Oilers at Kings preview

OILERS (25-31-4) at KINGS (33-23-5)
10 p.m. ET; SN, SN360, CITY, FS-W, NHL.TV

Carter has missed the past 55 games after having surgery for a cut on his leg in October. The center returned to practice Friday and coach John Stevens was surprised at his progress.
Los Angeles, which lost 2-0 the Dallas Stars on Thursday, trails the St. Louis Blues by one point for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They are tied with the Calgary Flames for fourth place in the Pacific Division, two points behind the third-place Anaheim Ducks.
Defenseman Andrej Sekera will return to the Oilers lineup after missing seven games with an upper-body injury. Edmonton trails St. Louis by 18 points for the second wild card.

Players to watch

Kings forward Dustin Brown has three points (two goals, one assist) in two games against the Oilers this season.
Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past seven games.

They said it

"I think we got to get back to throwing more pucks at the net. I don't think we had many scoring chances in that Dallas game, and we're not going to win many games scoring no goals." -- Kings defenseman Derek Forbort
"I've always felt that the margins are very small in this league, and if you're not within the margins you can be where we are." -- Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli on the team's struggles this season

Oilers projected lineup

Milan Lucic -- Connor McDavid -- Leon Draisaitl
Michael Cammalleri -- Ryan Strome -- Anton Slepyshev
Drake Caggiula -- Jujhar Khaira -- Iiro Pakarinen
Jesse Puljujarvi -- Mark Letestu -- Zack Kassian
Darnell Nurse -- Adam Larsson
Oscar Klefbom -- Kris Russell
Andrej Sekera -- Matt Benning
Cam Talbot
Al Montoya
Scratched:Yohann Auvitu, Ty Rattie
Injured:Pat Maroon (ribs), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (upper body),

Kings projected lineup

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

Status report

Campbell will serve as Quick's backup after Scott Wedgewood cleared waivers and was assigned to Ontario of the American Hockey League on Saturday. The Kings acquired Wedgewood and Rieder from the Arizona Coyotes for goalie Darcy Kuemper on Wednesday. … Los Angeles sent forward Jonny Brodzinski to Ontario and recalled LaDue. ... The Oilers traded defenseman Brandon Davidson, who played the past 11 games, to the New York Islanders on Saturday for a third-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. ... Rattie was recalled from Bakersfield of the AHL on Saturday.

Stat pack

Draisaitl has 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in his past 17 games. ... McDavid has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past three games. ... Kopitar has 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in his past 17 games.