Kings at Oilers
After three straight puzzling losses, the Los Angeles Kings look to get back on track when they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. The Kings were rolling along with eight consecutive victories before getting shut out by Ottawa and allowing nine goals combined in their last two outings to tumble back out of playoff position in the Western Conference. Edmonton could be the perfect medicine for Los Angeles after managing to score only four times in the last four games.
The Oilers defeated the Kings 3-2 in a shootout in the last meeting at Edmonton on Dec. 30, snapping a seven-game losing streak against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Los Angeles will try to find the form that led to 23 goals in a six-game stretch before producing only seven its last five outings. “Some bad habits crept back into our game lately and we've got to figure it out,” Kings forward Jeff Carter told the Los Angeles Times.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, FSN West (Los Angeles), SNET-West (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE KINGS (29-21-12): Los Angeles was quiet Monday at the trade deadline after making its big deal last week for defenseman Andrej Sekera, who has been in the lineup the last two games. Jonathan Quick allowed four goals before being pulled in the 5-2 loss at Winnipeg on Sunday, but gave up one or fewer in five of his previous six starts. Carter scored twice Sunday to reach 20 goals for the eighth time in his career and 22-year-old Tyler Toffoli is one shy of his first, but has scored once in eight games.
ABOUT THE OILERS (18-35-10): Edmonton made one deal Monday, shipping out pending-unrestricted free agent defenseman Jeff Petry to Montreal for a 2015 second-round selection and a 2015 conditional pick which could be as high as a third. The Oilers have been a pest with victories over Boston, Minnesota and Montreal in February while looking to the future. Jordan Eberle leads the team in scoring with 44 points while posting 11 in the last 10 games, but has not scored a goal in the last 12 contests.
OVERTIME
1. Los Angeles C Anze Kopitar has just one goal in his last 17 outings, but has accumulated 10 points in that span.
2. Edmonton G Ben Scrivens has not allowed more than two goals in each of the last three games and is 4-4-0 in his past eight starts.
3. The Kings are 2-of-29 on the power play the last 11 games and are 21-of-21 on the penalty kill in the past eight.