Game 1 Preview: Los Angeles vs San Jose

Los Angeles Kings (0-0-0) vs San Jose Sharks (0-0-0)
Wednesday, October 7, 2015, 7:30 p.m. PT
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #16 Brian Pochmara, #34 Brad Meier
Linesmen: #73 Vaughan Rody, #63 Trent Knorr
NBCSN, KABC 790 AM, I Heart Radio

2015 Coors Light Stadium Series - Los Angeles Kings v San Jose Sharks

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick*
2014-15: 72 GP (71 GS) / 36-22-13 record / 2.24 GAA / .918 Sv% / 6 SHO
Career vs San Jose: 26 (26) / 14-6-5 / 2.39 / .914 / 3
Last Game vs San Jose: 4/11/15 / 60 MP / 20-21 shots / 4-1 W
2014-15, Home: 38 (37) / 23-8-6 / 1.95 / .925 / 5
*last year’s stats listed

San Jose Projected Starting Goaltender – Martin Jones*
2014-15: 15 GP (11 GS) / 4-5-2 record / 2.24 GAA / .906 Sv% / 3 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: First career appearance
Last Game vs Los Angeles: First career appearance
2013-14, Away: 9 (7) / 2-4-1 / 2.37 / .905 / 2
*last year’s stats listed

San Jose Sharks v Arizona Coyotes

2014-15 Los Angeles Leaders (current players)
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (16-48=64)
Goals: Jeff Carter (28-34=62)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (16-48=64)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+25; 23-26=49)
Penalty Minutes: Kyle Clifford (87; 6-9=15)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (29:00; 7-39=46)
Corsi-For Percentage: Marian Gaborik (27-20=47)

2014-15 San Jose Leaders (current players)
Total Points: Joe Pavelski (37-33=70)
Goals: Joe Pavelski (37-33=70)
Assists: Joe Thornton (16-49=65)
Plus/Minus: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (+12; 9-14=23), Joe Pavelski (+12; 37-33=70)
Penalty Minutes: Brent Burns (65; 17-43=60)
Time On Ice: Brent Burns (23:57; 17-43=60)
Corsi-For Percentage: Joe Thornton (58.3%; 16-49=65)

San Jose Sharks v New York Islanders

Rankings and Statistics (last year)
Goals/Game: LAK – 18 / 2.66; SJS – 15 / 2.73
Goals Against/Game: LAK – t-4 / 2.40; SJS – 24 / 2.76
Power Play: LAK – t-11 / 19.0%; SJS – 6 / 21.6%
Penalty Kill: LAK – t-16 / 80.9%; SJS – 25 / 78.5%
Shots/Game: LAK – t-10 / 30.9; SJS – t-4 / 31.6
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 1 / 27.0; SJS – 16 / 29.7
Faceoffs: LAK – 11 / 51.3%; SJS – 6 / 51.9%
Save Percentage: LAK – t-15 / .911; SJS – t-23 / .907
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 1 / 55.3%; SJS – 14 / 51.3%

San Jose Sharks v Chicago Blackhawks

Los Angeles Projected Lines:

Milan Lucic – Anze Kopitar – Marian Gaborik
Tanner Pearson – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Dustin Brown – Nick Shore – Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford – Andy Andreoff – Jordan Nolan

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Jeff Schultz – Christian Ehrhoff
Brayden McNabb – Alec Martinez

Jonathan Quick
Jhonas Enroth

Degree of Power: B. Possession-driving power forward Dwight King is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot, and Matt Greene is “doubtful” with an upper-body injury. Jake Muzzin missed the final two preseason games with an upper-body injury but is expected to return tonight. Alec Martinez is playing his off-side, which he has done frequently before. Christian Ehrhoff is also playing his off-side, but he put up 50 points doing so with Vancouver in 2010-11.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 60-57-19 all-time against San Jose, a record that includes a home mark of 38-23-7. These teams will meet four additional times this season: October 22 at San Jose, December 22 versus San Jose, January 24 at San Jose, and March 28 at San Jose. … The Kings are 20-18-9 all-time in season openers and 23-16-8 all-time in home openers. Their last season-opening win was a 3-2 shootout win at Minnesota in 2013-14, and their last home-opening win was a 3-2 overtime win over the New York Rangers in 2011-12. (That game was played in Stockholm, where the Kings were technically the home team; Los Angeles returned home to Staples Center to defeat St. Louis 5-0 11 days later). They have lost their last three home openers. … Nick Shore (2-2=4) and Tanner Pearson (0-4=4) tied for the team lead in preseason scoring. … Anze Kopitar has led the Kings in scoring for eight consecutive seasons, joining Marcel Dionne (who did it from 1975-76 through 1982-83) as the only King to do so. … Milan Lucic has nine points (3-6=9) in 10 career games against San Jose. … Jeff Carter enters tonight’s game having played in a team-est 139 consecutive games. … With 802 games played, Dustin Brown is three games behind Rob Blake (805) for the fourth most in club history. … With 30 power play goals, Drew Doughty is one goal behind Lubomir Visnovsky (31) for the third most amongst defensemen in club history. … Including playoffs, the Kings have sold out 161 consecutive home games, dating back to December 3, 2011.

GettyImages-467929434

San Jose Projected Lines

Joonas Donskoi – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Joel Ward
Matt Nieto – Tomas Hertl – Tommy Wingels
Barclay Goodrow – Chris Tierney – Mike Brown

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Matt Tennyson

Martin Jones
Alex Stalock

Degree of Power: B+. Raffi Torres will serve the first game of his 41-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Anaheim forward Jakob Silfverberg. Dylan DeMelo and Ben Smith are expected to be scratched tonight. Lines via Curtis Zupke of NHL.com.

Notes and milestones: The Sharks have won a league-high five consecutive season openers and defeated the Kings 4-0 when the teams opened the 2014-15 season at Staples Center last October 8. … Martin Jones appeared in 34 games with Los Angeles from 2013-15, going 16-11-2 with a 1.99 goals-against average, .923 save percentage and seven shutouts. … No team has ever swept the Kings-Sharks season series. … By playing tonight, Mark-Edouard Vlasic will play his 671st career game, tying Mike Rathje for the most games by a defenseman in franchise history. … Joe Thornton has 64 points (13-51=64) and 66 penalty minutes in 70 career games against Los Angeles. … Joe Pavelski was named as the ninth full-time captain in San Jose history. … Tonight marks the first game behind the Sharks bench for coach Peter DeBoer, who in 2012 coached New Jersey to the Stanley Cup Final, where they fell in six games to Los Angeles. DeBoer is 3-4-0 in seven career season openers.

San Jose Sharks v Toronto Maple Leafs

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