Kings at Coyotes preview

KINGS (18-28-5) at COYOTES (26-21-5)
9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, FS-W, NHL.TV

The defenseman, whose streak of 460 consecutive games played ended when he missed the Kings' 4-2 home loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, is day to day. He could return when Los Angeles hosts the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.
Los Angeles has scored nine goals during a five-game winless streak (0-4-1) and is 3-10-2 in its past 15 games.
The Coyotes will try to avoid a fourth straight defeat, which would mark their longest losing streak of the season. Arizona, which led the Pacific Division on Jan. 16, is 1-5-1 in its past seven games.

Players to watch

Kings forward Dustin Brown has four points (two goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak.
Coyotes forward Taylor Hall has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past five games.

They said it

"We've just got to keep plugging away. I sound like a broken record. You guys are going to be sick of me by the end of the year saying that over and over and over again, and so will the players. But we have no choice but to plod on and try and fix this." -- Kings coach Todd McLellan
"We've got to stop making excuses. … We've got to get used to it. Buckle up. I keep telling the guys it's not going to get any easier." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet

Kings projected lineup

Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Dustin Brown
Nikolai Prokhorkin -- Jeff Carter --
Nikolai Prokhorkin
Adrian Kempe -- Blake Lizotte -- Austin Wagner
Kyle Clifford -- Michael Amadio -- Trevor Lewis
Joakim Ryan -- Alec Martinez
Ben Hutton -- Matt Roy
Kurtis MacDermid -- Sean Walker
Jack Campbell
Jonathan Quick
Scratched:Derek Forbort, Matt Luff
Injured:Drew Doughty (undisclosed)

Coyotes projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Christian Dvorak -- Conor Garland
Clayton Keller -- Derek Stepan -- Phil Kessel
Lawson Crouse -- Nick Schmaltz -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Michael Grabner -- Carl Soderberg -- Christian Fischer
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Jordan Oesterle -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Adin Hill
Antti Raanta
Scratched: Ilya Lyubushkin
Injured: Darcy Kuemper (lower body), Barrett Hayton (upper body), Brad Richardson (lower body)

Status report

Kuemper, who has not played since Dec. 19, is practicing but the goalie has not yet been cleared to play. … Hayton, a forward, is expected to be cleared for contact soon.

Stat pack

Kopitar has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past four games. … Hill, expected to make his sixth start of the season, is 2-0-0 with a 1.92 goals-against average and .936 save percentage in two starts against Los Angeles. … The Coyotes have won nine of their past 13 games (9-4-0) against the Kings, including four of their past five (4-1-0) at home.