Kings at Blue Jackets
After winning their sixth straight contest at home, the Los Angeles Kings look to take their show on the road on Tuesday when they open a six-game road trip against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Anze Kopitar is blistering hot with three goals and six assists in his last eight games for the Kings, who aren't fazed with 10 of their next 11 contests away from the Staples Center.
"It's not going to change a whole lot," Kopitar said after notching an assist in Sunday's 3-1 victory over Tampa Bay. "We all know what we've got to do on the road to be successful ... but it’s the onus on the guys to go out there and compete as you can, obviously, and outplay the guy across from you." While Los Angeles is riding high atop the Pacific Division, cellar-dwelling Columbus snapped a three-game skid (0-2-1) with a 4-1 victory over Metropolitan Division-rival Philadelphia on Saturday. Scott Hartnell returned after being benched in Friday's 2-1 setback to Florida to score one goal and set up two others against his former team in the Flyers.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN West (Los Angeles), FSN Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE KINGS (17-8-1): Jeff Carter notched an assist on Sunday to extend his point streak to six games (one goal, five assists) and tallied versus his former team in a 3-2 setback to Columbus on Nov. 5. Linemate Milan Lucic, who scored versus the Lightning, has three goals in his last two contests and six points in as many games. Jonathan Quick made 22 saves in the last meeting with the Blue Jackets to snap a six-game win streak versus the club.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (11-16-1): Nick Foligno scored two goals and set up another versus the Flyers, but the Columbus captain has tallied just once in 12 career meetings with Los Angeles. Sergei Bobrovsky has started to turn his season around by yielding just eight goals in his last six outings. The former Vezina Trophy winner turned aside 31 shots in the first encounter with the Kings, but has just two wins in seven career meetings against the club.
OVERTIME
1. Columbus is 11-9-1 since coach John Tortorella replaced Todd Richards in October.
2. Los Angeles has killed off all eight short-handed situations over the last two games after yielding seven power-play goals in the previous seven contests.
3. Former Blue Jackets D Jan Hejda signed a tryout contract on Monday with Cleveland, Columbus' American Hockey League affiliate.