SETTING THE STAGE: The Los Angeles Kings are more than halfway into a lengthy road trip…and they still have a week left before they return home.
In their last outing, the Kings dropped a tough 1-0 decision to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden in what was a gritty defensive battle. Tuukka Rask was stellar in goal, but the Bruins bottled up everything the Kings tried to do, making for a long afternoon. Los Angeles rolls into Columbus with 2-2-0 record through four games of the trip, earning wins over Pittsburgh and Detroit while falling to Buffalo and Boston.
These Kings are always a difficult match and even more so as the Blue Jackets make their return home from a road trip of their own. Columbus is riding a nine-game winning streak after a clean sweep of western Canada, a trip capped off by a dramatic overtime victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Arena.
While it was a struggle to create offense in Boston, the Kings have been backstopped by a stingy and reliable defensive structure and solid goaltending from Peter Budaj, who has filled in admirably in the long-term absence of No. 1 goalie Jonathan Quick (who is expected back sometime in February).
For the Blue Jackets, their 20-5-4 start is the best 29-game start in club history. The game against Los Angeles is the first of three home games this week prior to the NHL's Christmas break; after facing the Kings, the Blue Jackets welcome Pittsburgh and Montreal to Nationwide Arena for a back-to-back set on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
NOTEWORTHY NEWS: John Tortorella made NHL history on Sunday, becoming the first American-born coach to reach the 500 wins milestone. The victory came against his former team, the Canucks, whom he coached for one season in 2013-14. Sergei Bobrovsky recorded win No. 19 of the season in Vancouver, claiming top spot in the NHL ahead of Montreal's Carey Price.
PROJECTED CBJ LINEUP:
Saad - Wennberg - Foligno
Jenner - Dubinsky - Atkinson
Calvert - Karlsson - Anderson
Hartnell - Sedlak - Gagner
Werenski - Jones
Johnson - Savard
Murray - Nutivaara
Bobrovsky
