Senators at Kings
The Los Angeles Kings attempt to match the franchise record for consecutive victories when they host the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. Los Angeles, which won nine straight contests from Jan. 21-Feb. 6, 2010, made it eight in a row Tuesday with a 1-0 home triumph over Detroit. Justin Williams scored a power-play goal early in the first period and Jonathan Quick posted his 35th career shutout - and the 200th in team history - as the Kings recorded their fifth consecutive win at home.
Ottawa kicked off its five-game road trip Wednesday with its third straight win, a 3-0 triumph at Anaheim. Making his third consecutive start - and third overall in the NHL, Andrew Hammond stopped 25 shots for his first career shutout as the Senators completed a sweep of their two-game season series against the Ducks. Los Angeles looks to sweep the two-game season series after registering a 5-3 victory at Ottawa on Dec. 11, when Anze Kopitar and Trevor Lewis scored 1:42 apart early in the third after Mark Stone's short-handed goal 1:44 into the session forged a 2-2 tie.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TSN5, RDS (Ottawa), FSN West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE SENATORS (25-23-10): Ottawa, which began a five-game road trip Wednesday, looks to match its longest winning streak of the season with a fourth straight triumph. The Senators registered four consecutive victories from Oct. 11-18. Kyle Turris hopes to remain hot as he's recorded a goal in five of his last six games and 10 points over his last seven contests.
ABOUT THE KINGS (29-18-12): General manager Dean Lombardi has been quite busy this week, signing Jordan Nolan to a three-year contract extension on Tuesday and inking Kyle Clifford to a new five-year deal the following day. Lombardi also strengthened the team's blue line Wednesday by acquiring 28-year-old Slovakian Andrej Sekera from Carolina for defense prospect Roland McKeown and a conditional first-round draft pick. Sekera notched two goals and 17 assists in 57 games with the Hurricanes this season after recording career highs of 11 and 33 last campaign.
OVERTIME
1. The Kings reside in the third and final playoff spot in the Pacific Division but trail second-place Vancouver by only three points.
2. Ottawa D Jared Cowen, who notched a goal and an assist in the first meeting with the Kings this season, will serve the second contest of his three-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of Florida's Jussi Jokinen on Saturday.
3. Kopitar has not gone more than two games without a point since a three-game drought from Dec. 4-9.