Hurricanes at Kings preview

HURRICANES (12-9-4) at KINGS (9-16-1)
10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Carolina is 4-1-1 in its past six games and starts a three-game California road trip 2-3-1 in its past six away from home. The Hurricanes lost 2-1 in overtime to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.
The Kings have lost their past two games and four of their past six (2-4-0), including a 4-1 defeat at the Calgary Flames on Friday.
Los Angeles has allowed 13 power-play goals in its past 10 games (19-for-32).

Players to watch

Hurricanes goalie Curtis McElhinney is 4-0-1 with a 1.40 goals-against average and .961 save percentage in his past five starts.
Kings center Anze Kopitar had his four-game point streak end against the Flames. Kopitar had eight points (one goal, seven assists) in that span after getting nine points (six goals, three assists) in his first 20 games of the season.

They said it

"That's one of the things we got to get better at as a group is talking out there I think, especially the young guys. Sometimes they are a little afraid to be vocal, and we got to communicate. Unfortunately, you got to learn the hard way sometimes." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour
"Whether we're winning or losing, it's always been a staple of our game and, for whatever reason, the last three or four weeks I'd imagine we have to be the worst in the League." -- Kings forward Dustin Brown on penalty killing

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Jordan Staal -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Victor Rask -- Justin Williams
Andrei Svechnikov -- Lucas Wallmark -- Jordan Martinook
Warren Foegele -- Clark Bishop -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Jaccob Slavin -- Dougie Hamilton
Calvin de Haan -- Justin Faulk
Jake Bean
-- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Curtis McElhinney
Petr Mrazek
Scratched:None
Injured:Micheal Ferland (concussion), Haydn Fleury (concussion), Brett Pesce (lower body)

Kings projected lineup

Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Dustin Brown
Kyle Clifford -- Jeff Carter -- Tyler Toffoli
Austin Wagner -- Adrian Kempe -- Matt Luff
Nate Thompson -- Michael Amadio -- Sheldon Rempal
Derek Forbort -- Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin -- Alec Martinez
Dion Phaneuf -- Oscar Fantenberg
Jonathan Quick
Cal Petersen
Scratched:Paul LaDue
Injured:Ilya Kovalchuk (ankle), Carl Hagelin (knee), Trevor Lewis (foot), Jack Campbell (knee), Jonny Brodzinski (shoulder)

Status report

Kovalchuk will be out approximately four weeks after having an ankle bursectomy procedure. … The Kings claimed forward Nikita Scherbak off waivers from the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday. Scherbak was a first-round pick (No. 26) in the 2014 NHL Draft and has seven points (five goals, two assists) in 29 NHL games.

Stat pack

Aho has three points (one goal, two assists) in his past five games. … The Hurricanes have held five of their past six opponents to two goals or fewer, allowing 11 goals in that span. … The Kings are 0-12-0 when trailing after two periods, one of two teams in the NHL without a point in that situation (New York Islanders, 0-8-0).