Game 66 Preview: Los Angeles at Colorado

Los Angeles Kings (31-21-13) at Colorado Avalanche (30-25-11)
Tuesday, March 10, 2015, 6:00 p.m. PT
Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
Referees: #33 Kevin Pollock, #29 Ian Walsh
Linesmen: #66 Darren Gibbs, #56 Mark Wheler
NBC Sports Network, Sportsnet, KABC 790 AM

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2014-15: 56 GP (55 GS) / 27-17-11 record / 2.37 GAA / .913 Sv% / 4 SHO
Career vs Colorado: 16 (16) / 10-4-1 / 2.43 / .910 / 2
Last Game vs Colorado: 2/18/15 / 60 MP / 42-43 shots / 4-1 W
2014-15, Away: 24 (24) / 8-11-5 / 2.77 / .904 / 0

Colorado Projected Starting Goaltender – Calvin Pickard
2014-15: 15 GP (12 GS) / 6-6-3 record / 2.18 GAA / .936 Sv% / 0 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: First appearance
Last Game vs Los Angeles: First appearance
2014-15, Home: 8 (7) / 3-4-1 / 2.60 / .922 / 0

2014-15 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Jeff Carter (22-28=50)
Goals: Jeff Carter (22-28=50)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (13-36=49)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+20; 19-21=40)
Penalty Minutes: Kyle Clifford (76; 4-7=11)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (29:26; 5-33=38)
Corsi-For Percentage: Anze Kopitar (58.5%; 13-36=49)

2014-15 Colorado Leaders
Total Points: Jarome Iginla (21-25=46), Gabriel Landeskog (19-27=46)
Goals: Jarome Iginla (21-25=46)
Assists: Tyson Barrie (10-33=43)
Plus/Minus: Zach Redmond, (+5; 5-10=15), Nate Guenin (+5; 2-11=13)
Penalty Minutes: Cody McLeod (172; 6-4=10)
Time On Ice: Erik Johnson (24:25; 12-11=23)*
Corsi-For Percentage: Nathan MacKinnon (48.9%; 14-24=38)
*On injured reserve; current leader Jan Hejda (20:59; 1-10=11)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 19 / 2.66; COL – 23 / 2.56
Goals Against/Game: LAK – t-8 / 2.48; COL – 22 / 2.74
Power Play: LAK – t-17 / 18.0%; COL – 29 / 13.8%
Penalty Kill: LAK – t-18 / 81.0%; COL – 7 / 84.2%
Shots/Game: LAK – t-9 / 30.9; COL – 26 / 28.4
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 2 / 27.2; COL – 29 / 33.2
Faceoffs: LAK – 12 / 51.4%; COL – 14 / 50.7%
Save Percentage: LAK – t-16 / .909; COL – 8 / .917
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 1 / 54.8%; COL – 29 / 43.4%

Los Angeles Projected Lines

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

Robyn Regehr – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Matt Greene
Brayden McNabb – Andrej Sekera

Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones

Level of confidence in projected lines: B-. The forward lines above were the lines shown during yesterday’s practice. Don’t think of the groups as the “third line” or the “fourth line;” based on special teams work and performances, Jarret Stoll, Justin Williams and Dustin Brown will get more ice time than Jordan Nolan, Kyle Clifford and Nick Shore. Ditto for the defensive pairings; just because Andrej Sekera is listed on a “third pairing” doesn’t mean he’s going to receive third pairing minutes. Because Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty didn’t take the ice this morning, there were no real line rushes. Shore, Andy Andreoff and Jamie McBain all remained on the ice for extra work with Martin Jones; Shore is more likely to start over Andreoff, while it appears McBain will not dress for the sixth consecutive game. Jonathan Quick left the ice first and is expected to start in net.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 61-47-12 all-time against the Colorado franchise, a record that includes an away mark of 26-29-4. The Kings are 6-3-1 in their last 10 visits to the Pepsi Center. … Los Angeles is 18-9-9 against the Western Conference and 8-5-3 against the Central Division. … The Kings have been held scoreless over the last 67:29 since Marian Gaborik’s goal with 45 seconds remaining in the third period in a 4-3 shootout win over Montreal on March 5. … Los Angeles’ penalty kill has successfully killed off 31 of their past 32 shorthanded situations. … The Kings are 3-13 in games that extend past 60 minutes. … Los Angeles is 11-8-13 in one-goal games and 21-3-7 when scoring first. … With 10 assists, Trevor Lewis is one assist from surpassing his career high (10; 2010-11). … With six goals, Jake Muzzin is one goal from tying his career high (7, 2012-13). … With 775 games played, Dustin Brown is five games behind Mattias Norstrom for fifth place in Kings history. … With 498 games played as a King, Jarret Stoll is two games shy of 500. … Jeff Carter has four goals in his last four games. Los Angeles is 13-1-0 when he records at least two points in a game.

Colorado Projected Lineup

Gabriel Landeskog – Ryan O’Reilly – Cody McLeod
Jordan Caron – Matt Duchene – Jarome Iginla
Alex Tanguay – John Mitchell – Dennis Everberg
Freddie Hamilton – Marc-Andre Cliche – Daniel Briere

Jan Hejda – Zach Redmond
Nate Guenin – Tyson Barrie
Brad Stuart – Nick Holden

Calvin Pickard
Reto Berra

Notes and milestones: Lines via NHL.com correspondent Rick Sadowski … Colorado is expected to be without Semyon Varlamov (groin), Patrick Bordeleau (IR / knee), Erik Johnson (IR / knee), Nathan MacKinnon (foot), Jamie McGinn (IR / back), Borna Rendulic (IR / leg), Ryan Wilson (IR / shoulder) and Jesse Winchester (IR / head). The Avs have lost 366 man-games to injury, the second highest total in the league. … With three consecutive wins, Colorado has tied its longest winning streak of the season. The Avs are 4-1-0 in their last five and 8-3-0 in their last 11 games. … The Avs have killed off 19 straight and 26-of-27 opposing power plays. The only power play goal allowed over that stretch was Jeff Carter’s empty net goal in a 4-1 Kings win on February 18. … Though Colorado ranks 29th in the league in power play percentage, the Avs have power play goals in a season-long three straight games (four total). … Colorado has won 56.2% of faceoffs over the last 12 games. … Gabriel Landeskog has a three-game goal streak and has 15 points (9-6=15) in his last 12 games. … Tyson Barrie has 11 points (3-8=11) in his last eight games and is the second Avs defenseman in the last eight seasons to reach 40 points, joining John-Michael Liles. … Ryan O’Reilly has assists in three straight games and has won 60.9% of his faceoffs over the last 10 games.