers’ power play at home this postseason is 3-for-38 (7.9%). … This is the first Stanley Cup Final game played in New York City since Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final was played on June 14, 1994. The Rangers are 22-30 all-time in 52 Stanley Cup Final games. … New York is 41-44 on the penalty kill over the last 13 games. … The Rangers are 15-8 in their last 23 playoff home games, dating back to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against Ottawa on April 26, 2012. They have won at least one home game in 14 straight playoff series, dating back to the 2007 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against Atlanta. … Ryan McDonagh has a playoff career-high five-game assist/point streak (1-6=7). … He is the first New York defenseman to register a five-game point streak in the playoffs since Sergei Zubov from May 14-24, 1995. … Dan Girardi is tied for the NHL lead with 57 blocked shots and ranks fifth with 71 hits. … Nine different Rangers have tallied at least 10 points in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.