Kings at Bruins
Tyler Toffoli is starting to heat up, which is music to the ears of Los Angeles Kings and likely a sour tune for the Boston Bruins. Toffoli and the Kings aim to continue their recent good fortune on Saturday afternoon when the club visits the Bruins in the penultimate contest of its season-high six-game road trip.
Toffoli scored in regulation for his ninth point (four goals, five assists) in his last eight games and also tallied in the shootout for the first time in 11 career attempts to seal Thursday's 3-2 victory versus Philadelphia. The 26-year-old now returns to Boston for the first time since he capped a two-goal performance by scoring off a faceoff with just 0.9 seconds remaining in overtime for a 2-1 win on Oct. 28, 2017. While Los Angeles enters Saturday's matinee with three straight wins to reside just five points behind St. Louis for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, the Bruins fell for the fourth time in six games (2-1-3) to sit in fourth place in the Atlantic Division. David Pastrnak scored in Wednesday's 4-3 shootout loss to the New York Rangers to boost his team-leading totals in goals (31) and points (65) and extend his point streak to seven games (four goals, eight assists).
TV: 1 p.m. ET, FS West (Los Angeles), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE KINGS (23-27-4): Adrian Kempe scored in his third straight game on Thursday to give him five points (four goals, one assist) in that stretch, but his tally in the shootout -- which was initially ruled as a no goal by on-ice officials -- helped Los Angeles continue its winning ways. "At the moment, I was let's say 90 percent sure it hit the white thing in the back (of the net)," the 22-year-old Swede said of his disputed goal in the third round of the shootout. "That was a good feeling obviously they confirmed it." Jonathan Quick has provided many good feelings for his team against the Bruins, as the Connecticut native owns a 10-5-0 mark with two shutouts, a 1.89 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in 15 career encounters.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (29-17-8): Patrice Bergeron has experienced a great deal during his 1,001 NHL games, although the four-time Selke Trophy recipient is seeing a disturbing trend take shape as Boston allowed yet another third-period lead go by the boards on Wednesday. "It's very upsetting. It's unacceptable," said Bergeron, whose 19th goal of the season in the second period staked the Bruins to a 3-1 advantage. "You're up by two heading to the third on the road, you've got to play a solid third. And obviously we didn't do that." Coach Bruce Cassidy caused a bit of a stir after Bergeron was not one of the seven shooters in the shootout, however, the latter didn't gripe about being left out of the proceedings.
OVERTIME
1. Boston LW Brad Marchand has 10 goals and 13 points in 13 career meetings with Los Angeles.
2. The Kings' 29th-ranked penalty kill has thwarted all 11 short-handed opportunities in its last four contests.
3. Boston owns a 6-2-2 mark versus Pacific Division foes while Los Angeles is just 2-7-1 against Atlantic adversaries.