Game 41 Preview: Los Angeles vs St. Louis

Los Angeles Kings (26-12-2) vs St. Louis Blues (23-14-7)
Saturday, January 9, 2016, 7:30 p.m. PT
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #21 TJ Luxmore, #28 Chris Lee
Linesmen: #82 Ryan Galloway, #66 Darren Gibbs
Fox Sports West, KABC 790 AM, I Heart Radio

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2015-16: 33 GP (33 GS) / 23-9-1 record / 2.09 GAA / .924 Sv% / 3 SHO
Career vs St. Louis: 18 (17) / 8-9-1 / 2.55 / .917 / 3
Last Game vs St. Louis: 12/18/14 / 60 MP / 24-28 shots / 6-4 W
2015-16, Home: 18 (18) / 12-6-0 / 2.16 / .915 / 1

St. Louis Projected Starting Goaltender – Brian Elliott
2015-16: 16 GP (12 GS) / 5-4-4 record / 2.44 GAA / .916 Sv% / 0 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 9 (7) / 1-4-2 / 2.22 / .921 / 3
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 10/16/14 / 65 MP / 18-18 + 2/3 shots / 0-1 SOL
2015-16, Away: 9 (7) / 3-3-2 / 2.60 / .921 / 0

2015-16 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Tyler Toffoli (19-12=31)
Goals: Tyler Toffoli (19-12=31)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (10-20=30)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+22; 19-12=31)
Penalty Minutes: Andy Andreoff (46; 3-1=4)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (27:54; 7-17=24)
Corsi-For Percentage: Nick Shore (60.9%; 2-4=6)

2015-16 St. Louis Leaders
Total Points: Vladimir Tarasenko (24-19=43)
Goals: Vladimir Tarasenko (24-19=43)
Assists: Alexander Steen (13-24=37)
Plus/Minus: Colton Parayko (+13; 6-10=16)
Penalty Minutes: David Backes (39; 11-13=24)
Time On Ice: Alex Pietrangelo (26:37; 2-15=17)
Corsi-For Percentage: Kevin Shattenkirk (56.0%; 8-17=25)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – t-15 / 2.63; STL – 22 / 2.43
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 3 / 2.18; STL – 12 / 2.48
Power Play: LAK – t-9 / 19.8%; STL – 6 / 21.5%
Penalty Kill: LAK – t-10 / 81.5%; STL – 3 / 85.2%
Shots/Game: LAK – 1 / 32.4; STL – 9 / 30.6
Shots Against/Game: LAK – t-8 / 28.6; STL – 14/ 29.3
Faceoffs: LAK – t-21 / 49.5%; STL – t-8 / 50.9 %
Save Percentage: LAK – t-3 / .924; STL – 13 / .915
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 1 / 56.1%; STL – 6 / 52.7%

Los Angeles Projected Lines

Milan Lucic – Anze Kopitar – Tyler Toffoli
Tanner Pearson – Jeff Carter – Marian Gaborik
Dwight King – Trevor Lewis – Dustin Brown
Michael Mersch – Vincent Lecavalier – Jordan Nolan

Brayden McNabb – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Alec Martinez
Christian Ehrhoff – Luke Schenn

Jonathan Quick
Jhonas Enroth

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 74-96-24 all-time against St. Louis, a record that includes a home mark of 47-36-13. The Kings have won 19 of the last 24 regular season and playoff games against the Blues, which includes a franchise-best six-game regular season home winning streak. Including playoffs, Los Angeles has defeated St. Louis 11 straight times at Staples Center, dating back to March 17, 2011. A win tonight would clinch the season series for the fifth consecutive regular season. … The Kings are 14-7-0 against the Western Conference and 6-2-0 against the Central Division. … Jonathan Quick has won six straight games. He is 14-2-1 with a 1.70 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage (1056:44 minutes / 478 SA / 448 SV) over his last 17 games, dating back to the 3-1 win at Florida on November 23. … Jeff Carter has scored 99 regular season goals as a King. … Marian Gaborik has four points (1-3=4) in the last four games. … Jake Muzzin has points in three consecutive games (1-2=3). … Vincent Lecavalier is the second player to play for the Kings after being drafted first overall. Bill Harris, who was drafted first overall in 1972 by the New York Islanders, appeared in his first game as a King during the 1979-80 season. … 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. … Alec Martinez is expected to play in his 300th career game. … Tyler Toffoli has 11 points (8-3=11) in the last 11 games, ranks second in the league with a plus-22 rating and leads the league with six first goals.

St. Louis Projected Lines

Alexander Steen – David Backes – Troy Brouwer
Robby Fabbri – Jori Lehtera – Vladimir Tarasenko
Scottie Upshall – Patrik Berglund – Magnus Paajarvi
Dmitrij Jaskin – Kyle Brodziak – Ryan Reaves

Carl Gunnarsson – Alex Pietrangelo
Joel Edmundson – Kevin Shattenkirk
Robert Bortuzzo – Colton Parayko

Brian Elliott
Jordan Binnington

Notes and milestones: Lines via NHL.com correspondent Abbey Mastracco … St. Louis will be without Jaden Schwartz (ankle), Steve Ott (hamstring), Paul Stastny (upper body), Jay Bouwmeester (upper body) and Jake Allen (lower body). … The Blues have lost five in a row (0-2-3) after last night’s 4-3 shootout loss in Anaheim. They are 3-4-0 on the second game of back-to-back sets. … Brian Elliott, who has one career win but three shutouts against the Kings in his career, has posted a shutout in each of his last two starts at Staples Center, stopping 56 shots in a pair of shootout losses. He is the franchise leader with 21 shutouts as a Blue. … Robby Fabbri has 10 goals, which ranks fifth amongst league rookies. Four of his 10 goals have come since the Christmas break. … Vladimir Tarasenko’s 24 goals tie him with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin for the league lead. His 12 goals in tied-game situations leads the league. Tarasenko has logged at least one shot in 96 consecutive games, including playoffs. … Kevin Shattenkirk ranks third amongst league defensemen with 15 power play points (4-11=15). … Colton Parayko’s 93 shots are 32 more than any other rookie defenseman. The club record for shots on goal by a St. Louis rookie defenseman is 150, set by Dennis Wideman in 2005-06.