Stars at Kings preview

STARS (34-22-4) at KINGS (33-22-5)
10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-SW, NHL.TV

Rieder and Scott Wedgewood were acquired in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday for Darcy Kuemper, giving Los Angeles another bottom-six forward option. Rieder had eight goals and 11 assists in 58 games for the Coyotes.
The Kings closed out their seven-game road trip going 4-3-0 after winning 4-3 at the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Kari Lehtonen will start in goal for the Stars, who are playing the second game of a back-to-back following a 2-0 loss at the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
Los Angeles is in fourth place in the Pacific Division with 71 points, and tied with the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Dallas is tied with the St Louis Blues with 72 points, and tied for the first wild card from the Western Conference.

Players to watch

Kings defenseman Dion Phaneuf has three power-play goals in four games since being acquired in a trade from the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 13.
Stars center Jamie Benn has four assists in his past five games.

They said it

"He's burned us a few times, so it's nice to have him on this side." -- Kings defenseman Alec Martinez on Tobias Rieder
"We probably could have done a better job of getting in the goalie's face and not letting him see pucks. Posts aren't going to cut it and looking good is not going to cut it this time of year." -- Stars center Jamie Benn on scoring four goals in their past four games

Stars projected lineup

Remi Elie -- Tyler Seguin -- Mattias Janmark
Devin Shore -- Jamie Benn -- Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel -- Radek Faksa -- Tyler Pitlick
Jason Spezza -- Gemel Smith -- Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis -- Greg Pateryn
Marc Methot -- Stephen Johns
Kari Lehtonen
Ben Bishop
Scratched: Julius Honka
Injured: Martin Hanzal (lower body)

Kings projected lineup

Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Dustin Brown
Tanner Pearson -- Adrian Kempe -- Torrey Mitchell
Tobias Rieder -- Nate Thompson -- Tyler Toffoli
Andy Andreoff -- Michael Amadio -- Jonny Brodzinski
Derek Forbort -- Drew Doughty
Dion Phaneuf -- Alec Martinez
Jake Muzzin -- Christian Folin
Jonathan Quick
Jack Campbell
Scratched: Kyle Clifford, Kevin Gravel, Scott Wedgewood
Injured: Trevor Lewis (upper body), Jeff Carter (lower body)

Status report

Hanzal returned to Dallas for further evaluation after missing the final two periods at Anaheim with a lower-body injury. … Carter practiced Thursday with the team for the first time since undergoing surgery in October.

Stat pack

Quick is 2-0-0 with a 1.50 goal-against average and .952 save percentage in his past two starts following a 1-5-0 stretch. … Dallas is 8-2-1 in its past 11 games in Los Angeles.