Kings at Blackhawks preview
Chicago seeks to end four-game slide; Los Angeles 2-5-0 in past seven
by Scott King / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
KINGS (4-7-0) at BLACKHAWKS (2-5-2)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, FS-W, NHL.TV
The Game
The Chicago Blackhawks will look to end a four-game losing streak when they play the Los Angeles Kings at United Center on Sunday.
The Blackhawks have been outscored 14-5 while going 0-3-1. They play the second of a back to back after a 4-0 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
Defenseman Brent Seabrook will be a healthy scratch for the first time this season. Dennis Gilbert will play.
The Kings have lost five of their past seven games (2-5-0) while allowing 10 goals in consecutive defeats, including 5-1 at the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Players to watch
Kings center Anze Kopitar has three points (two goals, one assist) in his past four games and is one point for 900 in the NHL.
Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has a team-high eight points (three goals, five assists) in nine games.
They said it
"They came out, their forecheck, we knew that it was going to be strong. I thought we did a pretty good job in the first and second, third, their first goal [was an] unfortunate bounce and no one really could find it until they were walking down Broadway, and it ended up going in there and we were kind of on our heels from there on. But you have to give them credit. They came out hard and once we had the puck out of the neutral zone, they set up a trap and waited for mistakes to happen." -- Kings defenseman Ben Hutton on the loss Saturday
"It's just a struggle right now to produce offense. Hopefully it's one of those things we start putting them in and it opens the floodgates." -- Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane
Kings projected lineup
Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Dustin Brown
Jeff Carter -- Blake Lizotte -- Tyler Toffoli
Ilya Kovalchuk -- Adrian Kempe -- Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford -- Nikolai Prokhorkin -- Austin Wagner
Ben Hutton -- Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez -- Sean Walker
Joakim Ryan -- Matt Roy
Jack Campbell
Jonathan Quick
Scratched: Michael Amadio, Kurtis MacDermid
Injured: Derek Forbort (back)
Blackhawks projected lineup
Alex DeBrincat -- Jonathan Toews -- Patrick Kane
Dominik Kubalik -- David Kampf -- Alex Nylander
Brandon Saad -- Kirby Dach -- Andrew Shaw
Drake Caggiula -- Ryan Carpenter -- Dylan Strome
Duncan Keith -- Calvin de Haan
Olli Maatta -- Dennis Gilbert
Slater Koekkoek -- Erik Gustafsson
Robin Lehner
Corey Crawford
Scratched: Brendan Perlini, Zack Smith, Brent Seabrook
Injured: Connor Murphy (groin)
Status report
The Blackhawks held an optional morning skate Sunday. The Kings didn't skate.
Stat pack
Chicago is 3-for-29 on the power play and 0-for-16 during the losing streak, when DeBrincat and Toews have each been held without a point. … Kempe will play his 200th NHL game.