Preview: Coyotes vs. Kings

GAME 68:
Coyotes (33-29-5) vs. Kings (24-35-8)
Arizona will host Los Angeles in the finale of a season-long seven-game homestand on Saturday night in Glendale.

WHERE:Gila River Arena | WHEN: 6 p.m. (AZ time) | TV:FOX Sports Arizona | RADIO:ESPN 620 AM

ABOUT THE 'YOTES:
• Arizona will enter the game with 71 points, three behind Minnesota for the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference standings, with 15 games to play.
• The Coyotes have earned 10 of a possible 12 points thus far on their current homestand thanks to victories over Winnipeg, Florida, Vancouver, Detroit and Calgary. Arizona outscored those teams 18-7. The only blemish during the homestand was a 3-1 loss to Anaheim.
• Darcy Kuemper will start in goal after notching his third shutout of the season on Thursday vs. Calgary. He's won 16 games since New Year's Day, which is tied for most wins by an NHL goalie during that time span. Kuemper is 0-2-1 in his past three starts vs. Los Angeles, but all three of those games took place at Staples Center.

• Lawson Crouse will enter tonight's game, his 150th in the NHL, having notched a point in five of his past seven games (three goals, two assists). Crouse is one of only four NHL players who has scored at least 10 goals (11) and delivered at least 215 hits (229) this season.
• Arizona is ranked second in the NHL with an 85.0 percent success rate on penalty kills, trailing only Tampa Bay (85.6 percent). The Coyotes also rank second in the League with 13 short-handed goals. The franchise record for short-handed goals in one season is 15 set in 1988-89, when the team was based in Winnipeg.
• The Coyotes and Kings have split the first two games of a four-game season series that will end April 2 in Glendale. Each team won 2-1 at Staples Center in games played in December.

ABOUT THE KINGS:
• Los Angeles enters the game last in the Western Conference standings with 56 points ... The Kings have lost two games in a row are 1-8-4 over their past 13 games ... With 157 goals, LA ranks next-to-last in the NHL in goal production; Anaheim is last with 156 goals ... Anze Kopitar leads the Kings with 19 goals and 48 points. He's notched 66 points in 66 career games vs. the Coyotes ... Drew Doughty ranks tied for first in the League in ice time per game (26:54), and ranks first among the Kings with 31 assists ... Jeff Carter needs one point to reach 700 for his NHL career ... Jonathan Quick is 19-18-4 with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage against Arizona/Phoenix.

'YOTES QUOTES:
• "LA is out of the playoff race, but I talked to my brother (Adrian) and they want to still work on stuff and they want to get better, and they want to prove to their fans that they are a better team than they are showing in the standings. So, we know they're going to play hard. They have some high-end players so we have to keep playing like we have been and work harder than them tonight in order to be successful." -- Mario Kempe
• "They still have a lot of great players out there who have played a lot of NHL games. They're going to come in ready to play and to play loose, so we've got to make sure we have a good start." -- Alex Galchenyuk
• "You can't have a bad week (during a playoff push). You might be able to have a bad day once in a while, but you can't have a bad week ... For the most part I really like the consistency level. I don't see the rollercoaster that happened earlier in the season, I see a more consistent team." -- Rick Tocchet