Game 27 Preview: Los Angeles vs Philadelphia

Los Angeles Kings (14-7-5) vs Philadelphia Flyers (8-13-4)
Saturday, December 6, 2014, 1:00 p.m. PT
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #12 Justin St. Pierre, #32 Tom Kowal
Linesmen: #94 Bryan Pancich, #77 Tim Nowak
Fox Sports West, KABC 790 AM
Voice of the King is screening at Regal Cinemas LA Live. All proceeds go to Kings Care.

181113787NG028_FLYERS_KINGS.JPG

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2014-15: 20 GP (20 GS) / 11-5-4 record / 2.15 GAA / .933 Sv% / 3 SHO
Career vs Philadelphia: 8 (7) / 4-2-1 / 1.86 / .936 / 1
Last Game vs Philadelphia: 10/28/14 / 63 MP / 40-43 shots / 2-3 OTL
2014-15, Home: 13 (13) / 10-2-1 / 1.48 / .951 / 3

Philadelphia Projected Starting Goaltender – Steve Mason*
2014-15: 17 GP (17 GS) / 4-9-3 record / 2.78 GAA / .914 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 13 (13) / 6-7-0 / 3.08 / .892 / 2
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 2/1/14 / 60 MP / 35-35 shots / 2-0 W
2014-15, Away: 9 (9) / 6-2-0 / 2.81 / .917 / 1
*Philadelphia has not named a starting goaltender; Mason, the starter, is listed by default.

Philadelphia Flyers v Ottawa Senators

2014-15 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Tyler Toffoli (10-10=20)
Goals: Tyler Toffoli (10-10=20), Tanner Pearson (10-3=13)
Assists: Jeff Carter (7-11=18), Drew Doughty (2-11=13)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+14; 10-10=20)
Penalty Minutes: Matt Greene (36; 1-1=2)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (28:43; 2-11=13)
Corsi-For Percentage: Jake Muzzin (56.8%; 1-10=11)

2014-15 Philadelphia Leaders
Total Points: Jakub Voracek (9-24=33)
Goals: Wayne Simmonds (10-7=17)
Assists: Jakub Voracek (9-24=33)
Plus/Minus: Claude Giroux (+6; 7-21=28)
Penalty Minutes: Zac Rinaldo (33; 0-1=1)
Time On Ice: Mark Streit (22:53; 4-10=14)
Corsi-For Percentage: Michael Raffl (55.4%; 7-1=8)

507046709SA_PHL_v_TBL

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 15 / 2.69; PHI – t-16 / 2.64
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 3 / 2.08; PHI – 24 / 3.08
Power Play: LAK – 18 / 17.6%; PHI – 4 / 23.5%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 9 / 84.6%; PHI – 30 / 74.4%
Shots/Game: LAK – 16 / 30.3; PHI – t-11 / 30.5
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 23 / 31.2; PHI – 24 / 32.2
Faceoffs: LAK – t-9 / 51.5%; PHI – t-9 / 51.5%
Save Percentage: LAK – 1 / .933; PHI – t-23 / .904
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 11 / 51.5%; PHI – 24 / 47.6%

181113787NG021_FLYERS_KINGS.JPG

Los Angeles Projected Lines

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

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Robyn Regehr – Alec Martinez
Brayden McNabb – Matt Greene

Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones

Level of confidence in projected lines: A-. The color-coded lines used at practice yesterday indicated that there will be no changes from the Boston or Arizona games. Jonathan Quick left the ice first at practice, so he’s likely the starter. Marian Gaborik is improving, though he skated as an extra yesterday and isn’t likely to make his return to the lineup this afternoon.

Notes and milestones: The Kings are 41-82-16 all-time against the Flyers, a record that includes a home mark of 22-41-8. Los Angeles is 3-7-0 in the last 10 home games against Philadelphia. Last year, the Flyers shut out the Kings 2-0 at Staples Center behind 35 Steve Mason saves and goals by Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux. After today, there are no scheduled games between the teams until the 2015-16 season. … Los Angeles is 5-3-2 against the Eastern Conference and 2-2-2 against the Metropolitan Division. … The Kings, who have posted shutouts in three of the last four games, enter today’s game with a shutout streak of 121:49. … Los Angeles is 11-0-3 when scoring first and 14-1-1 when allowing two goals or less. … The Kings have scored at least three goals in nine of the last 12 games, averaging 3.25 goals per game (39 goals / 12 games) over that span. … With 29 career game-winning goals, Dustin Brown is tied with Rob Blake for fourth overall on Los Angeles’ all-time list. … With 28 career game-winning goals, Anze Kopitar is tied with Mike Murphy and Butch Goring for fifth place on the Kings’ all-time list and sits one game-winning goal behind Rob Blake and Dustin Brown for fourth place. … With 298 career assists, Mike Richards is two assists from 300 in his career. … With 234 (61-173=234) career points, Drew Doughty is tied with Marty McSorley for fifth place all-time amongst Los Angeles defensemen. … In four games against his former team, Mike Richards has two points (1-1=2) versus the Flyers. … In three games against his former team, Jeff Carter has one point (1-0=1) versus the Flyers.

Philadelphia Flyers v Anaheim Ducks

Philadelphia Projected Lines

Michael Raffl – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek
Brayden Schenn – Scott Laughton – Wayne Simmonds
R.J. Umberger – Sean Couturier – Matt Read
Zac Rinaldo – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Chris VandeVelde

Michael Del Zotto – Andrew MacDonald
Nick Schultz – Brayden Coburn
Nicklas Grossman – Mark Streit

Steve Mason
Ray Emery

Notes and milestones: Lines via Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia Daily News … The Flyers have lost nine consecutive road games (0-7-2) since a 5-3 win at Pittsburgh on October 22, though they lost with under 12 seconds remaining in regulation at San Jose on Tuesday and lost in a shootout Wednesday at Anaheim. They have lost six in a row overall (0-4-2) and are 1-8-2 in their last 11 games. … Philadelphia’s penalty kill, which ranks 30th overall in the league, has killed off 28-of-43 power plays on the road (65.1%). … The Flyers’ power play, which ranks fourth in the league, ranks 17th in the league on the road, having scored seven times on 40 power plays (17.5%). … R.J. Umberger, who will play in his 699th career game today, is one assist shy of 200 in his career. … With 33 points (9-24=33), Jakub Voracek is tied with Sidney Crosby for the NHL scoring lead. … With 28 points (7-21=28), Claude Giroux is tied for sixth in league scoring. Giroux leads the NHL in faceoffs taken (651) and won (360). He has taken 42.3 percent of the Flyers’ faceoffs, which is the highest percentage of faceoffs taken by one player for any team in the league. … Philadelphia had gone the entire season without scoring first in a road game until this week, but has now accomplished the feat in two consecutive games. They are 5-1-2 when scoring first, compared to 3-12-2 when allowing the first goal. … The Flyers have lost nine consecutive shootouts, dating back to last season. … Sean Couturier’s father, Sylvain Couturier, played 33 games with the Kings from 1988-92, totaling nine points (4-5=9). He is currently the general manager for QMJHL-Acadie-Bathurst.

507046709SA_PHL_V_TBL

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.