Blue Jackets at Kings
The Los Angeles Kings have been the league's hottest team since opening the season with three consecutive losses and look to keep the momentum going when they open a five-game homestand against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night. Los Angeles rebounded from a 4-2 defeat at Chicago by blanking St. Louis 3-0 on Tuesday to improve to 8-1-0 in its last nine games.
"I thought we had really good purpose to our game right from the start and played the whole game, played a complete game," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said after shutting out the Blues. Los Angeles center Anze Kopitar had to exit Tuesday's game after taking an elbow to the face but he joined his teammates on the ice Wednesday and Sutter said he was "fine." The Blue Jackets won for only the third time in 13 games with a 5-2 victory at San Jose in the opener of a three-game road trip. "It was our most complete game of the whole season," Columbus defenseman Fedor Tyutin said.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Columbus), FSN West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (3-10-0): Scott Hartnell, Brandon Saad and defenseman Ryan Murray each had a goal and an assist as Columbus put up a season-high five tallies in San Jose. "Everybody feels good when you win, but the key now is to start building," Murray said. "We have to play this style of hockey consistently now, and we have to start putting a string of good games together and start getting some results." Blue Jackets right wing David Clarkson injured his back in the victory and was placed on injured reserve Wednesday.
ABOUT THE KINGS (8-4-0): Former Blue Jacket Jeff Carter scored one goal and set up another to give him five tallies and five assists over his past seven games while Boone Jenner notched his seventh goal and is nearly halfway to his career-high total of 16. Tyler Toffoli, who has a team-high nine goals, has five points in three games versus Columbus. Goaltender Jonathan Quick had his six-start winning streak halted in Chicago, but he has a good chance to start another against the Blue Jackets, having won his last six games against them.
OVERTIME
1. The Kings scored nine times in winning both meetings last season and have a five-game home winning streak versus Columbus.
2. The Blue Jackets have won six in a row versus the Pacific Division, but G Sergei Bobrovsky is 1-4-1 against Los Angeles.
3. Carter has seven goals and 13 points in 12 games versus Columbus.