Game 57 Preview: Philadelphia at Los Angeles

Los Angeles Kings (30-20-6) vs Philadelphia Flyers (26-23-6)
Saturday, February 1, 2014, 1:00 p.m. PT
STAPLES Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #3 Mike Leggo, #22 Ghislain Hebert
Linesmen: #76 Michel Cormier, #82 Ryan Galloway
FOX Sports West, NHL Network, KEIB 1150 AM

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2013-14 Season: 28 GP (28 GS) / 15-11-2 record / 2.13 GAA / .914 Sv% / 3 SHO
Career vs Philadelphia: 5 (4) / 3-1-0 / 1.55 / .947 / 1
Last Game vs Philadelphia: 10/15/11 / 62 MP / 32-of-34 shots / 3-2 OTW
2013-14, Home: 17 (17) / 10-6-1 / 2.19 / .906 / 2

Philadelphia Projected Starting Goaltender – Steve Mason*
2013-14 Season: 41 GP (40 GS) / 20-14-5 record / 2.61 GAA / .914 Sv% / 2 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 12 (12) / 5-7-0 / 3.37 / .880 / 0
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 2/5/13 / 58 MP / 27-of-31 shots / 2-4 L
2013-14, Away: 18 (17) / 8-5-4 / 2.70 / .911 / 1
*Philadelphia hasn’t named a starter; Mason, the number one, is listed by default.

2013-14 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (16-27=43)
Goals: Jeff Carter (20-14=34)
Assists: Mike Richards (7-28=35)
Plus/Minus: Anze Kopitar (+22; 16-27=43)
Penalty Minutes: Kyle Clifford (63; 3-2=5)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (25:56; 7-21=28)

2013-14 Philadelphia Leaders
Total Points: Claude Giroux (16-34=50)
Goals: Wayne Simmonds (17-21=38)
Assists: Claude Giroux (16-34=50)
Plus/Minus: Erik Gustafsson (+8; 2-7=9)
Penalty Minutes: Zac Rinaldo (101; 1-1=2)
Time On Ice: Braydon Coburn (22:34; 4-6=10)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 29 / 2.29; PHI – 17 / 2.67
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 1 / 2.07; PHI – 19 / 2.87
Power Play: LAK – 28 / 14.1%; PHI – 12 / 19.2%
Penalty Kill: LAK – t-9 / 83.6%; PHI – t-9 / 83.6%
Shots/Game: LAK – 8 / 31.2; PHI – 18 / 29.8
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 3 / 27.0; PHI – 18 / 30.3
Faceoffs: LAK – t-1 / 53.2%; PHI – 22/ 48.9%
Save Percentage: LAK – 2 / .923; PHI – t-23 / .905

Los Angeles Projected Lines

Tyler Toffoli – Anze Kopitar – Jeff Carter
Dustin Brown – Mike Richards – Justin Williams
Dwight King – Jarret Stoll – Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford – Colin Fraser – Jordan Nolan

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Robyn Regehr – Slava Voynov
Willie Mitchell – Matt Greene

Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones

Level of confidence in projected lines: B. The alignments above reflect the lines and pairings used at Friday’s practice. Because of the afternoon game today, there’s no morning skate.

Notes and milestones: The Kings are 40-81-16 against the Flyers, a record that includes a mark of 22-40-8 in Southern California since Los Angeles played its inaugural game against Philadelphia at the Long Beach Arena on October 14, 1967, a 4-2 Kings win. The Flyers had lost to the California Golden Seals three days prior in their inaugural game. Los Angeles has won the last two meetings with Philadelphia, dating back to February 13, 2011. This is the Philadelphia’s first visit to Los Angeles since December 30, 2010; the teams will close out the season series at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday, March 24. … Robyn Regehr will play in his 1,000th regular season NHL game this afternoon. Since making his NHL debut in a Calgary overtime win at Ottawa on October 28, 1999, Regehr has played 826 games with the Flames, 105 with the Sabres, and 69 with the Kings. … Los Angeles has held only one third period lead in the last seven games. … The Kings and Flyers are the two most penalized teams in the league, with Philadelphia registering the most shorthanded situations with 220 and Los Angeles ranking second with 214. The Flyers lead the league with 203 power play chances, while the Kings rank second with 199. … Jeff Carter, who was selected by the Flyers 11th overall in 2003, will face his former team for the first time in his career. He is the only King to crack double digits in scoring this month, totaling seven goals and 10 points. … In the last five games, Anze Kopitar has three goals on 17 shots. The rest of the Kings have no goals on 132 shots. Kopitar registered his seventh power play goal of the 2013-14 season against Pittsburgh after finishing without a power play goal in 47 regular season games in 2012-13.

Philadelphia Projected Lines

Scott Hartnell – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek
Vincent Lecavalier – Brayden Schenn – Wayne Simmonds
Matt Read – Sean Couturier – Steve Downie
Adam Hall – Michael Raffl – Zac Rinaldo

Kimmo Timonen – Braydon Coburn
Mark Streit – Nicklas Grossmann
Erik Gustafsson – Luke Schenn

Steve Mason
Ray Emery

Notes and milestones: Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn will play in Los Angeles for the first time since the June 23, 2011 trade that netted the Kings Mike Richards. Simmonds has 99 career goals, of which 39 were scored with Los Angeles and 60 have been scored with Philadelphia. Though he hasn’t scored in his last five games, he had 12 goals in the 17 games prior. His nine power play goals lead the Flyers and are tied for fourth in the league. … Philadelphia has allowed nine shorthanded goals, which ties Edmonton for the most in the NHL. … The Flyers’ power play has one goal in each of the last five games, going 5-16 (31.3) in that stretch. … Philadelphia averages a league-high 15.7 penalty minutes per game. … Since Steve Mason signed a three-year extension on January 18th, he has been pulled in two of his five games, posting a 3.64 goals-against average and .888 save percentage. … Nicklas Grossman is the only NHL player with more than 130 hits and 130 blocked shots. His 137 blocks are fourth in the league, while his 132 hits are tied for 30th. His minus-10 rating in January was the second worst in the NHL. … Five Flyers were named to Olympic teams: Michael Raffl (Austria), Mark Streit (Switzerland), Jakub Voracek (Czech Republic), Andrej Meszaros (Slovakia) and Kimmo Timonen (Finland). … Kimmo Timonen was selected by the Kings in the 10th round, 250th overall, in 1993.