Kings Notes:
With their 5-2 victory over the Islanders on Tuesday, the Kings sit second in the Pacific Division with a record of 39-20-9 with 87 points through 68 games. Should LA win tonight, they would tie the 1990-91 Kings for the third-fastest team in franchise history to reach the 40-win mark in a single season.
On Tuesday, Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar both factored on the same goal for the 285th time in the regular season, which is the third highest such total by a pair of teammates in franchise history behind Marcel Dionne and Dave Taylor (476x) as well as Kopitar and Dustin Brown (305x).
Nine different Kings forwards have 10 or more goals so far this season. The next closest forward to hitting the 10-goal mark on the year is Trevor Moore with eight. The last time the Kings had 10 or more forwards to score at least 10 goals in a season was the 2009-10 campaign: Dustin Brown (24), Alex Frolov (19), Michal Handzus (20), Anze Kopitar (34), Scott Parse (11), Brad Richardson (11), Wanye Simmonds (16), Ryan Smyth (22), Jarret Stoll (16) and Justin Williams (10).
In 45 games this season, forward Arthur Kaliyev has tallied 11 goals, sitting three shy of tying his career-high (14G in 2021-22). Of his 11 goals, eight have been scored on the man-advantage, trailing only Adrian Kempe (9) for the team lead. Among skaters from the 2019 NHL Draft, Kaliyev's 14 power-play goals ranks second behind New Jersey's Jack Hughes (17).
Defenseman Alex Edler skated in his 1,022nd career NHL game Tuesday night, tying Fredrik Olausson for the fifth-most games played by a Swedish-born defenseman in NHL history. With one more game, Edler can take sole possession of fifth place on the all-time games played list among Swedish-born defensemen
The Kings power play ranks 5th in the NHL (24.6%).
The Kings penalty kill ranks 23rd in the NHL (76.0%).
The Kings are 6th in faceoff win percentage (52.8%).
Blue Jackets Notes:
The Blue Jackets enter Thursday's game against the Kings on a five-game losing streak (0-3-2).
The Blue Jackets power play ranks 27th in the NHL (17.7%).
The Blue Jackets penalty kill ranks 22nd in the NHL (76.4%).
The Blue Jackets are 23rd in faceoff win percentage (48.7%).
Who to Watch:
Vladislav Gavrikov, who faces his former team for the first time since being traded at the deadline. In his six games with the kings, Gavrikov has recorded four points (1-3=4) and leads the team in plus/minus with a plus-7 rating.
Johnny Gaudreau, who leads the Blue Jackets in assists (45) and points (62) in his first year with the team. Gaudreau has been good as of late with eight points (2-6=8) in his last five games.
