Kings at Lightning
The Los Angeles Kings look to put a halt to their fade in the Western Conference playoff race when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. The Kings have scored three goals combined in three straight losses as they face a Lightning squad that leads the Eastern Conference in points and boasts a franchise-record 10 consecutive home-ice victories. Los Angeles is 1-5-2 in its last eight games after letting a third-period lead get away in a 3-2 loss at Florida on Thursday.
The fatigue of three straight long runs in the playoffs and two Stanley Cup titles could be wearing on the Kings, who have been depleted by injuries and a suspension to defenseman Slava Voynov. Tampa Bay is cruising along as the league’s top scoring team after a 5-3 victory at Dallas on Thursday to improve to 6-1-1 in its last eight contests. Captain Steven Stamkos is two tallies away from his fourth 30-goal season for the Lightning.
TV: 5 p.m. ET, FSN West (Los Angeles), Sun Sports (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE KINGS (21-18-12): Los Angeles is actually scoring a little bit more than it did last season despite its recent struggles, but the Kings have dropped into the middle of the pack in scoring defense after leading the league in 2013-14. Jonathan Quick is 17-15-10 with a .909 save percentage and gave up Brandon Pirri’s winning goal with 3:05 left Thursday. Anze Kopitar leads the team in scoring with 39 points, Jeff Carter has 36 and Marian Gaborik boasts 29 after notching two against Florida.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (33-15-5): Tyler Johnson recorded a pair of goals in the victory over Dallas on Thursday to increase his team-leading total to 51 points – one better than last season when he was a finalist for the Calder Trophy. Andrei Vasilevskiy was in net Thursday while giving a rest to No. 1 Ben Bishop, who has allowed two or fewer goals in six of his last seven outings. Defenseman Jason Garrison, who owns 20 points and a plus-15 rating, is day-to-day after suffering a lower-body injury Thursday.
OVERTIME
1. The Lightning have denied 23 of the last 24 power-play opportunities over seven games and Los Angeles is 26th in the league in penalty killing (77.8 percent).
2. Tampa Bay RW Nikita Kucherov snapped a 13-game goal drought with an empty-net tally Thursday and leads the NHL with a plus-29 rating.
3. Los Angeles F Tyler Toffoli owns a goal and an assist in four games - none in the last three - since returning from an illness that kept him out almost three weeks