Kings at Flyers preview
Doughty can pass Blake for most points by Los Angeles defenseman; Elliott starts for Philadelphia
by Dan Greenspan / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
KINGS (18-26-5) at FLYERS (25-17-6)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, FS-W, NHL.TV
The Game
Drew Doughty can become the highest-scoring defenseman in the history of the Los Angeles Kings when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.
Doughty, who has 494 points (116 goals, 378 assists in 901 games) with the Kings, is tied with Rob Blake (494 points; 161 goals, 333 assists in 805 games) for the most by a Los Angeles defenseman; Blake is now the Kings general manager.
Doughty tied Blake with an assist in Los Angeles' 4-3 loss at the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
The Kings are winless in three straight (0-2-1) and are 3-8-2 in their past 13 games.
Goalie Brian Elliott will start for the Flyers, 3-2-0 in their past five games after going 1-4-1 in their previous six. In his last start, Elliott made 30 saves in a 4-3 overtime win at the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.
Players to watch
Kings center Anze Kopitar has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past nine games.
Flyers center Sean Couturier has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past eight games.
They said it
"The coaching staff doesn't mind, the organization, even teammates don't mind when mistakes are made. We're human beings and we're giving everything we have most nights. But when there's neglect to positional play or structure, for something as simple as a face-off, when we just saw it three times in a meeting? Unacceptable." -- Kings coach Todd McLellan
"If we want to be in a good spot in the playoffs, we need our power play to get going. We don't really care how we do it. We need our power play to be big for us." -- Flyers forward Claude Giroux
Kings projected lineup
Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Tyler Toffoli
Kyle Clifford -- Jeff Carter -- Dustin Brown
Adrian Kempe -- Michael Amadio -- Austin Wagner
Nikolai Prokhorkin -- Jaret Anderson-Dolan -- Trevor Lewis
Alec Martinez -- Drew Doughty
Ben Hutton -- Matt Roy
Derek Forbort -- Sean Walker
Jonathan Quick
Jack Campbell
Scratched: Kurtis MacDermid, Matt Luff
Injured: Blake Lizotte (lower body), Joakim Ryan (lower body)
Flyers projected lineup
Claude Giroux -- Kevin Hayes -- Travis Konecny
Michael Raffl -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek
James van Riemsdyk -- Scott Laughton -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Joel Farabee -- Connor Bunnaman -- Tyler Pitlick
Ivan Provorov -- Matt Niskanen
Travis Sanheim -- Justin Braun
Robert Hagg -- Philippe Myers
Brian Elliott
Alex Lyon
Scratched: None
Injured: Carter Hart (abdominal strain), Shayne Gostisbehere (knee), Nolan Patrick (migraines), Oskar Lindblom (Ewing's sarcoma)
Status report
The Kings did not hold a morning skate Saturday. … Braun skated Saturday and is expected to return after missing six games because of a groin injury.
Stat pack
Carter has three points (two goals, one assist) in his past two games after having no points in his previous seven. … Quick, expected to start, is 1-5-1 with a 2.87 goals-against average and .904 save percentage in his past seven starts. … Giroux has 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in 18 games against Los Angeles. … The Flyers are 4-7-2 against the Pacific Division, including a 5-3 loss at the Kings on Dec 31.