Game 57 Preview: Los Angeles at St. Louis

Los Angeles Kings (33-20-3) at St. Louis Blues (33-17-9)
Thursday, February 16, 2016, 5:00 p.m. PT
Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO
Referees: #6 Francis Charron, #36 Dean Morton
Linesmen: #84 Tony Sericolo, #73 Vaughan Rody
FOX Sports West, KABC 790 AM, I Heart Radio

Los Angeles Projected Starting Goaltender – Jonathan Quick
2015-16: 45 GP (45 GS) / 28-15-2 record / 2.23 GAA / .918 Sv% / 3 SHO
Career vs St. Louis: 19 (18) / 8-9-2 / 2.25 / .918 / 3
Last Game vs St. Louis: 1/9/16 / 64 MP / 15-16 shots / 1-2 SOL
2015-16, Away: 20 (20) / 14-5-1 / 2.06 / .932 / 2

St. Louis Projected Starting Goaltender: Brian Elliott
2015-16: 31 GP (27 GS) / 15-7-6 record / 2.03 GAA / .933 Sv% / 1 SHO
Career vs Los Angeles: 10 (8) / 2-4-2 / 2.06 / .925 / 3
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 1/9/16 / 65 MP / 26-27 + 6/7 shots / 2-1 SOW
2015-16, Home: 15 (13) / 7-3-3 / 2.11 / .932 / 0

2015-16 Los Angeles Leaders
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (17-34=51)
Goals: Tyler Toffoli (23-19=42)
Assists: Anze Kopitar (17-34=51)
Plus/Minus: Tyler Toffoli (+24; 23-19=42)
Penalty Minutes: Milan Lucic (66; 14-22=36)
Time On Ice: Drew Doughty (28:05; 11-25=36)
Corsi-For Percentage: Nick Shore (61.7%; 3-5=8)

2015-16 St. Louis Leaders
Total Points: Vladimir Tarasenko (27-22=49)
Goals: Vladimir Tarasenko (27-22=49)
Assists: Alexander Steen (16-29=45)
Plus/Minus: Colton Parayko (+19; 7-16=23)
Penalty Minutes: David Backes (55; 13-17=30)
Time On Ice: Alex Pietrangelo (26:40; 3-20=23)*
Corsi-For Percentage: Magnus Paajarvi (54.6%; 2-3=5)
*On injured reserve; highest TOI among active players is Jay Bouwmeester (23:23; 2-12=14)

Rankings and Statistics
Goals/Game: LAK – 9 / 2.71; STL – t-24 / 2.41
Goals Against/Game: LAK – 6 / 2.36; STL – 3 / 2.29
Power Play: LAK – 3 / 22.7%; STL – 8 / 20.5%
Penalty Kill: LAK – 10 / 82.1%; STL – 1 / 87.1%
Shots/Game: LAK – t-1 / 32.5; STL – t-20 / 29.1
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 6 / 28.0; STL – t-15 / 29.8
Faceoffs: LAK – t-14 / 50.1%; STL – t-8 / 50.7%
Save Percentage: LAK – 9 / .916; STL – 2 / .923
Corsi-For Percentage: LAK – 1 / 56.4%; STL – 14 / 50.8%

Los Angeles Projected Lines

Milan Lucic – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Dwight King – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Tanner Pearson – Vincent Lecavalier – Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford – Andy Andreoff – Jordan Nolan

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

Jonathan Quick
Jhonas Enroth

Notes and milestones: Los Angeles is 74-96-25 all-time against St. Louis, a record that includes a road mark of 27-60-11. The Kings are 1-0-1 in the season series thus far and have won 19 of the last 25 meetings between the two teams, including playoffs. Should they lose in any fashion tonight, they will drop the season series to the Blues for the first time since 2010-11, when they went 0-4-0. … Los Angeles is 18-11-1 against the Western Conference and 7-4-1 against the Pacific Division. … Over the last 15 games the Kings have scored 46 goals (3.07 G/GP) and have allowed 44 (2.93 GA/GP). They have been held to one goal or less four times in the last 24 games and in consecutive games since the first three games of the season. … Dustin Brown has nine points (4-5=9) in the last 10 games. With 465 points (215-250=465), he is now one point behind Charlie Simmer (466 points) for 10th place overall on the team’s all-time list. … With 98 career points (26-62=98), Alec Martinez is two points shy of 100 in his career. … Drew Doughty ranks third in the league with an average of 28:05 TOI per game. … Since November 20, Anze Kopitar ranks second in the NHL in scoring with 44 points (12-32=44) and tied for second with 32 assists. He has 40 points (12-28=40) in 35 career games against St. Louis. … Milan Lucic has six points (2-4=6) in the last five games. … Tyler Toffoli ranks second in the league with a plus-24 rating. Though he has tied a career-high with 23 goals, he has one goal in his last 12 games. … Jeff Carter has one goal in his last 13 games. With 297 career goals, he is three shy of 300.

St. Louis Projected Lines

Jaden Schwartz – Jori Lehtera – Vladimir Tarasenko
Patrik Berglund – Alexander Steen – David Backes
Robby Fabbri – Paul Stastny – Troy Brouwer
Scottie Upshall – Kyle Brodziak – Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester – Kevin Shattenkirk
Carl Gunnarsson – Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson – Robert Bortuzzo

Brian Elliott
Jordan Binnington

Notes and milestones: Lines via Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch … The Blues will be without Steve Ott (hamstring), Jake Allen (lower-body) and Alex Pietrangelo (knee). St. Louis has lost 210 man-games to injury thus far this season. … The Blues are 21-8-4 against the Western Conference and 8-2-1 against the Pacific Division. … In his last three starts against Los Angeles, Brian Elliott is 2-0-1 with a 0.32 goals-against average, a .987 save percentage and two shutouts. He ranks first in franchise history with 22 shutouts. … St. Louis is 5-1-1 since the All-Star Break. … The Blues have allowed one power play goal in their last 32 shorthanded situations. They have killed off 18 straight power plays. … After an eight-game drought, St. Louis’ power play is six-for-18, having scored in four of the last five games. … Colton Parayko’s 23 points (7-16=23) ranks second amongst rookie defensemen (Shayne Gostisbehere = 32). … With 741 wins, Ken Hitchcock ranks fourth all-time, trailing Scottie Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (791) and Al Arbour (782). … With 198 career goals, David Backes is two goals shy of 200. … Vladimir Tarasenko has three points (2-1=3) in the last 10 games.