Game Day Set-Up: Jets @ Kings

When: Saturday, January 10, 2015

Time: 9:00 p.m. CST

Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California

Records: Winnipeg Jets (20-14-7, 47 points, 8th in West), Los Angeles Kings (19-13-9, 47 points, 7th in West)

Television/Radio: FS-W, SN/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Sunday, January 11th, 2015 on the road against the Anaheim Ducks (8:00 p.m. CST)

Last Game: 4-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes

Top Scorers:

Winnipeg Jets: Andrew Ladd (15 goals, 18 assists, 33 points), Bryan Little (15 goals, 16 assists, 31 points), Blake Wheeler (11 goals, 19 assists, 30 points), Dustin Byfuglien (9 goals, 13 assists, 22 points), Mathieu Perreault (10 goals, 11 assists, 21 points)

Los Angeles Kings: Jeff Carter (11 goals, 19 assists, 30 points), Anze Kopitar (8 goals, 22 assists, 30 points), Tyler Toffoli (12 goals, 15 assists, 27 points), Drew Doughty (4 goals, 20 assists, 24 points), Justin Williams (11 goals, 11 assists, 22 points)

Game Day Notes:

– The Jets have lost four of their last five games and are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.

– Jets Road Record: 11-5-4

– The Jets are 14-6-4 this season when they score the first goal of a game.

– Los Angeles is 4-3-3 in their last 10 games. This is the second of three meetings between the two clubs this year.  The Kings defeated the Jets 4-1 back on October 12th. The two teams will meet in Winnipeg on Sunday, March 1 (2:00 p.m. CST)

– Michael Hutchinson will start in net for the Jets tonight. In 17 games this season, Hutchinson is 10-4-2 with a .936 Save Percentage and a 1.88 Goals Against Average.

– Jets defensemen Tobias Enstrom (lower body) and Mark Stuart (lower body) will both return to the line-up tonight. Enstrom has not played since November 23rd (against St.Louis) while Stuart’s last game played was on December 16th (against Buffalo). Based on Saturday’s pre-game skate in Los Angeles, Enstrom will be paired up with Zach Bogosian while Stuart will be paired up with Jay Harrison.

– Jets forward Evander Kane (lower body) will make his return to the line-up tonight. Kane was originally expected to be out until early February. Kane has not played since December 27th against Minnesota. Kane will skate on the team’s third line alongside Adam Lowry and Matt Halischuk.

– On Saturday the Jets re-assigned Patrice Cormier and Keaton Ellerby to the St.John’s IceCaps (AHL).

– Red Hot: Jets forward Andrew Ladd has four goals and six assists in his last seven games.

– The Kings average 2.78 goals for/game, 14th in the NHL.

– The Kings average 2.49 goals against/game, 10th in NHL.

– The Kings are 5-6-9 in one goal games this season.

– Jonathan Quick is expected to start in net for the Kings tonight. In 34 games this season, Quick is 16-10-7 with a 2.40 Goals Against Average and .915 Save Percentage and three shutouts.

– On Friday it was announced that Kings Head Coach Darryl Sutter, along with Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette, will coach at the 2015 NHL All-Star Weekend in Columbus (January 24-25th)

– According to Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times, Center Mike Richards will play tonight.  It was speculated on Friday that Richards might be a healthy scratch. Richards played a season low 9 minutes and 7 seconds last game. Richards has five goals and 9 assists this season. Richards has never been healthy scratched in his career.

– As per Jon Rosen, LA Kings Insider, Defenseman Robyn Regehr skated with the team today. Regehr has not played in a game since suffering a hand injury on December 18th against St.Louis. It’s not clear when Regehr will return to the line-up.

– The Kings will retire Hall of Fame defenseman Rob Blake‘s #4 in a pre-game ceremony next Saturday when they Kings host the Ducks. Blake leads all Kings defensemen with 805 games played, 161 goals, 333 assists, 494 points, 92 power play goals and 29 game-winning goals as a member of the club. Blake won the Norris Trophy in 1998 and a Gold Medal as a member of Team Canada during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

– Milestone Watch: Jets defenseman Paul Postma is one game away from 100 career games played.

– Defenseman Drew Doughty leads all Kings in ice time, averaging 29:14 of ice time per game, 2nd most in the NHL.

– Kings Top Face-off Guy: Jeff Carter (56.1%)

– Jets Top Face-off Guy: Jim Slater (56.9%)

– Who’s Under the Microscope for Los Angeles: Mike Richards. Richards hails from not too far away from Winnipeg in Kenora, Ontario and will be looking for a big game tonight.

– Who’s Under the Microscope for Winnipeg: Mark Scheifele. Scheifele has played well as of late but has no goals in his last nine games. Scheifele has six goals on the year and the team needs more offensive production from him.

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Los Angeles PP (19.7%, 12th in NHL), Los Angeles PK (79.0%, 23rd in NHL)

– Winnipeg PP (17.1%, 20th in NHL), Winnipeg PK (83.7%, 9th in NHL)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:

Andrew Ladd- Bryan Little- Blake Wheeler
Mathieu Perreault- Mark Scheifele- Michael Frolik
Evander Kane- Adam Lowry-Matt Halischuk
Chris Thorburn- Jim Slater- Anthony Peluso

Tobias Enstrom- Zach Bogosian
Mark Stuart- Jay Harrison
Dustin Byfuglien- Ben Chiarot

Michael Hutchinson
Ondrej Pavelec

Healthy Scratches: Adam Pardy, Paul Postma, TJ Galiardi

Projected Los Angeles Kings Line Combinations:

Marian Gaborik- Anze Kopitar- Dustin Brown
Tanner Pearson- Jeff Carter-  Tyler Toffoli
Justin Williams- Jarret Stoll- Dwight King
Kyle Clifford- Mike Richards- Trevor Lewis

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Matt Greene- Alec Martinez
Brayden McNabb- Jeff Schultz

Jonathan Quick
Martin Jones

Healthy Scratches: Andy Andreoff, Jordan Nolan, Jamie McBain

Injury Report:

Los Angeles Kings: Robyn Regehr (hand), Slava Voynov (suspension)

Winnipeg Jets:   Jacob Trouba (upper body, IR), Grant Clitsome (back surgery, indefinitely)