Game 30 Preview: Los Angeles at Montreal

Los Angeles Kings (15-9-5) at Montreal Canadiens (18-10-2)
Friday, December 12, 2014, 4:30 p.m. PT
Belle Centre, Montreal, QC
Referees: #18 Greg Kimmerly, #40 Steve Kozari
Linesmen: #70 Derek Nansen, #65 Pierre Racicot
KCOP-13, KABC 790 AM

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Martin Jones*
2014-15: 7 GP (6 GS) / 3-2-1 record / 1.42 GAA / .947 Sv% / 2 SHO
Career vs Montreal: 1 (1) / 1-0-0 / 0.00 / 1.000 / 1
Last Game vs Montreal: 12/10/13 / 60 MP / 31-31 shots / 6-0 W
2014-15, Away: 4 (4) / 2-1-1 / 1.48 / .946 / 2
*The Kings do not name starting goaltenders; Martin Jones is projected.

Montreal Projected Starting Goaltender – Carey Price
2014-15: 24 GP (24 GS) / 15-8-1 record / 2.40 GAA / .920 Sv% / 2 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 4 (4) / 3-1-0 / 2.64 / .910 / 0
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 12/10/13 / 25 MP / 12-16 shots / 0-6 L
2014-15, Home: 13 (13) / 10-3-0 / 1.96 / .923 / 1

2014-15 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Tyler Toffoli (10-11=21)
Goals: Tanner Pearson (11-3=14)
Assists: Drew Doughty (2-13=15), Jake Muzzin (1-13=14)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+14; 10-11=21)
Penalty Minutes: Matt Greene (38; 2-1=3)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (28:46; 2-13=15)
Corsi-For Percentage: Jake Muzzin (57.9%; 1-13=14)

2014-15 Montreal Leaders
Total Points: Max Pacioretty (13-9=22)
Goals: Max Pacioretty (13-9=22)
Assists: David Desharnais (2-13=15)
Plus/Minus: Max Pacioretty (+12; 13-9=22)
Penalty Minutes: Brandon Prust (+64; 1-6=7)
Time On Ice: PK Subban (25:06; 7-12=19)
Corsi-For Percentage: Nathan Beaulieu (56.3%; 0-2=2)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 18 / 2.62; MTL – 22 / 2.43
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 3 / 2.07; MTL – 12 / 2.53
Power Play: LAK – 20 / 16.7%; MTL – 25 / 13.6%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 8 / 84.3%; MTL – 9 / 84.1%
Shots/Game: LAK – 10 / 30.9; MTL – 27 / 28.0
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 20 / 30.3; MTL – 19 / 30.0
Faceoffs: LAK – t-10/ 51.6%; MTL – 1 / 55.1%
Save Percentage: LAK – 1 / .932; MTL – t-9 / .916
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 6 / 52.7%; MTL – 15 / 50.8%

Los Angeles Projected Lines

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

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

Martin Jones
Jonathan Quick

Level of confidence of projected lines: D. Line mixing and matching took place as last night’s game developed. Forwards on the ice for all six even strength goals: LAK, 1-0 (Pearson-Carter Toffoli); LAK, 2-0 (Gaborik-Richards-Williams); OTT, 1-2 (Pearson-Carter-Toffoli); LAK, 4-2 (Clifford-Lewis-Toffoli); OTT, 3-4 (Clifford-Lewis-Toffoli); LAK, 5-3 (Pearson-Richards-Williams). Defensive pairings aren’t likely to change. Because Jonathan Quick hasn’t started back-to-back games this season and Martin Jones has been excellent recently, expect Jones to get the nod.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 29-88-20 all-time against Montreal, a record that includes an away mark of 9-48-11. The Kings, who won 6-0 at the Bell Centre last year but have never won back-to-back road games in the series, are currently on a franchise record-tying two-game winning streak against the Canadiens. The two teams will conclude the season series at Staples Center on March 5. … Los Angeles is 6-5-2 against the Eastern Conference and 4-2-0 against the Atlantic Division. … The Kings have averaged three goals per game over their last 15 games (45 G / 15 GP). … Los Angeles is 2-2-0 on the second night of back-to-back sets. … The Kings are 12-0-3 when scoring the game’s first goal and 14-3-1 when allowing two goals or less. … Jake Muzzin has 14 points (1-13=14) in the last 16 games. … With 299 career assists, Mike Richards is one assist away from 300. … 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. … By playing tonight, Drew Doughty will tie Marty McSorley for the seventh-most games played by a Kings defenseman in club history. … Martin Jones has a shutout streak of 146:01.

Montreal Projected Lines

Max Pacioretty – Alex Galchenyuk – Brendan Gallagher
Jiri Sekac – Tomas Plekanec – Sven Andrighetto
Michael Bournival – David Desharnais – PA Parenteau
Brandon Prust – Manny Malhotra – Dale Weise

Andrei Markov – P.K. Subban
Alexei Emelin – Sergei Gonchar
Nathan Beaulieu – Tom Gilbert

Carey Price
Dustin Tokarski

Notes and milestones: Lines via NHL.com correspondent Sean Farrell … Bryan Allen (flu), Lars Eller (upper-body) and Mike Weaver (concussion) are unlikely to play. … Montreal has been outscored 26-9 in first periods but has outscored its opponents 64-50 in the second period, third period and overtime. … The Canadiens are 4-1 in shootouts and 1-1 in overtime. … P.K. Subban is expected to play in his 155th consecutive game tonight. … Sergei Gonchar became the first skater (and third player) in Montreal history to dress as a 40-year-old. The three oldest players in Canadiens history to play in a game were George Hainsworth (41 years / 177 days) and Gump Worsley (40 years / 206 days). … On December 12, 1953, Maurice Richard became the NHL’s all-time scoring leader when his goal and two assists gave him 611 career points. … Andrei Markov ranks third amongst all defensemen in club history with 455 points.