Kings at Bruins
The Los Angeles Kings look to reverse their season-long struggles away from home when they open a five-game road trip at the Boston Bruins on Saturday. The reigning Stanley Cup champions tuned up for the annual Grammys trek by ending a four-game slide with a come-from-behind victory over Chicago on Wednesday. "Hopefully it's a big confidence boost for us," forward Jeff Carter said. "After having some ups and downs, hopefully we can build off it and keep going."
While the Kings are one point out of a playoff slot in the Western Conference, resurgent Boston is holding down the seventh spot in the East. The Bruins also turned in an impressive performance coming out of the All-Star break with a 5-2 victory at the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Islanders to improve to 7-1-1 in their last nine. "We talked about it before the game, how we had to recapture the confidence we had going into the break," defenseman Torey Krug said. "We're back to our style"
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, FSN West (Los Angeles), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE KINGS (21-15-12): In its first game without veteran Mike Richards, demoted to the American Hockey League after clearing waivers, Los Angeles rode the Jeff Carter-Tyler Toffoli-Dwight King line to the 4-3 victory over the Blackhawks. Carter scored twice and had an assist and Toffoli added one of each in his return to the lineup after missing six games due to mononucleosis. "I thought that obviously the Carter line was really good," coach Darryl Sutter said. "I think they gave us some momentum just about every shift they were out there."
ABOUT THE BRUINS (26-16-7): Goaltender Tuukka Rask lost his first three starts following the Christmas break but he has fueled Boston's turnaround by going 6-1-1 and allowing 13 goals in his last eight outings. Rask made a season-high 43 saves against the Islanders, including a highlight-reel stop when he extended his stick along the goal line to prevent a tally. "He’s giving us confidence and the rest of the team has picked up their game because of that, so it goes hand in hand and right now we’re relying on him heavily," coach Claude Julien said.
OVERTIME
1. Kings G Jonathan Quick made 31 saves in a 2-0 win over visiting Boston on Dec. 2.
2. Boston sent G Niklas Svedberg to Providence of the AHL on a conditioning assignment and called up top prospect G Malcolm Subban.
3. The Kings are 5-9-6 on the road and play 21 of their last 34 games away from home.