Having their ace back between the pipes will certainly help against the red-hot Kings, who enter tonight's action with an 8-1-1 record (tied for their best 10-game start ever) and the second-most points in the league. Veteran center Anze Kopitar is 12th in the league in scoring with 12 points (7 goals, 5 assists), while linemate Dustin Brown is enjoying a bounce-back season with 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists) in 10 games.
"They're playing good hockey and playing confident, but coming to our building we have to be ready for that and try to have a good start," said Pastrnak.
Cassidy said the plan is to deploy Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron against the line of Kopitar, Brown, and rookie Alex Iafallo.
"Clearly that's going to be an assignment tonight that we're gonna have to relish that challenge," said Cassidy. "I'm actually looking forward to it. As I said, it should be a real good matchup. You've got two of the best 200-foot centermen in the last generation to play the game matched up against each other, if it ends up like that."
