Kings at Coyotes preview

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.