About the Kings - 02-10-11
A preview of the Kings.
When and where: 7 p.m. Consol Energy Center.
TV: FSN Pittsburgh, Fox Sports West, NHL Network (United States).
Record: 29-22-2, 60 points. The Kings are in 10th place in the Western Conference and fifth place in the Pacific Division.
Leading Scorer: Anze Kopitar, 50 points (16 goals, 34 assists).
Last Game: 4-3 road shootout win against the Flames, Saturday. Justin Williams had a goal and two assists in regulation for the Kings.
Last Game against the Penguins: 5-2 home win, Nov. 5, 2009. Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves for the Penguins.
Kings Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Drew Doughty. He has two points in two career games against the Penguins.
Ex-Penguins on the Kings: Alexei Ponikarovsky, LW; Luc Robitaille, President, business operations; Rob Scuderi (above), D.
Ex-Kings on the Penguins: Dan Bylsma, head coach; Tony Granato, assistant coach; Kevin Stevens, professional scout.
Useless Kings Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: The first home hat trick in Kings history was scored by former Penguin Lowell MacDonald. He netted three goals in an 4-2 win against the Canadiens, Nov. 19, 1967.
Best Kings Video We Could Find: This music video titled "Forgive My Misconduct" by the Kings famed "Triple Crown Line" of Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor is still one of the best things ever:
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Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (25-13-2, 2.24 GAA, .922 SV%) for the Penguins and Jonathan Quick (24-14-1, 2.14 GAA, .921 SV%) for the Kings.
Injuries: For the Penguins... everyone. Forwards Arron Asham (undisclosed) and Chris Kunitz ("lower body") are day to day. Forward Evgeni Malkin (knee) is out. Forwards Mike Comrie (hip), Sidney Crosby (concussion), Mark Letestu (knee) and defenseman Alex Grant (wrist) are on injured reserve. For the Kings, forwards Scott Parse (hip) and Marco Sturm (knee) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' forwards are a mess right now. We're not going to even try to speculate on this one. Their primary defensive pairings against the Blue Jackets Tuesday were:
Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Alex Goligoski - Ben Lovejoy
-The Kings primary lines and defensive pairings against the Flames Saturday were:
Ryan Smyth - Jarret Stoll - Justin Williams
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Michal Handzus - Wayne Simmonds
Kyle Clifford - Trevor Lewis - Brad Richardson
Willie Mitchell - Drew Doughty
Jack Johnson - Rob Scuderi
Alec Martinez - Matt Greene
Notes:
-Matt Cooke is suspended for four games.
-Eric Tangradi and Tim Wallace are back in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
-"A bone heals. You can see your timeline a little bit more than with a concussion." - Staal on Crosby.
-Bylsma (right) has 99 career wins.
-Michalek has 98 career assists.
-Kennedy has 48 career goals.
-The Penguins will be wearing their third jerseys from this season's Winter Classic.
-Welcome back "The Piece."
-Scuderi isn't big on jewelry.
-Kopitar only has one goal in his past 19 games.
-"You never want to see anybody hurt, but certainly not the premier guys in the game. It’s very unfortunate. Hopefully they will get back quickly. Then, on the other side of it, when those two players are out of the lineup, you have to make sure that, emotionally, that you’re going in with the right attitude, not backing off the gas pedal at all." - Kings coach Terry Murray on not having to face Crosby or Malkin.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 6 p.m.
(Photo: Scuderi-Jeff Gross/Getty Images; Bylsma-Photobucket)