Game 51 Preview: Los Angeles at Florida

Los Angeles Kings (21-17-12) at Florida Panthers (22-17-10)
Thursday, February 5, 2015, 4:30 p.m. PT
BB&T Center, Sunrise, FL
Referees: #6 Francis Charron, #8 Dave Jackson
Linesmen: #84 Tony Sericolo, #63 Trent Knorr
Fox Sports West, KABC 790 AM

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2014-15: 42 GP (41 GS) / 17-14-10 record / 2.51 GAA / .910 Sv% / 3 SHO
Career vs Florida: 6 (6) / 5-1-0 / 1.74 / .939 / 1
Last Game vs Florida: 11/18/14 / 60 MP / 30-32 / 5-2 W
2014-15, Away: 17 (17) / 3-9-5 / 2.91 / .899 / 0

Florida Projected Starting Goaltender – Roberto Luongo
2014-15: 40 GP (40 GS) / 18-13-8 record / 2.47 GAA / .918 Sv% / 2 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 32 (32) / 14-13-5 / 2.46 / .915 / 3
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 11/18/14 / 40 MP / 21-25 / 2-5 L
2014-15, Home: 19 (19) / 9-6-4 / 2.41 / .915 / 0

2014-15 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (11-27=38)
Goals: Marian Gaborik (15-12=27)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (11-27=38)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+15; 13-16=29)
Penalty Minutes: Kyle Clifford (50; 2-7=9), Jarret Stoll (50; 5-9=14)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (29:20; 4-26=30)
Corsi-For Percentage: Jake Muzzin (57.9%; 6-18=24)

2014-15 Florida Leaders
Total Points: Nick Bjugstad (16-15=31)
Goals: Nick Bjugstad (16-15=31)
Assists: Jussi Jokinen (4-23=27)
Plus/Minus: Tomas Fleischmann (+8; 5-9=14)
Penalty Minutes: Erik Gubdranson (42; 3-5=8)
Time On Ice: Brian Campbell (23:23; 3-12=15)
Corsi-For Percentage: Sean Bergenheim (56.2%; 8-10=18)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 20 / 2.66; FLA – t-24 / 2.39
Goals Against/Game: LAK – t-14 / 2.58; FLA – t-20 / 2.74
Power Play: LAK – 11 / 19.4%; FLA – 27 / 15.0%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 26 / 77.6%; FLA – 18 / 81.0%
Shots/Game: LAK – t-8 / 31.1; FLA – 5 / 31.4
Shots Against/Game: LAK – t-5 / 27.6; FLA – t-20 / 30.2
Faceoffs: LAK – 12 / 51.2%; FLA – t-18 / 49.0%
Save Percentage: LAK – t-21 / .907; FLA – t-15 / .909
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 2 / 54.4%; FLA – 11 / 51.8%

Los Angeles Projected Lineup

Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Dwight King – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Kyle Clifford – Jarret Stoll – Justin Williams
Trevor Lewis – Nick Shore – Jordan Nolan

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez – Matt Greene
Robyn Regehr – Jamie McBain

Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones

Level of confidence in projected lines: B. It was a short skate and all players left the ice at virtually the same time, so it’s tough to get a firm read on lineup changes. Darryl Sutter more or less confirmed that Jamie McBain would be in, while Jonathan Quick left the ice before Martin Jones. Jones, though, followed quickly. No players remained on the ice for excess work.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 15-9-3 all-time against Florida, a record that includes a road mark of 4-5-3. The Kings, who defeated the Panthers 5-2 at Staples Center on November 18, have won three consecutive games in the series since a 3-1 setback on February 9, 2012. … Los Angeles is 7-10-3 against the Eastern Conference and 5-4-1 against the Atlantic Division. … Over the last 26 games, the Kings have been outscored 75-69 (excluding shootout goals). Their record in those 26 games is 9-10-7. … In the 26 games since December 1, the Kings rank third in the league with a 55.4% Fenwick-close percentage in five-on-five play. (What is Fenwick-close?) … The Kings are 5-11-6 on the road (.364 points percentage). Since the introduction of the overtime loss point in 1999-00, the only season in which they generated a points percentage on the road lower than .364 was in 2006-07 (11-25-5 / 27 points / .329 points percentage). … In the 16 games Jamie McBain has played, the Kings are 14-for-54 on the power play (25.9%). In the 34 games he hasn’t played, the Kings are 19-for-116 on the power play (16.4%). With 99 career points (27-72=99), he is one point shy of 100. … Anze Kopitar (two) and Jeff Carter (two) have combined for four road goals this season. … With six goals and 18 assists, Jake Muzzin is one goal and one assist from his career-highs in goals (seven) and assists (19), and is one point from surpassing his career-high in points (24). … With 98 goals as a King, Justin Williams is two goals shy of 100. … With 199 all-time shutouts, Los Angeles is one shutout shy of 200 in franchise history. … The Kings lead the league with 1,643 team hits. … Anze Kopitar has nine points (1-8=9) in nine career games against Florida.

Florida Projected Lines

Jussi Jokinen – Nick Bjugstad – Jimmy Hayes
Jonathan Huberdeau – Aleksander Barkov – Brad Boyes
Brandon Pirri – Dave Bolland – Tomas Fleischmann
Tomas Kopecky – Derek MacKenzie – Scottie Upshall

Brian Campbell – Aaron Ekblad
Dmitry Kulikov – Erik Gudbranson
Steven Kampfer – Alex Petrovic

Roberto Luongo
Al Montoya

Notes and milestones: Lines via NHL.com correspondent Alain Poupart … Willie Mitchell (upper-body) is injured, while Sean Bergenheim and Shawn Thornton are expected to be scratched. … Florida has been outscored 39-29 in first periods this season. … With 99 franchise overtime victories, the Panthers are one overtime win shy of 100. … With 199 career goals, Brad Boyes is one goal shy of 200 in his career. … Brian Campbell has played 273 consecutive games, dating back to March 23, 2011. … Assistant Coach Mark Morris was coached Los Angeles’ AHL affiliate in Manchester from 2006-14 and is the Monarchs’ all-time record holder in games coached (552), regular season wins (338) and postseason wins (35). … Tonight’s game is the first of six straight games the Panthers will play against Western Conference teams (2/8 vs NSH, 2/10 vs ANA, 2/12 @ MIN, 2/13 @ DAL, 2/15 vs STL). … Brandon Pirri has goals in three straight games. … In 2013 Jonathan Huberdeau (9-18=27 this season) became the first player in franchise history to win the Calder Trophy. … With 29 points (7-22=29), Aaron Ekblad ranks sixth all-time amongst 18-year-old rookie defensemen in scoring. He trails Phil Housley (66 points / 1982-83, Bobby Orr (41 points / 1966-67), Jim Benning (31 points / 1981-82), Doug Bodger (31 points / 1984-85) and Petr Svoboda (31 points (1984-85).