Blues at Kings preview

BLUES (23-8-6) at KINGS (15-19-4)
10 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-MW, NHL.TV

The Blues won 5-2 at the San Jose Sharks on Saturday and are on their third winning streak of at least four games; they won a season-long seven straight Oct. 27-Nov. 9.
The Kings return home after a 3-1-2 road trip; a 3-2 loss at the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday ended their season-high six-game point streak (4-0-2).

Players to watch

Blues center Ryan O'Reilly has six points (one goal, five assists) during a five-game point streak.
Kings forward Adrian Kempe has scored in three consecutive games. It is tied for the longest goal streak in his four NHL seasons; he also scored in three straight games Oct. 23-26, 2017 and Feb. 4-7, 2019.

They said it

"We always talk about our D needing to create offense. It's just how we play and we're better like that. … It was just a matter of time. When we're creating offense like that, we're tough to handle." -- Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who scored two goals Saturday
"Now we've shown that we can beat some really good teams, especially on the road as well where we were struggling at the beginning of the season. We've been good all year at home, so we want to keep that going, and we got good momentum from this road trip." -- Kings forward Adrian Kempe

Blues projected lineup

Oskar Sundqvist -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Jordan Kyrou
Alexander Steen -- Robert Thomas -- Tyler Bozak
Mackenzie MacEachern -- Jacob de la Rose -- Ivan Barbashev
Justin Faulk -- Alex Piertrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jordan Binnington
Jake Allen
Scratched: Zach Sanford, Troy Brouwer, Niko Mikkola
Injured: Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Sammy Blais (wrist), Erik Foley (concussion), Carl Gunnarsson (upper body)

Kings projected lineup

Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Dustin Brown
Adrian Kempe -- Blake Lizotte -- Austin Wagner
Kyle Clifford -- Jeff Carter -- Tyler Toffoli
Matt Luff -- Michael Amadio -- Nikolai Prokhorkin
Joakim Ryan -- Drew Doughty
Ben Hutton -- Matt Roy
Kurtis MacDermid Kale Clague -- Sean Walker
Jonathan Quick
Jack Campbell
Scratched: Paul LaDue, Martin Frk, Kale Clague
Injured: Trevor Lewis (upper body), Alec Martinez (wrist), link-placeholder-25

Status report

Binnington will make his first start since Dec. 16 against the Colorado Avalanche. … Lewis has not practiced since being injured in the first period against Buffalo. … Frk was recalled from Ontario of the American Hockey League on Monday. … Martinez practiced in a red no-contact jersey. … Forbort did on-ice drills after practice.

Stat pack

The Blues are 16-2-3 against the Western Conference, including seven straight wins. … Perron has five points (three goals, two assists) during a three-game point streak. … Kopitar needs one goal to tie Bernie Nichols (327) for fourth most in Kings history.