Game 26 Preview: Los Angeles at Arizona

Los Angeles Kings (13-7-5) at Arizona Coyotes (10-13-3)
Thursday, December 4, 2014, 6:00 p.m. PT
Gila River Arena, Glendale, AZ
Referees: #38 Francois St. Laurent, #34 Brad Meier
Linesmen: #96 David Brisebois, #77 Tim Nowak
Fox Sports West, KABC 790 AM
Kings Weekly to follow tonight’s game

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Martin Jones
2014-15: 6 GP (5 GS) / 2-2-1 record / 1.68 GAA / .938 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career vs Arizona: First appearance
Last Game vs Arizona: First appearance
2014-15, Away: 3 (3) / 1-1-1 / 1.95 / .929 / 1

Arizona Projected Starting Goaltender – Mike Smith
2014-15: 19 GP (19 GS) / 5-12-2 record / 3.23 GAA / .892 Sv% / 0 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 17 (17) / 11-4-1 / 2.16 / .928 / 2
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 3/17/14 / 60 MP / 36-39 shots / 4-3 W
2014-15, Home: 9 (9) / 3-4-2 / 3.30 / .888 / 0

2014-15 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Tyler Toffoli (10-10=20)
Goals: Tyler Toffoli (10-10=20), Tanner Pearson (10-3=13)
Assists: Jeff Carter (7-11=18), Drew Doughty (2-11=13)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+14; 10-10=20)
Penalty Minutes: Matt Greene (36; 1-1=2)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (28:54; 2-11=13)
Corsi-For Percentage: Jake Muzzin (57.2%; 1-10=11)

2014-15 Arizona Leaders
Total Points: Keith Yandle (3-15=18)
Goals: Mikkel Boedker (8-8=16)
Assists: Keith Yandle (3-15=18)
Plus/Minus: Tobias Rieder (+6; 4-3=7)
Penalty Minutes: B.J. Crombeen (41; 1-1=2)
Time On Ice: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (26:01; 5-7=12)
Corsi-For Percentage: Martin Hanzal (53.6%; 5-8=13)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – t-14 / 2.64; ARI – 22 / 2.38
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 5 / 2.16; ARI – t-25 / 3.08
Power Play: LAK – 21 / 15.8%; ARI – 12 / 20.7%
Penalty Kill: LAK – t-9 / 84.3%; ARI – 22 / 78.8%
Shots/Game: LAK – 18 / 29.8; ARI – t-25 / 28.5
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 23 / 31.4; ARI – 20 / 30.6
Faceoffs: LAK – 8 / 51.9%; ARI – 5 / 52.3%
Save Percentage: LAK – 1 / .931; ARI – 26 / .899
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 12 / 51.1%; ARI – 23 / 48.5%

Los Angeles Projected Lines

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

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Robyn Regehr – Alec Martinez
Brayden McNabb – Matt Greene

Martin Jones
Jonathan Quick

Level of confidence in projected lines: A-. Martin Jones left the ice first at the morning skate and Jonathan Quick stayed on for extra work with Jamie McBain and Andy Andreoff, so expect Jones to start, and McBain, Andreoff and Marian Gaborik to be tonight’s scratches. There were no line rushes during this morning’s skate; the above groupings represent what had been used during Wednesday’s practice.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 80-96-33 all-time against Arizona/Phoenix/Winnipeg, a record that includes a road mark of 35-54-17. This is the second of four meetings between the two teams; they will also meet at Staples Center on December 20 and March 16. Because of the scheduling imbalance, the Kings will play Arizona four times and all other Pacific Division teams five times. … Los Angeles has lost five straight games in Glendale (0-4-1) since a 4-2 win on January 26, 2013. They have been outscored 17-6 over that span and have allowed at least three goals in each game. … The Kings are 8-4-3 against the Western Conference and 3-1-2 against the Pacific Division. … Los Angeles has scored at least three goals in eight of the last 11 games has averaged 3.18 goals per game (35 goals / 11 games) over that span. … The Kings are 10-0-3 when scoring first and 13-1-1 when allowing two goals or less. … Los Angeles is 2-for-31 on road power plays this season, ranking 28th in the league. … By playing tonight, Matt Greene will log his 379th game as a King and surpass Neil Komadoski for 12th place on the club’s all-time games played list by a defenseman. … Jake Muzzin has 11 points (1-10=11) in the last 12 games. … Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar are one game-winning goal from surpassing Mike Murphy and Butch Goring for fifth place on the club’s all-time list and tying Rob Blake for fourth place. … Drew Doughty (61-173=234) is tied with Marty McSorley for fifth place on the club’s all-time defensemen scoring list. … With 298 career assists, Mike Richards is two assists from 300 in his career. … Anze Kopitar has 50 points (15-35=50) in 50 career games against the Coyotes.

Arizona Projected Lines

Tobias Rieder – Antoine Vermette – Mikkel Boedker
Brandon McMillan – Martin Hanzal – Martin Erat
Lauri Korpikoski – Sam Gagner – Shane Doan
Joe Vitale – Kyle Chipchura – B.J. Crombeen

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Zbynek Michalek
Keith Yandle – Michael Stone
David Schlemko – Chris Summers

Mike Smith
Devan Dubnyk

Notes and milestones: Lines via Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic … The Coyotes are likely to be without defenseman Connor Murphy (upper body / day-to-day) and will be without defenseman Brandon Gormley (lower-body / week-to-week) and forward David Moss (upper body / week-to-week). … No Coyote has tallied more than seven points (Boedker 6-1=7; Yandle 0-7=7) at home this season. … Keith Yandle (85 shots) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (84 shots) rank second and third, respectively, in shots by NHL defensemen. … Ekman-Larsson has goals in two straight games. … Yandle has a team-high seven points (2-5=7) in the last 10 games. Tobias Rieder (3-3=6), Martin Hanzal (3-3=6), Mikkel Boedker (2-4=6) and Sam Gagner (1-5=6) have totaled six points in their last 10 games. … Arizona is 7-4-3 in 2014-15 and 102-42-50 overall in one-goal games under Dave Tippett. … Martin Hanzal leads the NHL with a 66.2% faceoff percentage on home ice. He ranks second in the league with a 59.8% faceoff percentage overall. … Michael Stone leads the league with 74 blocked shots. … Antoine Vermette (419 games) and Keith Yandle (411 games) own the second and third longest active consecutive games played streaks in the NHL, trailing only Andrew Cogliano (566). … The Coyotes have been outscored 31-17 in third periods this season.