Game 52 Preview: Los Angeles at Tampa Bay

Los Angeles Kings (21-18-12) at Tampa Bay Lightning (33-15-5)
Saturday, February 7, 2015, 2:00 p.m. PT
Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL
Referees: #8 Dave Jackson, #18 Greg Kimmerly
Linesmen: #84 Tony Sericolo, #82 Ryan Galloway
Fox Sports West, KABC 790 AM

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick*
2014-15: 43 GP (42 GS) / 17-15-10 record / 2.52 GAA / .909 Sv% / 3 SHO
Career vs Tampa Bay: 5 (4) / 3-1-0 / 1.19 / .955 / 1
Last Game vs Tampa Bay: 10/15/14 / 36 MP / 14-17 shots / 1-5 L
2014-15, Away: 18 (18) / 3-10-5 / 2.91 / .897 / 0
*The Kings do not name starting goaltenders in advance and did not hold a morning skate today. Jonathan Quick is listed by default as the starting goalie.

Tampa Bay Projected Starting Goaltender – Ben Bishop
2014-15: 41 GP (39 GS) / 26-8-3 record / 2.31 GAA / .914 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 2 (2) / 1-1-0 / 4.01 / .862 / 0
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 11/19/14 / 60 MP / 26-31 shots / 2-5 L
2014-15, Home: 23 (23) / 19-3-1 / 1.87 / .933 / 1

2014-15 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (11-28=39)
Goals: Marian Gaborik (16-13=29)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (11-28=39)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+14; 13-16=29)
Penalty Minutes: Kyle Clifford (52; 2-7=9)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (29:20; 4-26=30)
Corsi-For Percentage: Jake Muzzin (57.8%; 6-18=24)

2014-15 Tampa Bay Leaders
Total Points: Tyler Johnson (19-32=51)
Goals: Steven Stamkos (28-20=48)
Assists: Tyler Johnson (19-32=51)
Plus/Minus: Nikita Kucherov (+29; 18-27=45)
Penalty Minutes: Brenden Morrow (45; 2-4=6)
Time On Ice: Anton Stralman (22:18; 3-20=23)
Corsi-For Percentage: Brett Connolly (58.9%; 9-1=10)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – t-19 / 2.65; TBL – 1 / 3.21
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 15 / 2.59; TBL – 10 / 2.53
Power Play: LAK – 10 / 19.8%; TBL – 16 / 18.0%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 26 / 77.8%; TBL – 12 / 82.9%
Shots/Game: LAK – 9 / 31.1; TBL – t-15 / 29.8
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 5 / 27.5; TBL – 3/ 27.3
Faceoffs: LAK – 8 / 51.5%; TBL – 14 / 50.0%
Save Percentage: LAK – t-22 / .906; TBL – t-20 / .907
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – t-1 / 54.4%; TBL – t-1 / 54.4%

Los Angeles Projected Lineup

Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Dwight King – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Trevor Lewis – Jarret Stoll – Justin Williams
Kyle Clifford – Nick Shore – Jordan Nolan

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez – Matt Greene
Robyn Regehr – Jamie McBain

Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones

Level of confidence in projected lines: B-. The Kings did not hold a morning skate on Saturday, so there’s no clear indication of tonight’s lineup. At Friday’s practice, Trevor Lewis skated with Jarret Stoll and Justin Williams, and Kyle Clifford skated alongside Nick Shore, Andy Andreoff and Jordan Nolan. Other than the changes on the left side, I’m projecting the same lineup as the one used against Florida. There is no indication of who will start in goal; Jonathan Quick is listed by default.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 10-16-3 all-time against Tampa Bay, a record that includes a road mark of 7-6-1. The Kings are 5-3-2 in the last 10 overall games between the clubs. The teams will conclude the season series on February 16 at Staples Center. … Los Angeles is 7-11-3 against the Eastern Conference and 5-5-1 against the Atlantic Division. … The Kings are 6-7-12 in one-goal games this season. … Over the last 27 games, Los Angeles has been outscored 78-71 (excluding shootout goals). Their record in those 27 games is 9-11-7. … Over the 27 games since December 1, the Kings rank fourth in the league with a 55.0% Fenwick-close percentage in five-on-five play (What is Fenwick-close?) … The Kings are 5-12-6 on the road (.348 points percentage). Since the introduction of the overtime loss point in 1999-00, the only season in which they generated a points percentage on the road lower than .364 was in 2006-07 (11-25-5 / 27 points / .329 points percentage). … In the 17 games Jamie McBain has played, the Kings are 15-for-56 on the power play (26.8%). In the 34 games he hasn’t played, the Kings are 19-for-116 on the power play (16.4%). Los Angeles’ power play ranks 10th overall at 19.8%. … Los Angeles leads the league with 1,690 team hits. … Jake Muzzin is one point from surpassing his career high (24; 2013-14), one goal from tying his career high (7; 2012-13), and one assist from tying his career-high (19; 2013-14). … With 98 goals as a King, Justin Williams is two goals shy of 100.

Tampa Bay Projected Lineup

Valtteri Filppula – Steven Stamkos – Ryan Callahan
Ondrej Palat – Tyler Johnson – Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn – Cedric Paquette – Jonathan Drouin
Brenden Morrow – Brian Boyle – Brett Connolly

Victor Hedman – Andrej Sustr
Nikita Nesterov – Anton Stralman
Mark Barberio – Luke Witkowski

Ben Bishop
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Notes and milestones: Lines via NHL.com correspondent Corey Long … Defensemen Jason Garrison (lower-body), Radko Gudas (knee surgery) and Matthew Carle (torn abductor) are out, while J.T. Brown is expected to be scratched, per Long. … Tampa Bay made a small trade on Friday, acquiring forwards David Broll and Carter Ashton from Toronto in exchange for a conditional 2016 seventh round draft choice. … Associate coach Rick Bowness will be behind the bench in his 2,000th career NHL game tonight … The Lightning lead the league with 170 goals. Their +34 goal differential leads the Eastern Conference. … Tampa Bay has scored 64 third period goals, ranking second in the league behind Calgary. … With two goals in a win over Dallas on Thursday, Tyler Johnson now ranks 10th in the league in points (51) and is tied for 10th with 32 assists. He has six goals and eight assists in his last 14 games and has points in 13 of his past 21 games (11 goals, 22 points total). … Cedric Pacquette has six goals in his last five games. He was named the NHL’s second star of the week on Monday and leads all rookie forwards with an average of 2:01 shorthanded time on ice per game. … Alex Killorn is on a four-game assist streak (0-5=5). Since January 2, he hasn’t gone consecutive games without a point. … Since the beginning of the 2009-10 season, no player in the league has scored more goals than Steven Stamkos’ 238. Stamkos turned 25 today.