Sharks at Kings preview
San Jose going for ninth win in 10 games; Los Angeles is 4-2-0 in past six
by Dan Greenspan / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
SHARKS (12-11-1) at KINGS (9-13-1)
10:30 p.m. ET; SN, FS-W, NBCSCA, NHL.TV
The Game
The San Jose Sharks will try for their ninth win in 10 games when they face the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Monday.
Sharks captain Logan Couture has scored the winner in overtime in each of the past two games, giving the Sharks a 2-1 win at the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday and against the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Andrew Cogliano is the only player in NHL history to score in overtime in three straight games, doing so as a rookie with the Edmonton Oilers from March 7-11, 2008.
The Kings had their five-game winning streak at home end with a 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday, but they are 4-2-0 in their past six games.
Players to watch
Sharks forward Logan Couture has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) during a six-game point streak.
Kings defenseman Drew Doughty has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past five games.
They said it
"It's four-point games where you're playing against teams in your division. To me, the 'rivalry' word is thrown a little too loosely because every game now in our division seems like a rivalry game, so there's eight teams in our division." -- Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic on playing the Kings
"Structurally, we should be more reactive than thinkers, and if we can get to that point where it's naturally happening, then we're in a good spot." -- Kings coach Todd McLellan on how the players have adjusted to the new system
Sharks projected lineup
Evander Kane -- Logan Couture -- Patrick Marleau
Timo Meier -- Barclay Goodrow -- Kevin Labanc
Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Dylan Gambrell
Antti Suomela -- Melker Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Erik Karlsson
Radim Simek -- Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon -- Mario Ferraro
Tim Heed
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Lukas Radil, Noah Gregor
Injured: Tomas Hertl (undisclosed), Dalton Prout (upper body)
Kings projected lineup
Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Dustin Brown
Carl Grundstrom -- Jeff Carter -- Tyler Toffoli
Adrian Kempe -- Blake Lizotte -- Austin Wagner
Kyle Clifford -- Michael Amadio -- Nikolai Prokhorkin
Sean Walker -- Drew Doughty
Ben Hutton -- Alec Martinez
Joakim Ryan -- Matt Roy
Jonathan Quick
Jack Campbell
Scratched: Ilya Kovalchuk, Kurtis MacDermid
Injured: Trevor Lewis (lower body), Derek Forbort (back)
Status report
Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said it would be a game-time decision whether he will use 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the second straight game. … Hertl will miss his third straight game. … The Kings are expected to use the same lineup that played against the Coyotes.
Stat pack
San Jose is 28-for-30 on the penalty kill (93.3 percent) in its past nine games. … Thornton has 79 points (18 goals, 61 assists) in 88 games against Los Angeles. … Kopitar has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his past nine games.