PREVIEW: FLYERS @ KINGS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (15-14-7) will try to end a two-game slide and finish their California road trip on a positive note when they take on Darryl Sutter's Los Angeles Kings (24-11-2). Game time at the Staples Center is 4 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams. On Nov. 17 in Philadelphia, Steve Mason made 38 saves and Jonathan Quick turned aside 36 shots before LA prevailed via shootout in a 3-2 final.
The Flyers last played on Wednesday, sustaining a 4-2 road loss to the San Jose Sharks. After this game, Philadelphia returns east to host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. The Kings earned a road win over the Calgary Flames. LA plays the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Monday evening.
Flyers Outlook
Special teams and third periods have been the deciding factors of the Flyers' 4-2 losses in Anheim and San Jose in the first two games of the road trip.
Philadelphia's penalty kill has yielded four power play goals -- plus an even strength goal scored moments after the expiration of a Flyers penalty -- in 4-2 regulation losses against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday and the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. The Flyers are just 5-for-9 on the PK in the two-game span, dropping their season percentage to 77.6 percent (tied for 26th in the NHL).
In the meantime, the Flyers have gone 1-for-8 on the power play in the last two games while yielding a two-man breakaway goal in the Anaheim game. The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play against the Sharks.
Playing in place of the ill Michal Neuvirth, Mason started for the sixth consecutive game. He played strong game for two periods in Anaheim and San Jose but couldn't come up with needed mometum saves in the third period. Mason finished with 29 saves on 33 shots against the Sharks. For the season, Mason has a strong .934 save percentage at even strength but an anemic .780 save percentage during penalty kills.
Neuvirth could get the starting nod in LA. As a team, the Flyers have enjoyed a lot of success against the Kings in road games over the years. Philly is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games in LA. The Kings actually dominated long segments of the 2013-14 and 2014-15 meetings at the Staples Center but Mason played brilliantly in both games to steal victories for Philly.
On Wednesday, Flyers captain Claude Giroux ended a five-game pointless drought and a six-game goalless stretch with a score directly off a right circle faceoff. The Flyers also got a Sean Couturier goal on a breakaway.
Giroux leads the Flyers with 12 goals, 17 assists and 29 points. He is followed by Jakub Voracek (four goals, 20 assists, 24 points), Wayne Simmonds (nine goals, 11 assists, 20 points, 82 penalty minutes), Brayden Schenn (seven goals, eight assists, 15 points). Couturier rounds out the top five with six goals, nine assists and 15 points. Offensive-minded rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has contributed six goals (four on the power play, three in overtime), eight assists and 14 points.
Defenseman Michael Del Zotto (left wrist injury) has missed the last two games but reportedly has a good chance of returning in LA. Chris VandeVelde got rocked by a heavy hit by Brent Burns in Wednesday's game and had to be helped from the ice. However, he bounced back quickly after the game, rejoined the team at practice, and is expected to play on Saturday.
Kings Outlook
The Kings bring an 11-6-0 home record into this game. Overall, the team has posted points in seven of its last 10 games (6-3-1) and holds an 11-point cushion in what has otherwise been a mediocre Pacific Division this season.
On Thursday, the Kings built a 3-0 lead over the Flames in the first 23-plus minutes on goals by Marian Gaborik, Milan Lucic and Andy Andreoff. They cruised from there, going on to win 4-1. Tanner Pearson, who assisted on Gaborik's goal, added a power play empty netter late in regulation. Quick stopped 23 of 24 shots to earn the win in goal.
When LA has its 200-foot game going, they are one of the toughest teams in the NHL to play against: opposing teams struggle both to carry the puck in or to chip it behind the defense set up a forecheck. Offensively, the Kings have been improved from the teams that have struggled to put the puck in the net during the regular season.
Tyler Toffoli leads the team offensively with 30 points (18 goals, 12 assists) in 37 games. He is followed by ex-Flyer Jeff Carter (11 goals, 17 assists, 28 points), Anze Kopitar (10 goals, 18 assists, 28 points), Lucic (11 goals, 12 assists, 23 points) and Drew Doughty (six goals, 23 points). Quick has posted a 21-9-1 record, 2.16 goals against average and .922 save percentage.
Carter (upper-body injury) is doubtful for this game. Kyle Clifford (upper body) and defenseman Matt Greene (upper body) are on injured reserve.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.14 (29th), Kings 2.70 (12th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.69 (18th), Kings 2.19 (2nd) 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 49/54, Kings 61/53 Power play efficiency: Flyers 16.0% (27th), Kings 19.8% (12th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 77.6% (24th), Kings 83.5% (7th) Shots per game: Flyers 30.1 (12th), Kings 32.2 (2nd) Shots against per game: Flyers 32.6 (29th), Kings 28.5 (9th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 49.4% (22nd), Kings 49.6% (21st)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 10 Brayden Schenn 93 Jakub Voracek - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White 24 Matt Read - 21 Scott Laughton - 20 R.J. Umberger
15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas 55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit 53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 82 Evgeny Medvedev
30 Michal Neuvirth [35 Steve Mason]
Scratches: Vincent Lecavalier (healthy), Luke Schenn (healthy), Brandon Manning (healthy).
Kings
17 Milan Lucic - 11 Anze Kopitar - 73 Tyler Toffoli 70 Tanner Pearson - 21 Nick Shore - 12 Marian Gaborik 74 Dwight King - 22 Trevor Lewis - 23 Dustin Brown 49 Michael Mersch - 15 Andy Andreoff - 71 Jordan Nolan
3 Brayden McNabb - 8 Drew Doughty 6 Jake Muzzin - 27 Alec Martinez 7 Derek Forbort - 10 Christian Ehrhoff
32 Jonathan Quick [1 Jhonas Enroth]
Scratches: Jeff Carter (doubtful, upper body), Jamie McBain (healthy), Jordan Weal (healthy), Kyle Clifford (upper body), Matt Greene (upper body).