Thursday, 1 December 2016

{coyotes} KINGS (12-10-1) at COYOTES (8-10-3)

 

KINGS (12-10-1) at COYOTES (8-10-3)

TV: 9 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-W, NHL.TV

 

Kings team scope

Goaltender Peter Budaj is expected to start for the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday for the 20th time in 22 games this season, despite playing in a 4-1 loss against the San Jose Sharks at Staples Center on Wednesday, which ended the Kings' five-game win streak. Budaj started all five games and gave up nine goals in that span. "We just couldn't find that second wind," Kings center Anze Kopitar told the Los Angeles Times. "I thought we had some chances around the net. We didn't score … that was the difference." Though the Kings are 5-1-0 in their past six games, they are 3-7-1 on the road. Dustin Brown, who scored Los Angeles' only goal Wednesday, had 11 goals last season, five of them against the Arizona Coyotes.

 

Coyotes team scope

Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who missed the third period of a 2-1 overtime loss at the Sharks on Tuesday with an upper-body injury, is expected to be in the lineup Thursday. "Seems like everything is all right, so he's good to go," coach Dave Tippett said. Ekman-Larsson has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 21 games this season. With points in six of their past seven games (3-1-3), Arizona concludes eight straight games within the Pacific Division. Goaltender Mike Smith is 3-1-2 with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage since returning Nov. 16 from a knee injury. Louis Domingue will serve as Smith's backup after missing the past three games with a lower-body injury. Arizona has had 15 of its first 21 games decided by one goal, including eight of the past nine. The Coyotes are 7-5-3 in one-goal games. Shane Doan will play in his 1,488th NHL game, passing Wayne Gretzky for 19th place on the all-time NHL list.

 

Kings projected lineup

Dwight King - Anze Kopitar - Trevor Lewis

Tanner Pearson - Jeff Carter - Tyler Toffoli

Dustin Brown - Nic Dowd - Devin Setoguchi

Marian Gaborik - Nick Shore - Jordan Nolan

Derek Forbort - Drew Doughty

Jake Muzzin - Alec Martinez

Kevin Gravel - Matt Greene

Peter Budaj

Jeff Zatkoff

Scratched: Kyle Clifford, Tom Gilbert, Teddy Purcell,

Injured: Jonathan Quick (groin), Andy Andreoff (thumb), Brayden McNabb (collarbone)

 

Coyotes projected lineup

Max Domi - Martin Hanzal - Radim Vrbata

Tobias Rieder - Jordan Martinook - Shane Doan

Jamie McGinn - Christian Dvorak - Anthony Duclair

Lawson Crouse - Laurent Dauphin - Ryan White

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Connor Murphy

Alex Goligoski - Michael Stone

Jakob Chychrun - Luke Schenn

Mike Smith

Louis Domingue                             

Scratched: Kevin Connauton, Anthony DeAngelo

Injured: Brad Richardson (broken leg)


Status report

Chychrun returns after being a healthy scratch for the past four games. Stone moves up to play with Goligoski on the second defense pair in place of DeAngelo, who is expected to be scratched. With Domingue healthy, the Coyotes returned emergency call-up goaltender Justin Peters to Tucson of the American Hockey League. … This is the first of 16 games the Coyotes will play in December. … Doan is two goals shy of 400 in his NHL career. ... Neither team had a morning skate Thursday.

 

Who's hot

Domi has three goals in the past five games after scoring one through the first 16 games. ... Carter has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past eight games and leads the League with six game-winning goals.

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