Game 39 Preview: Los Angeles at Colorado

Los Angeles Kings (25-11-2) vs Colorado Avalanche (18-18-3)
Saturday, January 4, 2016, 6:00 p.m. PT
Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
Referees: #34 Brad Meier, #47 Trevor Hansen
Linesmen: #50 Scott Cherrey, #79 Kiel Murchison
NBCSN, KABC 790 AM, I Heart Radio

at Pepsi Center on March 10, 2015 in Denver, Colorado.

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jhonas Enroth
2015-16: 7 GP (6 GS) / 3-2-1 record / 1.90 GAA / .939 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career vs Colorado: 3 (2) / 0-2-0 / 4.52 / .844 / 0
Last Game vs Colorado: 2/14/15 / 57 MP / 26-30 shots / 1-4 L
2015-16, Away: 6 (5) / 2-2-1 / 2.06 / .933 / 1

Colorado Projected Starting Goaltender – Semyon Varlamov
2015-16: 26 GP (26 GS) / 12-10-3 record / 2.73 GAA / .911 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 10 (10) / 5-4-1 / 2.07 / .927 /1
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 4/4/15 / 58 MP / 23-26 shots / 1-3 L
2015-16, Home: 16 (16) / 6-6-3 / 3.35 / .889 / 0

Edmonton Oilers v Colorado Avalanche

2015-16 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Tyler Toffoli (18-12=30)
Goals: Tyler Toffoli (18-12=30)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (10-19=29)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+22; 18-12=30)
Penalty Minutes: Andy Andreoff (41; 3-1=4)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (27:53; 7-17=24)
Corsi-For Percentage: Nick Shore (61.6%; 2-4=6)

2015-16 Colorado Leaders
Total Points: Nathan MacKinnon (13-20=33)
Goals: Matt Duchene (17-14=31)
Assists: Nathan MacKinnon (13-20=33)
Plus/Minus: Cody McLeod (+9; 6-4=10)
Penalty Minutes: Cody McLeod (73; 6-4=10)
Time On Ice: Francois Beauchemin (24:38; 5-16=21)
Corsi-For Percentage: Matt Duchene (47.1%; 17-14=31)

Arizona Coyotes v Colorado Avalanche

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 12 / 2.68; COL – 7 / 2.79
Goals Against/Game: LAK – t-1 / 2.16; COL – 23 / 2.82
Power Play: LAK – t-9 / 20.2%; COL – t-7 / 20.3%
Penalty Kill: LAK – t-7 / 83.2%; COL – t-14 / 80.0%
Shots/Game: LAK – t-2 / 32.2; COL – 27 / 28.1
Shots Against/Game: LAK – t-8 / 28.6; COL – 26 / 31.1
Faceoffs: LAK – 20 / 49.6%; COL – 26 / 48.7 %
Save Percentage: LAK – t-3 / .924; COL – 21 / .909
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 1 / 55.9%; COL – 30 / 43.8%

GettyImages-465811974

Los Angeles Projected Lines

Milan Lucic – Anze Kopitar – Tyler Toffoli
Tanner Pearson – Nick Shore – Marian Gaborik
Dwight King – Trevor Lewis – Dustin Brown
Michael Mersch – Andy Andreoff – Jordan Nolan

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

Jhonas Enroth
Jonathan Quick

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 64-47-12 all-time against the Colorado franchise, a record that includes a road mark of 27-29-4. The Kings have won six consecutive games against the Avalanche since an overtime loss at Staples Center on November 23, 2013, and have points in eight straight games in the series, dating back to their previous Pepsi Center loss on January 22, 2013. After an Los Angeles win at Staples Center on October 18, the Kings are 1-0-0 in the season series. These teams will conclude their series on January 27 at Staples Center. … Los Angeles is 14-6-0 against the Western Conference and 6-1-0 against the Central Division. … The Kings have power play goals in five straight games and are 6-for-15 over that stretch. They are also 13-for-14 on the penalty kill over the last four games. … After tonight’s game, Los Angeles will play 12 consecutive games in which they will not travel farther than the Bay Area or Arizona. They will play eight games at home, two at Arizona, and one apiece at San Jose and Anaheim. … Anze Kopitar has assists in a season-long five straight games (1-8=9). It is the longest assist streak by a King since Kopitar’s assist streak from March 12-19, 2013 (1-5=6). He ranks second in the NHL among forwards in TOI/GP (21:05). … Drew Doughty has five points (2-3=5) in the last five games. … Tyler Toffoli leads the league with a plus-22 rating. … With 456 career points (211-245=456), Dustin Brown is one point behind Mike Murphy (457 points) for 11th place on the franchise’s all-time list. … Darryl Sutter is coaching his 300th regular season game with the Kings tonight. … Forward prospect Alexander Dergachyov and defensive prospect Damir Sharipzyanov will play for Russia against Finland in tomorrow’s World Junior Championship gold medal game.

GettyImages-498786342

Colorado Projected Lineup

Andreas Martinsen – Nathan MacKinnon – Matt Duchene
Alex Tanguay – Mikhail Grigorenko – Jarome Iginla
Gabriel Landeskog – Carl Soderberg – Blake Comeau
Cody McLeod – John Mitchell – Jack Skille

Francois Beauchemin – Erik Johnson
Nick Holden – Tyson Barrie
Brandon Gormley – Zach Redmond

Semyon Varlamov
Calvin Pickard

Notes and milestones: Lines via NHL.com correspondent Rick Sadowski … With 599 career goals, Jarome Iginla needs one goal to become the 19th player in NHL history to score 600 career goals. He would join Jaromir Jagr as the only active players to reach 600. Iginla will play in his 1,423nd game tonight, moving past Luc Robitaille and Scott Mellanby into a 24th place tie with Mike Gartner on the NHL’s all-time games played list. … Colorado is 0-1-1 thus far on a season-long five-game home stand. Though the Avs are 12-9-0 on the road, they are 6-9-3 at home. The six home wins rank 29th in the league, above only San Jose (5-11-0). … The Avalanche are 8-for-19 with the man advantage over the last six games. … Finnish forward prospect Mikko Rantanen, who started the season with Colorado and has spent most of the year with AHL-San Antonio, will face off against Russian defensive prospect Sergei Boikov in the World Junior Championship gold medal game tomorrow.

Chicago Blackhawks v Colorado Avalanche

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