FLYERS @ KINGS GAME PREVIEW (7:30 A.M. EST)
In the second installment of a three-game road trip through California, the Philadelphia Flyers (26-23-6) are in Tinseltown to take on the Los Angeles Kings (30-20-6). Game time is 4:00 PM EST. The match will be televised locally on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the first of two meeting of the season between the clubs. It is the lone game in LA.
The road trip concludes on Monday in San Jose. Thereafter, the Flyers have a pair of home games before the Olympic break, playing Colorado on Thursday and Calgary on Saturday.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers finished the month of January with a 6-7-2 record thus far in January. They have lost five of their last six games (1-4-1) and have allowed three or more regulation goals in 10 of the last 11.
Philly is coming off a 5-3 loss to the powerhouse Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. The Flyers played better than the score indicates, but a Ryan Getzlaf goal in the final minute of the opening period and a Daniel Winnik shorthanded tally in the third period proved fatal. Vincent Lecavalier (power play), Matt Read and Michael Raffl scored for the Flyers.
One area that has been generally going well of late has been the power play. Heading into this afternoon's tilt, the Flyers are 12-for-52 (23.1 percent) on the man advantage over the last 14 matches.
On the injury front, the Flyers have no reported injuries that would hold players out of games. Both Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell are playing through foot ailments that came from blocking shots. Zac Rinaldo returned last game from a high ankle sprain that kept him out of the lineup for most of January.
KINGS OUTLOOK
The former champion Kings are a perennial Stanley Cup contender but have hit a rough stretch of late. The club is 3-6-1 over its last 10 games, including a 1-4-0 mark over the last five games. The club has has scored just three goals in the last five games.
On Thursday, the Kings dropped a 4-1 decision to the Pittsburgh Penguins. A three-goal Pittsburgh outburst in the first period, including a pair of power play goals, proved to be too much to overcome. The Kings outshot the Pens by a 12-3 margin in the final period as they desperately tried to climb back into the game, but drew no closer. Anze Kopitar's mid-first period power play goal stood as LA's lone marker of the game.
Kopitar leads the team in overall scoring, with 43 points (16 goals, 27 points). He also has a stellar plus-21 rating at even strength. Former Flyers forwards Mike Richards (28 assists) and Jeff Carter (20 goals) lead the club respectively in assists and goals.
Kings captain Dustin Brown was named yesterday as an assistant captain for Team USA's Olympic squad. For the 2013-14 NHL season, Brown has 10 goals and 16 points to date.
Ex-Flyers captain Richards is among the many LA players who has been scuffling offensively of late. He is pointless and minus-four in the last five games. He has always been more of a playmaker than a goal-scorer but his goal scoring prowess has vanished entirely in the last few months. Richards has just one goal in his last 31 games and two goals in last 39 games since scoring goals in three straight games in early November.
Carter has one point (an assist on the Kings' lone goal against San Jose) in the last five games. He had goals in four straight games before the recent mini-slump.
One area that the Kings can usually count upon even when the goals aren't coming in the club's ability to play stingy team defense and receive solid goaltending. The Kings enter today's game with a 2.07 goals against average per game. That leads the entire NHL. Offensively, the club has fallen to 29th; an average 2.29 goals scored per game.
Despite the Kings' modest goal-scoring output this season, the team is not usually outscored at even strength. Head coach Darryl Sutter's club enjoys the league's sixth-best scoring differential in five-on-five play. The club is tops in the NHL in faceoff winning percentage.
The Kings have no reported injuries that would keep a player out of the lineup.
KEY STAT COMPARISONS (NHL OVERALL RANKING)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.67 (17th), Kings 2.29 (29th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.87 (19th), Kings 2.07 (1st)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 0.90 (21st), Kings 1.18 (6th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 19.2% (12th), Kings 14.1% (28th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 83.6% (10th), Kings 83.7% (9th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 48.9% (22nd), Kings 53.2% (1st)
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
19 Scott Hartnell - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Vincent Lecavalier - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
9 Steve Downie - 14 Sean Couturier - 24 Matt Read
12 Michael Raffl - 18 Adam Hall - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
26 Erik Gustafsson - 22 Luke Schenn
35 Steve Mason
[29 Ray Emery]
Potential Scratches: Jay Rosehill (healthy), Andrej Meszaros (healthy), Hal Gill (healthy), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
KINGS
74 Dwight King - 11 Anze Kopitar - 77 Jeff Carter
22 Trevor Lewis - 10 Mike Richards - 14 Justin Williams
13 Kyle Clifford - 28 Jarret Stoll - 23 Dustin Brown
71 Jordan Nolan - 24 Colin Fraser - 73 Tyler Toffoli
6 Jake Muzzin - 8 Drew Doughty
44 Robyn Regehr - 26 Slava Voynov
33 Willie Mitchell - 2 Matt Greene
32 Jonathan Quick
[31 Martin Jones]
Scratches: Alec Martinez (healthy), Matt Frattin (healthy).
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