Game 43 Preview: Toronto at Los Angeles

Los Angeles Kings (19-13-10) vs Toronto Maple Leafs (22-17-3)
Monday, January 12, 2015, 7:30 p.m. PT
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #8 Dave Jackson, #25 Marc Joannette
Linesmen: #75 Derek Amell, #91 Don Henderson
FOX Sports West, Sportsnet, KABC 790 AM

Dustin Brown, on the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Martin Jones
2014-15: 9 GP (7 GS) / 3-3-2 record / 2.32 GAA / .908 Sv% / 2 SHO
Career vs Toronto: 1 (1) / 1-0-0 / 1.00 / .974 / 0
Last Game vs Toronto: 12/11/13 / 60 MP / 38-39 shots / 3-1 W
2014-15, Home: 4 (2) / 1-1-1 / 2.25 / .908 / 0

Toronto Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Bernier
2014-15: 30 GP (29 GS) / 16-10-3 record / 2.73 GAA / .916 Sv% / 2 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 2 (2) / 0-1-0 / 3.83 / .849 / 0
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 3/13/14 / 20 MP / 8-10 shots / 3-2 W
2014-15, Away: 10 (9) / 4-2-3 / 2.22 / .931 / 1

Toronto Maple Leafs v New York Islanders

2014-15 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (9-23=32)
Goals: Marian Gaborik (13-9=22)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (9-23=32)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+16; 12-15=27)
Penalty Minutes: Jarret Stoll (40; 4-9=13)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (29:20; 4-22=26)
Corsi-For Percentage: Trevor Lewis (60.5%; 6-5=11)

2014-15 Toronto Leaders
Total Points: Phil Kessel (19-24=43)
Goals: Phil Kessel (19-24=43), James van Riemsdyk (19-21=40)
Assists: Phil Kessel (19-24=43)
Plus/Minus: Daniel Winnik (+15; 3-14=17)
Penalty Minutes: Dion Phaneuf (69; 2-20=22)
Time On Ice: Dion Phaneuf (23:25; 2-20=22)
Corsi-For Percentage: Nazem Kadri (49.6%; 11-14=25)

461125572

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 11 / 2.81; TOR – 2 / 3.19
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 13 / 2.52; TOR – 25 / 3.07
Power Play: LAK – 11 / 20.3%; TOR – t-9 / 20.7%
Penalty Kill: LAK – t-23 / 78.7%; TOR – 13 / 82.0%
Shots/Game: LAK – 5 / 31.7; TOR – 20 / 29.4
Shots Against/Game: LAK – t-7 / 28.0; TOR – 28 / 33.8
Faceoffs: LAK – t-9 / 51.4%; TOR – 20 / 48.9%
Save Percentage: LAK – 16 / .910; TOR – t-17 / .909
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 2 / 54.7%; TOR – 27 / 44.9%

Toronto Maple Leafs v New York Islanders

Los Angeles Projected Lines

Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Jeff Carter
Dustin Brown – Jarret Stoll – Justin Williams
Dwight King – Mike Richards – Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford – Andy Andreoff – Jordan Nolan

Brayden McNabb – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Matt Greene
Jeff Schultz – Alec Martinez

Martin Jones
Jonathan Quick

Level of confidence in projected lines: A. The lines and pairings above were used during the morning skate. Nick Shore, who skated as an extra on the fourth line, and Jamie McBain, who skated alongside Robyn Regehr (injured reserve) this morning are not expected to play tonight, though they may take the ice in warm-ups. Martin Jones left the ice first after the morning skate and is expected to start in net.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 61-58-23 all-time against Toronto, a record that includes a home mark of 35-24-10. Tonight’s game concludes the season series; the Maple Leafs defeated the Kings 4-3 in a shootout at the Air Canada Centre on December 14. … Los Angeles is 0-1-2 during a season-long seven-game homestand (OTL vs NSH, L vs NYR, SOL vs WPG, 1/12 vs TOR, 1/14 vs NJD, 1/17 vs ANA, 1/19 vs CGY). … The Kings are 6-7-3 against the Eastern Conference and 4-3-1 against the Atlantic Division. … Los Angeles has won five of 21 one-goal games (5-6-10). … The Kings have a 58.1% Corsi-for rating in five-on-five play over the last 22 games (1148 CF / 828 CA). They haven’t been outshot over the last 18 games (7-6-5) and have averaged 34.6 shots per game over that span (622 shots / 18 GP). … Los Angeles is 4-for-9 on the penalty kill over the last four games. … The Kings have allowed three goals within a six-minute span seven times in the last 13 games. … Los Angeles is 2-10 in games that extend past 60 minutes and has lost six consecutive shootouts. L.A. shooters are 2-for-25 on the season in the shootout and have been denied on the last 19 attempts since Marian Gaborik’s shootout goal in Anaheim on November 12. … The Kings have outscored opponents 83-61 in second and third periods this season. … Mike Richards is expected to play in his 700th career game tonight. … Dwight King is expected to play in his 199th career game tonight. … Anze Kopitar has assists in three straight games (1-5=6) and points in nine of the last 11 (3-15=18). … Jonathan Quick has an .879 save percentage (356 saves / 405 shots) over his last 18 games. … Marian Gaborik has 14 points (9-5=14) in his last 11 games and has 24 points (14-10=24) in 20 career games against Toronto. … Justin Williams has goals in two straight games (3-0=3). … With 899 home wins, the Kings are one win shy of 900 in franchise history.

Toronto Maple Leafs v Detroit Red Wings

Toronto Projected Lines

Daniel Winnik – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
James van Riemsdyk – Nazem Kadri – Richard Panik
Leo Komarov – Mike Santorelli – David Clarkson
David Booth – Trevor Smith – Troy Bodie

Dion Phaneuf – Cody Franson
Morgan Rielly – Roman Polak
Jake Gardiner – Stephane Robidas

Jonathan Bernier
James Reimer

Notes and milestones: Lines via NHL.com correspondent Curtis Zupke … The Maple Leafs will be without Joffrey Lupul (lower-body) and Peter Holland (upper-body), both of whom are on injured reserve. … The Maple Leafs have scored at least four goals in 21 of 42 games this season. … Toronto is tied for first in the league with six shorthanded goals. … Phil Kessel has appeared in 406 consecutive games, the fifth longest active streak in the league. Only Tim Horton (486 games) has skated in more consecutive games as a Maple Leaf. … Daniel Winnik leads all NHL forwards in penalty killing ice time per game. … Dion Phaneuf has been on the ice for 68 of Toronto’s 134 goals (50.7%) this season, tied for the highest percentage amongst all NHL skaters. … Jonathan Bernier played 62 games over four seasons with Los Angeles, posting a 29-20-6 record with a 2.36 goals-against average and .912 save percentage. … Tonight’s game opens a four-game road trip for the Maple Leafs, who will travel to Anaheim, San Jose and St. Louis after tonight’s meeting.

Toronto Maple Leafs v Los Angeles Kings

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.