Game 61 Preview: Los Angeles vs Buffalo

Los Angeles Kings (36-20-4) vs Buffalo Sabres (25-30-7)
Saturday, February 25, 2016, 8:00 p.m. PT
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #3 Mike Leggo, #32 Tom Kowal
Linesmen: #73 Vaughan Rody, #79 Kiel Murchison
FOX Sports West, KABC 790 AM, I Heart Radio

Trevor Lewis on the Sabres and 2015 World Championship teammate Jack Eichel:

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jhonas Enroth
2015-16: 12 GP (10 GS) / 4-5-1 record / 2.19 GAA / .926 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career vs Buffalo: 1 (1) / 0-0-1 / 1.90 / .933 / 0
Last Game vs Buffalo: 12/12/15 / 63 MP / 28-30 shots / 1-2 OTL
2015-16, Home: 2 (1) / 1-0-0 / 1.24 / .957 / 0

Buffalo Projected Starting Goaltender: Robin Lehner
2015-16: 14 GP (14 GS) / 4-6-2 record / 2.34 GAA / .930 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 1 (0) / 0-1-0 / 3.23 / .864 / 0
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 12/14/13 / 56 MP / 19-22 shots / 2-5 L
2015-16, Away: 8 (8) / 3-3-2 / 1.85 / .943 / 1

2015-16 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (18-34=52)
Goals: Tyler Toffoli (24-21=45)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (18-34=52)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+26; 24-21=45)
Penalty Minutes: Milan Lucic (70; 14-22=36)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (28:24; 11-28=39)
Corsi-For Percentage: Nick Shore (61.1%; 3-6=9)

2015-16 Buffalo Leaders
Total Points: Ryan O’Reilly (17-32=49)*
Goals: Sam Reinhart (18-10=28)
Assists: Ryan O’Reilly (17-32=49)**
Plus/Minus: Zemgus Girgensons (0; 5-9=14)
Penalty Minutes: Evander Kane (73; 17-9=26)
Time On Ice: Rasmus Ristolainen (25:20; 8-27=35)
Corsi-For Percentage: Mark Pysyk (52.1%; 0-4=4)
*On injured reserve. Amongst active players, Jack Eichel (17-24=41) is the leading scorer.
** On injured reserve. Amongst active players, Rasmus Ristolainen (8-27=35) leads in assists.

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 14 / 2.65; BUF – 29 / 2.35
Goals Against/Game: LAK – t-1 / 2.28; BUF – 17 / 2.63
Power Play: LAK – t-4 / 22.1%; BUF – 10 / 19.9%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 12 / 81.9%; BUF – 10 / 82.5%
Shots/Game: LAK – 2 / 32.7; BUF – 16 / 29.5
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 5 / 28.1; BUF – t-20 / 30.8
Faceoffs: LAK – t-13 / 50.1%; BUF – t-18 / 49.6%
Save Percentage: LAK – 6 / .919; BUF – t-12 / .915
Corsi-for Percentage: LAK – 1 / 56.4% / BUF – 24 / 47.8%

Los Angeles Projected Lines

Milan Lucic – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Dwight King – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Tanner Pearson – Vincent Lecavalier – Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford – Nick Shore – Andy Andreoff

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez – Luke Schenn
Brayden McNabb – Rob Scuderi

Jhonas Enroth
Jonathan Quick

Notes and milestones: The Kings are 42-56-20 all-time against the Sabres, a record that includes a home mark of 26-24-9. With the exception of the 2011 NHL Premiere played in Berlin, home teams have won the last 11 games in the series, dating back to a 5-1 Buffalo win at Staples Center on October 23, 2003. Derek Armstrong scored the lone Los Angeles goal in that game, while the goaltenders were Cristobal Huet and Martin Biron. L.A. lost 2-1 in overtime at the First Niagara Center on December 12; tonight’s game concludes the regular season series. … The Kings are 15-9-2 against the Eastern Conference and 7-4-2 against the Atlantic Division. … Los Angeles is 4-5-0 on the first night of back-to-back sets and 8-0-1 on the second night of back-to-back sets. The Kings play in Anaheim at 6:00 p.m. Sunday. … With 465 career points (215-250=465), Dustin Brown is one point behind Charlie Simmer (466 points) for 10th place overall on the team’s all-time list. With 250 career assists, he is one assist from surpassing Mark Hardy for 11th place overall on the team’s all-time list. … Tyler Toffoli ranks second in the league with a plus-26 rating. … With 99 career points (36-63=99), Alec Martinez is one point from 100 in his career. … With 298 career goals, Jeff Carter is two goals shy of 300 in his career. … Jonathan Quick has a 0.99 goals-against average and a .964 save percentage during the team’s three-game winning streak. … Brayden McNabb appeared in 37 games with the Sabres between 2009-14, totaling one goal and eight points. … Jhonas Enroth appeared in 118 games with Buffalo between 2009-15, and posted a record of 38-56-14 with a 2.92 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. … In 69 games with the Sabres in 2013-14, Jamie McBain totaled six goals and 17 points.

Buffalo Projected Lineup

Jamie McGinn – Jack Eichel – Zemgus Girgensons
Evander Kane – Sam Reinhart – Justin Bailey
Marcus Foligno – Johan Larsson – Brian Gionta
Nicolas Deslauriers – David Legwand – Matt Moulson

Josh Gorges – Rasmus Ristolainen
Jake McCabe – Zach Bogosian
Carlo Colaiacovo – Mark Pysyk

Robin Lehner
Chad Johnson

Notes and milestones: Lines via NHL.com correspondent Curtis Zupke … Buffalo is expected to be without Ryan O’Reilly (lower body), Cody Franson (neck), Tyler Ennis (upper body) and Cody McCormick (blood clot). … The Sabres are 59-for-65 on the penalty kill (90.8%) over the last 23 games. In the last six games, they’re 20-for-21. … Evander Kane has six points (2-4=6) in his last six games against the Kings. He ranks third in the league with an average of 4.1 shots per game. … In his last five games, Robin Lehner is 2-2-1 with a .956 save percentage and a 1.39 goals-against average, marking the best five-game stretch of his career in Sv% and GAA. … Tonight’s game is the third of a three-game road trip to Anaheim, San Jose and Los Angeles. The Sabres lost 1-0 to the Ducks on Wednesday and defeated the Sharks 3-1 last night. Buffalo is 5-4-1 on the second night of back-to-back sets. … If Sam Reinhart (18 goals) or Jack Eichel (17 goals) finishes with the team lead in goals, it will mark the first time since Ray Sheppard in 1987-88 in which a Sabres rookie did so. … Rasmus Ristolainen ranks 10th in the NHL with an average ice time of 25:20. … Evander Kane’s 20:59 average ice time ranks second in the league, behind injured Buffalo forward Ryan O’Reilly (21:51). … In 220 games over five seasons with the Kings from 1995-00, Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma totaled nine goals and 30 points. … In 29 games with Los Angeles from 2007-09, Matt Moulson totaled six goals and 10 points. … Sabres assistant coach Terry Murray coached the Kings from 2008-11.