Game 68 Preview: Los Angeles vs Nashville

Los Angeles Kings (33-21-13) vs Nashville Predators (42-20-7)
Saturday, March 14, 2015, 7:00 p.m. PT
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #13 Dan O’Halloran, #23 Brad Watson
Linesmen: #56 Mark Wheler, #70 Derek Nansen
Fox Sports West, Sportsnet, KABC 790 AM

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2014-15: 58 GP (57 GS) / 29-17-11 record / 2.32 GAA / .914 Sv% / 5 SHO
Career vs Nashville: 11 (11) / 2-6-2 / 3.01 / .880 / 0
Last Game vs Nashville: 1/3/15 / 10 MP / 6-9 shots / 6-7 OTL
2014-15, Home: 32 (31) / 19-6-6 / 2.06 / .921 / 4

Nashville Projected Starting Goaltender – Pekka Rinne
2014-15: 53 GP (53 GS) / 36-14-3 record / 2.09 GAA / .927 Sv% / 3 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 16 (16) / 9-6-1 / 2.93 / .888 / 1
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 1/3/15 / 60 MP / 24-30 shots / 7-6 W
2014-15, Away: 22 (22) / 13-7-2 / 2.18 / .929 / 2

2014-15 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (14-38-52)
Goals: Jeff Carter (23-28=51)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (14-38-52)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+20; 20-21=41)
Penalty Minutes: Kyle Clifford (83; 6-7=13)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (29:22; 5-33=38)
Corsi-For Percentage: Anze Kopitar (58.4%; 14-38-52)

2014-15 Nashville Leaders
Total Points: Mike Ribeiro (13-41=54)
Goals: James Neal (22-13=35)
Assists: Mike Ribeiro (13-41=54)
Plus/Minus: Colin Wilson (+21; 20-20=40)
Penalty Minutes: Shea Weber (68; 15-28=43)
Time On Ice: Roman Josi (26:35; 11-36=47)
Corsi-For Percentage: Cody Franson (58.4%; 6-29=35)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 17 / 2.72; NSH – t-11 / 2.80
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 6 / 2.43; NSH – 4 / 2.36
Power Play: LAK – 13 / 18.4%; NSH – 26 / 16.0%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 15 / 81.5%; NSH – 16 / 81.1%
Shots/Game: LAK – t-10 / 30.7; NSH – 3 / 32.1
Shots Against/Game: LAK – t-1 / 27.0; NSH – 9 / 28.7
Faceoffs: LAK – t-11 / 51.3%; NSH – t-20 / 48.7%
Save Percentage: LAK – t-14 / .910; NSH – t-6 / .918
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 1 / 54.8%; NSH – 6 / 52.8%

Los Angeles Projected Lines

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

Robyn Regehr – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Matt Greene
Brayden McNabb – Andrej Sekera

Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones

Level of confidence in projected lines: B-. Jarret Stoll is likely out, per Darryl Sutter, though Anze Kopitar is expected to play following the birth of his daughter. With the two players off the ice this morning, line rushes weren’t necessarily accurate, though it did appear as though there could be adjustments to the third and fourth lines. Alec Martinez resumed skating with the club, though his return isn’t imminent. Jonathan Quick left the ice first at the morning skate and is expected to start in net.

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 29-23-8 all-time against Nashville, a record that includes a home mark of 14-13-3. The Kings are 4-4-2 in their last 10 home games against the Predators. … Los Angeles is 20-9-9 against the Western Conference and 9-5-3 against the Central Division. … The Kings have successfully killed off 37 of 38 shorthanded situations since David Jones’ second period goal in Los Angeles’ 5-3 win over Calgary on February 12. … Nick Shore has won 20 of his last 29 faceoffs following his 8-for-9 performance in Vancouver on Thursday. … Justin Williams has recorded consecutive multi-point games (1-4=5 in the last two) for the first time since April 5-7, 2012 (1-3=4). … With 598 career points, Anze Kopitar (216-382=598) is two points shy of 600 in his career and with 382 assists, is two assists shy of Butch Goring (384 assists) for sixth place on the Kings’ all-time list. … With six goals, Kyle Clifford is one goal from tying his career high (7; 2010-11, 2012-13). … Should Jarret Stoll not play tonight, his team-leading streak of 128 consecutive games would come to an end. Jeff Carter would become the club’s current Iron Man with what is expected to be his 125th consecutive game played. Carter has 12 goals and 21 points in 18 career games against Nashville.

Projected Nashville Lines

Filip Forsberg – Mike Ribeiro – James Neal
Colin Wilson – Mike Fisher – Craig Smith
Viktor Stalberg – Mike Santorelli – Matt Cullen
Gabriel Bourque – Paul Gaustad – Taylor Beck

Roman Josi – Shea Weber
Seth Jones – Cody Franson
Mattias Ekholm – Ryan Ellis

Pekka Rinne
Carter Hutton

Notes and milestones: Lines via NHL.com correspondent Curtis Zupke … Eric Nystrom (lower-body) is not expected to play due to a lower-body injury. … Matt Cullen is expected to play his 1,205th career game on Saturday, moving into a tie with Brian Leetch for 100th place in NHL history. … With 41 assists, Mike Ribeiro is two assists shy of tying Cliff Ronning (43; 2000-01) for the second-most assists in a season by a Predators center and three assists shy of tying Jason Arnott (44; 2007-08) for the top spot. With 13 games remaining in the regular season, Ribeiro is 13 assists away from matching Paul Kariya (54; 2005-06) for the most assists in a single season in Predators history. … Craig Smith has 12 points (7-5=12) in his last 13 games. … Shea Weber ranks fifth in the league with a 26:31 time on ice average. … Pekka Rinne ranks second in the NHL with 36 wins. He is the only goalie this season to have played 10 or more overtimes and maintain a 1.000 save percentage and a 0.000 goals-against average (13 OTs / 27 saves). With 199 career wins, Rinne is one win shy of 200. … Amongst rookies, Filip Forsberg is tied for the league lead in assists with 32 and leads all rookies in points (53), powe play assists (12), power play points (17) and shots on goal (205). … Paul Gaustad ranks fifth in the NHL in faceoff percentage (57.2%). … Nashville is 11-4-2 against the Pacific Division. … The Predators, who play in Anaheim on Sunday, are 5-1-3 on the first game of back-to-back sets this season. … Nashville’s 26 wins in one-goal games (26-6-7) are tied for the top spot in the league. … With 99 career assists, Colin Wilson is one assist shy of 100.