Game 33 Preview: Los Angeles vs San Jose

Los Angeles Kings (20-10-2) vs San Jose Sharks (16-15-2)
Tuesday, December 22, 2015, 7:30 p.m. PT
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #3 Mike Leggo, #6 Francis Charron
Linesmen: #74 Lonnie Cameron, #55 Shane Heyer
NBCSN, KABC 790 AM, I Heart Radio

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2015-16: 26 GP (26 GS) / 17-8-1 record / 2.19 GAA / .920 Sv% / 2 SHO
Career vs San Jose: 27 (27) / 14-7-5 / 2.49 / .911 / 3
Last Game vs San Jose: 10/7/15 / 60 MP / 27-32 shots / 1-5 L
2015-16, Home: 15 (15) / 10-5-0 / 2.19 / .913 / 1

San Jose Projected Starting Goaltender – Martin Jones
2015-16: 27 GP (27 GS) / 14-10-2 record / 2.37 GAA / .916 Sv% / 3 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 2 (2) / 1-1-0 / 2.50 / .898 / 0
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 10/22/15 / 60 MP / 25-29 shots / 1-4 L
2015-16, Away: 16 (16) / 11-3-2 / 2.17 / .924 / 2

2015-16 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Jeff Carter (11-16=27)
Goals: Tyler Toffoli (12-10=22)
Assists: Jeff Carter (11-16=27)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+16; 12-10=22)
Penalty Minutes: Andy Andreoff (41; 2-0=2)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (27:47; 5-14=19)
Corsi-For Percentage: Nick Shore (61.6%; 2-3=5)

2015-16 San Jose Leaders
Total Points: Joe Pavelski (16-17=33)
Goals: Joe Pavelski (16-17=33)
Assists: Joe Pavelski (16-17=33)
Plus/Minus: Joe Thornton (+7; 5-15=20)
Penalty Minutes: Mike Brown (46; 1-0=1)
Time On Ice: Brent Burns (26:34; 12-16=28)
Corsi-For Percentage: Joe Thornton (60.2%; 5-15=20)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 23 / 2.47; SJS – 13 / 2.64
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 2 / 2.19; SJS – 21 / 2.76
Power Play: LAK – t-19 / 17.6%; SJS – 12 / 19.8%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 4 / 85.0%; SJS – 7 / 83.2%
Shots/Game: LAK – 2 / 32.1; SJS – 11 / 30.1
Shots Against/Game: LAK – t-6 / 28.4; SJS – t-6 / 28.4
Faceoffs: LAK – 23 / 49.0%; SJS – t-4 / 51.7%
Save Percentage: LAK – 2 / .923; SJS – t-24 / .903
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 1 / 56.4%; SJS – 15 / 49.7%

Los Angeles Projected Lines

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

Brayden McNabb – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Alec Martinez
Christian Ehrhoff – Jamie McBain

Jonathan Quick
Jhonas Enroth

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 61-58-19 all-time against San Jose, a record that includes a home mark of 38-24-7 and a 2015-16 mark of 1-1-0. These teams will also meet at the SAP Center on January 24 and March 28. Home teams are currently 26-8-1 in the last 35 regular season games in the series, while L.A. is 8-2-1 in their last 11 home games in the series. … The Kings are 10-5-0 against the Western Conference and 4-4-0 against the Pacific Division. … After going 5-2-1 in eight consecutive games against the Eastern Conference, Los Angeles will play five straight Pacific Division teams, starting tonight (12/22 vs SJS, 12/26 @ ARI, 12/28 @ VAN, 12/29 @ EDM, 12/31 @ CGY). … Jeff Carter is tied for fourth in the league in plus-minus (+15). … Anze Kopitar, who is coming off a minus-four game, has been plus-or-even in 29 of 32 games this season. … With 215 career assists, Drew Doughty is one assist behind Steve Duchesne (216 assists) for third place on the all-time list of assists by a Kings defenseman. He ranks third in the league with an ice time average of 27:47. … Jonathan Quick ranks third all-time among American goalies in shutouts with 39, trailing John Vanbiesbrouck and Frank Brimsek (both with 40). He leads all active American goalies with 39 shutouts. … With 98 regular season goals as a King, Carter is two goals from 100. … Jake Muzzin has six points (3-3=6) in the last eight games and with 98 career points (26-72=98), is two points shy of 100. … Tanner Pearson is expected to play the 100th regular season game of his career.

San Jose Projected Lines

Dainius Zubrus – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Matt Nieto – Patrick Marleau – Joonas Donskoi
Melker Karlsson – Chris Tierney – Tommy Wingels
Ben Smith – Tomas Hertl – Mike Brown

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Dylan DeMelo

Martin Jones
Alex Stalock

Notes and milestones: Lines via Kevin Kurz of CSNBayArea.com … Patrick Marleau is expected to play his 494th consecutive game tonight, dating back to April 9, 2009. … San Jose is 13-2-0 when scoring first. Their .867 points percentage when scoring first is the second best in the league. The Sharks are 12-1-0 when leading after one period. … When allowing the first goal, San Jose is 3-13-2. Their .167 save percentage when ceding the game’s first goal is tied for the second-lowest in the league. … Joe Pavelski ranks tied for seventh in the league with 16 goals and tied for ninth in the league with 333 points. … Brent Burns is tied for the league lead in goals by a defenseman with 12. … The Sharks, who have points in 11 of their last 14 road games, are 12-6-2 away from the SAP Center this season. … San Jose is 41-for-45 on the penalty kill (91.1%) since November 17. … 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.