Stars at Kings preview

The Stars defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Jan. 3 for their fourth straight victory and ninth in 13 games (9-3-1). It's their third winning streak of at least four games this season. Dallas won a season-high seven in a row Nov. 13-25. 

The Kings have lost two straight and are 2-5-1 in their past eight games after a 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.

Players to watch

Stars defenseman Esa Lindell has five assists during a three-game streak. He tied his NHL career-high of three assists against the Red Wings.

Kings defenseman Drew Doughty is two points from passing Rob Blake (494) for most in team history at the position.  

They said it

"When you start winning and feeling good, usually wins follow and you start playing well. I don't think we've reached our capability yet, but I think we're a team that knows when we play to our identity, we're a tough team to play against." -- Stars forward Andrew Cogliano

"We equate it to a diesel engine. It's good when it's running, and you turn it off, it takes a little while to get going again. We're looking forward to playing a bunch of games and working our way out of that midseason slump, if you will, or whatever it is, but we'll work our way out." -- Kings coach Todd McLellan on playing three games in the next four days

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov

Denis Gurianov -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski

Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau

Mattias Janmark -- Jason Dickinson -- Joel Kiviranta

Esa Lindell -- Roman Polak

Jamie Oleksiak -- Miro Heiskanen

Andrej Sekera -- Taylor Fedun

Anton Khudobin

Ben Bishop

Scratched: Justin Dowling, Joel Hanley

Injured: John Klingberg (lower body), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

Suspended: Corey Perry

Kings projected lineup

Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Tyler Toffoli

Adrian Kempe -- Blake Lizotte -- Austin Wagner

Nikolai Prokhorkin -- Jeff Carter -- Dustin Brown

Kyle Clifford -- Michael Amadio -- Trevor Lewis

Sean Walker -- Drew Doughty

Ben Hutton -- Alec Martinez

Derek Forbort -- Matt Roy

Jonathan Quick

Jack Campbell

Scratched: Kurtis MacDermid, Matt Luff

Injured: Joakim Ryan (lower body)

Status report

Klingberg is day to day after being placed on injured reserve Tuesday. Stars coach Rick Bowness said he is doubtful to play at the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. … Johns will join Texas of the American Hockey League for a conditioning assignment.

Stat pack

Hintz has five points (two goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak. … Pavelski leads the Stars with 48 points (23 goals, 25 assists) in 65 games against the Kings. … Kopitar's next assist will be his 600th in the NHL. He'll be the fourth Kings player to reach the milestone, joining Marcel Dionne (757), Wayne Gretzky (672) and Dave Taylor (638). … Iafallo has eight points (four goals, four assists) during a seven-game point streak, including goals in three straight.