Kings at Blackhawks preview

KINGS (31-22-5) at BLACKHAWKS (25-26-8)
8:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVAS, WGN, FS-W , NHL.TV

The Blackhawks, who defeated the Washington Capitals 7-1 on Saturday, are 13 points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Kings are 1-3-0 in their past four games after going 6-2-0 in their previous eight. They trail Minnesota by four points for the second wild card and the Anaheim Ducks by two points for third place in the Pacific Division.

Players to watch

Kings forward Anze Kopitar has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his past 14 games.
Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat has 11 points (eight goals, three assists) in his past 11 games, including three goals and two assists during a four-game point streak.

They said it

"Two points is huge for both teams. I would imagine it would be kind of a playoff-atmosphere tonight and I think we're ready for it." -- Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin
"Let's take it one game at a time and hopefully we can get hot here, try and start a trend. But we're happy with the way we played the other night and hopefully that'll continue." -- Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane

Kings projected lineup

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

Blackhawks projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Jonathan Toews -- Tommy Wingels
Artem Anisimov -- Nick Schmaltz -- Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp -- Ryan Hartman -- Alex DeBrincat
Lance Bouma -- David Kampf -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Duncan Keith -- Jordan Oesterle
Erik Gustafsson -- Brent Seabrook
Connor Murphy --
Carl Dahlstrom
Anton Forsberg
Jean-Francois Berube
Scratched:Anthony Duclair, Tomas Jurco
Injured: Corey Crawford (upper body), Michal Rozsival (upper body), Jan Rutta (undisclosed)

Status report

The Blackhawks traded Michal Kempny to the Washington Capitals on Monday for a conditional third-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. Gustafsson, who was a healthy scratch the past two games, will take his spot in the lineup.

Stat pack

The Blackhawks have scored a power-play goal in seven of their past eight games. ... Doughty has 11 points (one goal, 11 assists) in his past 12 games.