Game 25 Preview: Los Angeles vs Pittsburgh

Los Angeles Kings (15-8-1) vs Pittsburgh Penguins (14-8-2)
Saturday, December 5, 2015, 1:00 p.m. PT
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #27 Eric Furlatt, #23 Brad Watson
Linesmen: #88 Mike Cvik, #94 Bryan Pancich
Fox Sports West, KABC 790 AM, I Heart Radio

Anze Kopitar, on facing the Penguins’ star players:

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2015-16: 20 GP (20 GS) / 12-7-1 record / 2.21 GAA / .918 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career vs Pittsburgh: 6 (6) / 1-2-3 / 2.54 / .895 / 0
Last Game vs Pittsburgh: 3/7/15 / 62 MP / 17-18 shots / 0-1 L
2015-16, Home: 13 (13) /8-5-0 / 2.21 / .913 / 1

Pittsburgh Projected Starting Goaltender – Marc-Andre Fleury
2015-16: 20 GP (20 GS) / 12-7-1 record / 2.16 GAA / .929 Sv% / 2 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 8 (8) / 6-2-0 / 1.70 / .946 / 2
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 3/7/15 / 62 MP / 31-31 shots / 1-0 W
2015-16, Away: 9 (9) / 5-3-1 / 1.78 / .944 / 1

2015-16 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Jeff Carter (10-13=23)
Goals: Tyler Toffoli (11-9=20)
Assists: Jeff Carter (10-13=23)
Plus/Minus: Jeff Carter (+15; 10-13=23)
Penalty Minutes: Andy Andreoff (39; 1-0=1)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (27:20; 3-10=13)
Corsi-For Percentage: Nick Shore (64.6%; 2-0=2)

2015-16 Pittsburgh Leaders
Total Points: Evgeni Malkin (12-13=25)
Goals: Evgeni Malkin (12-13=25)
Assists: Evgeni Malkin (12-13=25), Kris Letang (1-13=14)
Plus/Minus: Matt Cullen (+8; 2-4=6), Olli Maatta (+8; 2-2=4)
Penalty Minutes: Evgeni Malkin (29; 12-13=25)
Time On Ice: Kris Letang (26:24; 1-13=14)
Corsi-For Percentage: Sergei Plotnikov (55.9%; 0-2=2)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – t-18 / 2.46; PIT – 24 / 2.33
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 2 / 2.08; PIT – 6 / 2.25
Power Play: LAK – t-15 / 18.9%; PIT – 23 / 17.2%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 8 / 83.5%; PIT – t-9 / 83.3%
Shots/Game: LAK – 1 / 32.5; PIT – 6 / 30.8
Shots Against/Game: LAK – t-4 / 27.9; PIT – 28 / 31.7
Faceoffs: LAK – 19 / 49.2%; PIT – t-7 / 50.9%
Save Percentage: LAK – 3 / .925; PIT – 2 / .929
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 1 / 57.1%; PIT – 21 / 48.4%

Los Angeles Projected Lines

Tanner Pearson – Anze Kopitar – Marian Gaborik
Milan Lucic – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Andy Andreoff – Nick Shore – Dustin Brown
Kyle Clifford – Jordan Weal – Jordan Nolan

Brayden McNabb – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Alec Martinez
Christian Ehrhoff – Jamie McBain

Jonathan Quick
Jhonas Enroth

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 71-59-22 all-time against Pittsburgh, a record that includes a home mark of 45-18-11. The Kings have wins in only two of the last 10 games against the Penguins, but points in six of the last 10. These teams will conclude the season series next Friday at CONSOL Energy Center. … Los Angeles is 5-3-1 against the Eastern Conference and 3-2-0 against the Metropolitan Division. … This is the first of eight straight games against the Eastern Conference. Thus far, the Kings are 0-0-0 (12/5 vs PIT, 12/6 vs TBL, 12/8 @ CBJ, 12/11 @ PIT, 12/12 @ BUF, 12/14 @ OTT, 12/17 @ MTL, 12/19 @ TOR). … Los Angeles is 7-6-1 when allowing the first goal. … The Kings have been outscored 37-34 in the first two periods this season but have outscored their opponents 25-13 in third periods and overtime. … Los Angeles is 4-0 in overtime and 5-1 in games tied after 60 minutes. They have gone to overtime in three consecutive games and four of the last seven. … Jeff Carter has points in four straight games (1-3=4). He ranks second in the league with a plus-15 rating. … Drew Doughty ranks second in the league with an ice time average of 27:20 per game. … Tyler Toffoli is tied for fourth in the league with a plus-13 rating. … With 69 career goals, Drew Doughty is one goal behind Lubomir Visnovsky (70) for fourth place on the list of points by a Kings defenseman. … Anze Kopitar has seven points (3-4=7) in the last six games, and with 398 career assists, is two shy of 400.

Pittsburgh Projected Lines

Chris Kunitz – Sidney Crosby – Pascal Dupuis
David Perron – Evgeni Malkin – Phil Kessel
Beau Bennett – Nick Bonino – Patric Hornqvist
Sergei Plotnikov – Matt Cullen – Eric Fehr

Rob Scuderi – Olli Maatta
Brian Dumoulin – Ben Lovejoy
David Warsofsky – Ian Cole

Marc-Andre Fleury
Jeff Zatkoff

Notes and milestones: It is possible that Pittsburgh will be without defenseman Kris Letang, while defenseman Olli Maatta may come off injured reserve to play today. … The Penguins are 6-2-1 in their last nine road games and have won three straight games at Staples Center. … Pittsburgh is 2-1-1 on the first night of back-to-back sets. … Today marks the Penguins’ first day game of the season. … Pittsburgh has scored a power play goal in seven straight games, going 8-for-30 (26.7%). … Evgeni Malkin has goals in four consecutive games and 13 points (8-5=13) in his last seven games. Over that seven-game span, he has factored into 13 of the Penguins’ 19 goals. He has 10 points (6-4=10) in seven career games against the Kings. … Marc-Andre Fleury ranks fourth in the league with a 1.78 road goals-against average. … Patric Hornqvist has 17 points (9-8=17) and a plus-eight rating in 20 career games against Los Angeles. … Sidney Crosby has just one goal but eight points in seven career games against the Kings. … Beau Bennett is a former LA Junior King who was Nick Shore’s freshman year roommate at the University of Denver. The two were linemates with the Pioneers from 2010-12. … Rob Scuderi totaled 47 points (4-43=47) in 285 regular season games with Los Angeles between 2009-13 and won the 2012 Stanley Cup.