Game 46 Preview: Los Angeles vs Minnesota

Los Angeles Kings (29-13-3) vs Minnesota Wild (22-16-8)
Thursday, January 21, 2016, 7:30 p.m. PT
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Referees: #45 Jon McIsaac, #5 Chris Rooney
Linesmen: #55 Shane Heyer, #91 Don Henderson
Fox Sports West, KABC 790 AM, I Heart Radio

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2015-16: 38 GP (38 GS) / 26-10-2 record / 2.10 GAA / .923 Sv% / 3 SHO
Career vs Minnesota: 18 (18) / 10-5-3 / 2.37 / .904 / 1
Last Game vs Minnesota: 10/16/15 / 62 MP / 25-26 shots / 2-1 OTW
2015-16, Home: 22 (22) / 14-7-1 / 2.17 / .913 / 1

Minnesota Projected Starting Goaltender – Darcy Kuemper
2015-16: 10 GP (9 GS) / 4-1-4 record / 2.12 GAA / .923 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 4 (3) / 1-1-1 / 2.35 / .919 / 0
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 10/16/15 / 62 MP / 35-37 shots / 1-2 OTL
2015-16, Away: 5 (5) / 1-0-3 / 2.24 / .917 / 1

2015-16 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (13-27=40)
Goals: Tyler Toffoli (22-14=36)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (13-27=40)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+28; 22-14=36)
Penalty Minutes: Brayden McNabb (57; 2-5=7)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (27:59; 8-18=26)
Corsi-For Percentage: Nick Shore (61.1%; 2-4=6)

2015-16 Minnesota Leaders
Total Points: Mikko Koivu (10-23=33)
Goals: Zach Parise (16-11=27)
Assists: Ryan Suter (6-24=30)
Plus/Minus: Ryan Suter (+9; 6-24=30)
Penalty Minutes: Ryan Carter (36; 4-2=6)*
Time On Ice: Ryan Suter (28:22; 6-24=30)
Corsi-For Percentage: Nino Niederreiter (56.1%; 8-12=20)
*On injured reserve; active leader: Nate Prosser (26; 0-2=2)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 14 / 2.64; MIN – 20 / 2.48
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 2 / 2.20; MIN – t-7 / 2.35
Power Play: LAK – 5 / 21.5%; MIN – t-24 / 16.5%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 9 / 82.4%; MIN – 21 / 79.6%
Shots/Game: LAK – 3 / 32.0; MIN – 25 / 28.5
Shots Against/Game: LAK – t-6 / 28.2; MIN – 9 / 28.7
Faceoffs: LAK – t-16 / 50.0%; MIN – t-5 / 51.2%
Save Percentage: LAK – 4 / .922; MIN – t-9 / .918
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 1 / 55.9%; MIN – 20 / 48.7%

Los Angeles Projected Lines

Milan Lucic – Anze Kopitar – Tyler Toffoli
Marian Gaborik – Vincent Lecavalier – Jeff Carter
Dwight King – Trevor Lewis – Dustin Brown
Andy Andreoff – Nick Shore – Tanner Pearson

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez – Jamie McBain
Brayden McNabb – Luke Schenn

Jonathan Quick
Jhonas Enroth

Notes and milestones: Jordan Nolan could play; he would replace Andy Andreoff, which would flip Tanner Pearson to the left side. … Los Angeles is 25-16-13 all-time against Minnesota, a record that includes a home mark of 13-8-6. Six of the last 18 games between the teams have been decided in a shootout; when the teams met on October 16 at Staples Center, the Kings won 2-1 in overtime. The season series will conclude on March 22 at the Xcel Energy Center. … Los Angeles is 16-7-1 against the Western Conference and 7-2-1 against the Central Division. … Jake Muzzin has points in a career-long eight games (1-7=8). According to Elias Sports Bureau, this is the longest point streak by a Kings defenseman since Lubomir Visnovsky recorded a nine-game streak (1-11=12) from December 10-28, 2005. It is also the longest point streak overall by a King since Dustin Brown recorded a 10-game point streak from February 25 – March 16, 2012 (5-10=15). Muzzin has assists in five consecutive games. … Tyler Toffoli has posted an even-or-better rating in 30 consecutive games. He has been a minus-player only twice this year (10/13/15 L vs VAN; 11/10/15 L vs ARI) and leads the league with a plus-28 rating. He has points in four straight games (3-2=5) and is tied for sixth in the league with 22 goals. … Anze Kopitar (0-2=2) has points in five straight games, assists in four straight games and 20 points (4-16=20) in the last 12 games. … Milan Lucic has points in five straight games (1-5=6). … Vincent Lecavalier has power play goals in three straight games. The three-game goal streak is his longest since January 27 – February 1, 2013 while with Tampa Bay. According to Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first King to register a power-play goal in three consecutive games since Marian Gaborik did so from December 16-22, 2014. … Jeff Carter has assists in three straight games (1-3=4). … Jonathan Quick is 16-3-2 with a 1.81 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage over his last 21 games (1360:05 minutes / 604 SA / 563 SV), dating back to the 3-1 win at Florida on November 23. With 40 career shutouts, he is tied with John Vanbiesbrouck and Frank Brimsek for the most shutouts ever by a United States-born goalie. … 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. In his last nine games, he has no points, a minus-four rating and 14 shots on goal. … Marian Gaborik is Minnesota’s all-time leader in goals (219), plus-minus (+54), power play goals (59) and game-winning goals (43) and ranks second in points (437) and shots (1,694). Selected second overall by the Wild in 2000, he appeared in 502 games with the organization from 2000-09. … Celebrating birthdays today are Jonathan Quick (30) and Brayden McNabb (25).

Minnesota Projected Lines

Zach Parise – Mikael Granlund – Jason Pominville
Jason Zucker – Mikko Koivu – Thomas Vanek
Nino Niederreiter – Charlie Coyle – Jordan Schroeder
Erik Haula – Jarret Stoll – Chris Porter

Ryan Suter – Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin – Matt Dumba
Marco Scandella – Nate Prosser

Darcy Kuemper
Devan Dubnyk

Notes and milestones: Lines via NHL.com correspondent Curtis Zupke … The Wild is expected to be without Ryan Carter (hand), who is on injured reserve. … Minnesota, which opened the season 10-3-2 and 17-7-6, has lost five consecutive games in regulation. … The Wild’s power play is 1-for-32 over the last 16 games and 0-for-24 over the last 11. … Minnesota is 2-4-3 on the second game of back-to-back sets this season. … The Wild is 19-4-2 when scoring first, 12-1-1 when leading after the first period and 15-0-1 when leading after the second period. … Today is Ryan Suter’s 31st birthday. He ranks second in the league with an ice time average of 28:22 per game. … Darcy Kuemper appeared in eight games for the ECHL’s Ontario Reign in 2011-12, going 7-1-0 with a 1.74 goals-against average and .941 save percentage. … Jarret Stoll appeared in 506 games with Los Angeles from 2008-15, totaling 81 goals, 133 assists, 214 points, 344 penalty minutes and a plus-15 rating. He will become the second player to have won two Stanley Cups with Los Angeles to face his former club, joining Willie Mitchell.