Preview: Kings at Coyotes

KINGS (12-10-1) at COYOTES (8-10-3)
9 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-W, NHL.TV

Kings team scope

Los Angeles Kings goaltender Peter Budaj is expected to start Thursday for the 20th time in 23 games, despite playing in a 4-1 loss against the San Jose Sharks at Staples Center on Wednesday that ended their five-game winning streak. Budaj started all five games and gave up nine goals in that span. "We just couldn't find that second wind," center Anze Kopitar told the Los Angeles Times. "I thought we had some chances around the net. We didn't score … that was the difference." Though the Kings are 5-1-0 in their past six games, they are 3-7-1 on the road. Forward Dustin Brown, who scored Wednesday, had five of his 11 goals last season against the Arizona Coyotes.

Coyotes team scope

Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who missed the third period of a 2-1 overtime loss at the Sharks on Tuesday because of an upper-body injury, is expected to be in the lineup. "Seems like everything is all right, so he's good to go," coach Dave Tippett said. Ekman-Larsson has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 21 games this season. With points in six of their past seven games (3-1-3), the Coyotes conclude a stretch of eight straight games within the Pacific Division. Goaltender Mike Smith is 3-1-2 with a 2.33 goals-against average and .936 save percentage since returning from a knee injury Nov. 16. Louis Domingue will serve as Smith's backup after missing the past three games because of a lower-body injury. The Coyotes have had 15 of their first 21 games decided by one goal, including eight of the past nine. They are 7-5-3 in one-goal games. Shane Doan will play in his 1,488th NHL game, passing Wayne Gretzky for 19th place on the all-time NHL list.

Kings projected lineup

Dwight King -- Anze Kopitar -- Trevor Lewis
Tanner Pearson -- Jeff Carter -- Tyler Toffoli
Dustin Brown -- Nic Dowd -- Devin Setoguchi
Marian Gaborik -- Nicholas Shore -- Jordan Nolan
Derek Forbort -- Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin -- Alec Martinez
Kevin Gravel -- Matt Greene
Peter Budaj
Jeff Zatkoff
Scratched:Kyle Clifford, Tom Gilbert, Teddy Purcell,
Injured:Jonathan Quick (groin), Andy Andreoff (thumb), Brayden McNabb (collarbone)

Coyotes projected lineup

Max Domi -- Martin Hanzal -- Radim Vrbata
Tobias Rieder -- Jordan Martinook -- Shane Doan
Jamie McGinn -- Christian Dvorak -- Anthony Duclair
Lawson Crouse -- Laurent Dauphin -- Ryan White
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Connor Murphy
Alex Goligoski -- Michael Stone
Jakob Chychrun -- Luke Schenn
Mike Smith
Louis Domingue
Scratched: Kevin Connauton, Tony DeAngelo
Injured:Brad Richardson (broken leg)

Status report

Chychrun returns after being a healthy scratch the past four games. Stone moves up to play with Goligoski on the second defense pair in place of DeAngelo, who is expected to be scratched. With Domingue healthy, the Coyotes returned emergency call-up goaltender Justin Peters to Tucson of the American Hockey League. … This is the first of 16 games the Coyotes will play in December. … Doan is two goals shy of 400 in his NHL career. ... Neither team had a morning skate.

Who's hot

Domi has three goals in the past five games after scoring one through his first 16 games. ... Carter has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past eight games and leads the League with six game-winning goals.