Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Los Angeles Kings 2/11/2023 - Lines, how to watch

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (26-16-9, 61 points, 4th place Metropolitan Division) @ Los Angeles Kings (28-18-7, 63 points, 4th place Pacific Division)

When: 10:30 EST (Three cheers for the latest start of the season so far!)

How to Watch: AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh for the Pens’ viewing market, Bally Sports West for the Kings, Sportsnet/TVAs in Canada, ESPN+

Opponent Track: This is Los Angeles’ first home game in three weeks, and their first contest in 11 days. The Kings have been in a bye week since their 3-2-1 six-game road trip ended on January 31 with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Hurricanes.

Pens Path Ahead: The Penguins have another delightful 10:30pm start on Valentine’s Day in San Jose. They will then fight for four crucial division points this weekend against the Islanders in Long Island on Friday and the Devils at PPG Paints on Saturday.

Season Series: The Pens routed the Kings 6-1 in their fourth game of the season back on October 20 thanks to six straight goals, including two strikes from Jeff Carter and a shorthanded tally from Ryan Poehling.

Hidden Stat: Since January 16th, Evgeni Malkin is second in the NHL in scoring with 15 points (5G+10A in nine games). Only Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk (18) has more.

Getting to know the Kings

SBN partner blog: None

Potential Game Lines

FORWARDS

Quinton Byfield - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe

Alex Iafallo - Phillip Danault - Viktor Arvidsson

Kevin Fiala - Blake Litote - Jaret Anderson-Dolan

Brendan Lemieux - Rasmus Kupari - Arthur Kaliyev

DEFENSEMEN

Michael Anderson / Drew Doughty

Sean Durzi / Matt Roy

Alexander Edler / Sean Walker

Goalies: Phoenix Copley, Jonathan Quick

Scratches: Gabe Vilardi (day-to-day, not available tonight)

IR: Carl Grundstrom, Trevor Moore (both available for activation from IR)

• Drew Doughty hit 600 career points during the Kings’ break-preceding loss to the Hurricanes, joining Kris Letang as one of seven active defenseman to reach the milestone.
• According to LA Kings Insider’s Zach Dooley, the second day of practice after the Kings’ extended break was all about shaking off the rust.

“Day one, obviously you’re trying to your bearings straight and just trying to get used to your skates again, your hands but day two is back to normal. It’s not like it’s summer and you took a month off, it was just nine days. The boys are ready to rock.” —Second-line forward Alex Iafallo, via LA Kings Insider

Stats

via hockeydb

• It’s been a tough season for goaltenders in Los Angeles. Longtime Kings mainstay Jonathan Quick has not recorded a win in a start since December 1. Then the team risked backup goalie Cal Petersen on waivers when they sent him down to the OHL after a string of poor performances in November.

AHL call-up Pheonix Copley is now playing the majority of the Kings’ starts. The Kings never expected Copley to be their long-term solution, but they’ve been leaning on him ever since— he has a 15-3-1 record so far, and the Kings score more when he’s in net than when they are playing in front of Quick.

• The Kings are unveiling a statue of Dustin Brown, and retiring his No. 23 jersey, before the game. No one has played more games in Los Angeles than Brown, who spent 18 years with the Kings and captained the team through the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup championships. Malkin will remember Brown fondly as the guy he speared— costing him a cool five grand in fines— in retaliation for boarding Justin Schultz back in 2018.

Head to head

• The Kings have one of the worst penalty kills in the NHL, so hopefully the Penguins’ power play will get the chance to go to work tonight.
• Given the aforementioned wild ride that is Kings goaltending, that category is a huge question mark for tonight, especially coming out of a long break with both options well-rested. We’ll see if the Kings go with Copley or return to Jonathan Quick for their first game back.

And now for the Pens...

Projected Game Lines

Forwards

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell

Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust

Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen

Ryan Poehling - Teddy Blueger - Josh Archibald

Defense

Brian Dumoulin / Kris Letang*

Marcus Pettersson / Jeff Petry

P.O. Joseph / Chad Ruhwedel

Goalies: Dustin Tokarski (Casey DeSmith started last night)

Scratches: Drew O’Connor, Danton Heinen, Mark Friedman*

IR: Tristan Jarry, Jan Rutta

*Kris Letang missed Friday’s game due to illness, and Mark Friedman slotted into the lineup in his absence.

• Tristan Jarry and Jan Rutta returned to practice Thursday, although their return timeline is currently unknown. Rutta is definitely unavailable tonight, due to his LTIR status requiring him to miss this game. He is eligible to return next game against the Sharks, health-permitting.
• Assuming Tokarski starts tonight (if Jarry is still out; DeSmith was in net yesterday) it will be his second start of the season and his first game on the road. On January 13, three days after making in Penguins debut in winning relief, Tokarski let in four goals and the team looked flat during a 4-1 loss to the visiting Jets.
• Last night, Malkin hit 1,200 career points and join Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Patrick Kane as the only active players to reach the milestone. He is also two goals away from recording his 14th career 20-goal season.
• Sidney Crosby is riding a season-long nine-game point streak (3G+11A).