Ducks at Kings
The Los Angeles Kings have mustered just 14 goals en route to losing six of their last eight games, with three shutouts underscoring their season-long troubles on offense. The host Kings will receive a break in Saturday's latest installment of the Freeway Faceoff as Anaheim Ducks coach Randy Carlyle will keep injured goaltender John Gibson on the sideline amid one report that Los Angeles netminder Jonathan Quick will return for the first time since the season opener.
Quick (groin) was not expected back until next month, but John Hoven of MayorsManor.com reported that the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner would start Saturday and Carlyle added that he expected to see Quick in net. The 23-year-old Gibson, who sat out Wednesday's 5-3 victory over Boston due to a lower-body injury, underwent an MRI exam on Friday that revealed a strain, prompting the decision to hold him out through the upcoming bye week. Backup Jonathan Bernier is expected to make his second straight start but it matters little if Los Angeles can't ignite some semblance of offense. "Can't chase the lead," coach Darryl Sutter said on the heels of a 4-1 setback to the Bruins on Thursday. "(Giving up an) early goal is just a constant theme. Chase the lead. Put some production on the top end of your lineup to overcome that."
TV: 4 p.m. ET, NHL Network, PRIME (Anaheim), SN1, FSN West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (32-20-10): Anaheim's 20th-ranked offense and ailing power play received a jolt on Friday as the team sent a 2017 conditional second-round pick to Dallas for veteran forward Patrick Eaves, who has a career-best 21 goals and team-high 37 points with the Stars this season. The 32-year-old Eaves has 11 power-play goals and will be looked upon to kickstart the Ducks' dismal play with the man advantage, which is just 1-for-28 in February. "When you can make a move to add to your team – and not subtract anything, like we did today – it's huge," said Ryan Kesler, who led Anaheim with seven power-play goals, although he hasn't scored with the man advantage since tallying in back-to-back games on Dec. 3-4.
ABOUT THE KINGS (29-27-4): Los Angeles hasn't taken advantage of a heavy second-half home schedule with losses in seven of its last 11 games at the Staples Center. "You've got to score goals to win, and obviously there are games in that stretch where we just weren't good enough," said the 32-year-old Jeff Carter (team-leading 29 goals, 53 points), who has been held off the scoresheet in each of the last three games after erupting for six in the previous three. "There's games where we were good enough and we don't score. It’s coming down to crunch time here, and we've got to get it going." Carter scored two goals and set up another in a 3-2 victory over Anaheim on Nov. 20.
OVERTIME
1. Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar has been held off the scoresheet in four straight games and has just one of his team-leading 27 assists in his last eight.
2. Ducks C Rickard Rakell (career-high 24 goals) scored twice on Thursday and has two goals and two assists versus the Kings this season.
3. Los Angeles G Peter Budaj has yielded just four goals in his last three games after permitting 19 in his previous five.