November 8 morning skate notes

Good afternoon from the bowels of the Air Canada Centre. Your lines and pairings from today’s skate:

Pearson-Kopitar-Purcell
King-Carter-Toffoli
Brown-Dowd-Setoguchi
Clifford-Shore-Lewis
Extra: Nolan

Forbort-Doughty
Muzzin-Martinez
Gravel-Greene
Suspended: Gilbert

-There were no changes to the lines and pairings used in recent home games or yesterday’s early morning practice at TSC.

-Peter Budaj was the first goalie off the ice and is expected to start against Toronto. He’ll be backed up by Jeff Zatkoff, who was activated yesterday.

-Tyler Toffoli is one of eight Kings tied for third on the team with two goals, though his 42 shots lead the squad. “I think compared to last year when I had a little bit of a drought, I wasn’t really getting any shots, but I think I’m still kind of geting three-to-five shots a game, which is pretty good,” he said. “Obviously you’ve got to keep shooting … and just getting to the net.” His production will come soon; he’s a career 11.7% career shooter whose efficiency has been weighed down by his 4.8% this season. And, as Darryl Sutter noted when asked about Toffoli being “stuck” on two goals, he’s still one standout performance away from getting back on track. “He’s stuck on two, but it’s not really a good word,” Sutter said. “He’s one good game away from being [on pace to be] a 30-goal scorer. Those are young guys. I know we have a lot of new faces on our team from last year, but if you look at Ty, Tanner, those are young guys. It’s about learning for them, too.”

-Former Ducks netminder Frederik Andersen will start for Toronto. He’s 5-2-3 with a 3.20 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage on the season but has an impressive stat line against Los Angeles: 5-0-1 / 2.24 / .928 in seven total games.

–Via Kristen Shilton, the Leafs will roll with forward groups of Hyman-Matthews-Nylander, van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner, Komarov-Kadri-Brown and Martin-Smith-Soshnikov, with defensive pairings of Rielly-Zaitsev, Gardiner-Polak, Marincin-Carrick and Hunwick-Corrado. Matt Hunwick is on injured reserve, and Frank Corrado is expected to be scratched along with forwards Peter Holland and Seth Griffith.

-More to come from the center of the hockey universe. After lunch, Darryl Sutter quotes will go up, followed by a story on the high-scrutiny environment of growing up as a promising hockey player in Southern Ontario. Let’s talk soon, Insiders. Also, congratulations to the Bryson family!

Congrats to #LAKings assistant equipment manager Dana Bryson and his wife, Jesse, on their birth of their 4th son, Tucker Jameson, today!

— Frozen Royalty (@frozenroyalty) November 8, 2016