Kings Notes:
The Kings are 28-5-2 all-time when both Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty score a regular-season goal on the same game.
The team enters tonight riding a nine-game home point streak (8-0-1), dating back to Feb. 11 (6-0 W vs. PIT). It is the first nine-game home point streak the Kings have established since the 2003-04 season (4-0-4, Nov. 29, 2003 - Jan. 3, 2004). Over those nine games at Crypto.com Arena, the Kings have outscored their opponents 37-17 with a goals-for per game average of 4.11, the third highest home average in the league during that time (since. Feb. 11). Should the Kings collect a point tonight, it would mark the sixth different home point streak of at least 10 games in franchise history.
No team has allowed fewer goals since March 1 than the LA Kings' 12. The team's 1.71 goals against-per-game is the lowest in the league during that time. Per natural stat trick, LA's save percentage has climbed to tops in the league since February. The Kings' .881 save percentage (SV%) in the month of February ranked 25th in the league while their current .936 SV% so far in March is tops in the league.
Thursday night's game against Columbus marked the fourth time in team history that the Kings scored four or more goals in the second period on back-to-back games. Only Edmonton (108) has tallied more second period goals in the league this season than LA's 92.
The Kings power play ranks 6th in the NHL (24.2%).
The Kings penalty kill ranks 22nd in the NHL (76.2%).
The Kings are 6th in faceoff win percentage (52.9%).
Canucks Notes:
The Canucks are 5-1-0 in their last six games, averaging over four goals per game in those five wins.
The Canucks power play ranks 12th in the NHL (22.2%).
The Canucks penalty kill ranks 32nd in the NHL (68.2%).
The Canucks are 19th in faceoff win percentage (49.3%).
Who to Watch:
The Vladislav Gavrikov-Matt Roy defensive pairing has proved to be quite beneficial for the Kings with both players combining for nine points (1-8=9). No defensive pairing has a higher expected goals percentage (74.4%) or expected goals-for-per 60 minutes (5.58) than Gavrikov and Roy (min. TOI: 60 minutes).
First-year NHLer Andrei Kuzmenko, who leads the Canucks in goals with 34. Kuzmenko, who is 27-years-old has 61 points (34-27=61) in 66 games this season and has five goals in his last five games, including goals in four straight games.
