The Los Angeles Kings (6-5-4) travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins (9-4-3) at PPG Paints Arena at 11 AM PT/2 PM ET. The Kings are still in search of their first win over an Eastern Conference foe and will look to take advantage of a Pittsburgh team playing their third game in four days.
After their impressive seven game point streak came to an end, Los Angeles has lost three of their last four games. They have scored an average of 2.25 goals in those four games. That is not a recipe for success in today’s NHL. Penguins 21-year-old net-minder Sergei Murashov is set to make his NHL debut against the Kings. LA should do whatever they can to pepper the rookie goalie with high quality shots in order to get out of their mini goal scoring slump. A victory today will get the team back on track as they begin a six-game road trip.
Warren Foegele makes his return to the Kings lineup after being activated off of injured reserve. Foegele will slot in for Jeff Malott on the fourth line. The rest of the lineup will remain the same as the previous game against the Panthers. Darcy Kuemper is expected to make his 11th start of the season.
*Indicates Leading Scorer
Forwards
1st Line: Joel Armia – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe*
2nd Line: Kevin Fiala – Quinton Byfield – Alex Laferriere
3rd Line: Andrei Kuzmenko – Phillip Danault – Trevor Moore
4th Line: Warren Foegele – Alex Turcotte – Corey Perry
Defense
1st Pair: Mikey Anderson – Drew Doughty
2nd Pair: Joel Edmundson – Brandt Clarke
3rd Pair: Brian Dumoulin – Cody Ceci
Goaltender: Darcy Kuemper (Expected) – Anton Forsberg (Backup)
The Penguins are dealing with a plethora of injuries including Rickard Rakell, Justin Brazeau, Rutger McGroarty, and Tristan Jarry. Kevin Hayes is appearing in his second game of the season after missing the start of the year due to injury. As mentioned above, 21-year-old Sergei Murahsov will make his NHL debut.
*Indicates Leading Scorer
Forwards
1st Line: Bryan Rust – Sidney Crosby* – Ben Kindel
2nd Line: Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin – Anthony Martha
3rd Line: Joona Koppanen – Kevin Hayes – Ville Koivunen
4th Line: Danton Heinen – Blake Lizotte – Connor Dewar
Defense
1st Pair: Parker Wotherspoon – Erik Karlsson
2nd Pair: JRyan Shea – Kris Letting
3rd Pair: Ryan Graves – Connor Clifton
Goaltender: Sergei Murashov (Confirmed) – Arturs Silovs (Backup)
- The Kings and Penguins have done battle 171 times in the regular season.
- In those games LA is 81-64-26 while PIT is 72-77-22
- The Kings have won five of the last 10 meetings between these two
- PIT has won the last three meetings against LA
- A win over the Devils Saturday night would be the Kings first victory over an Eastern Conference foe this season. Currently 0-2-2 against the East, including a 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh earlier this year.
- Kings are 5-1-2 on the road this season.
- Adrian Kempe is currently on a seven game point streak away from home
- Kempe has scored nine goals in his last six games against Pittsburgh
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