The Carolina Hurricanes will play their last home game before the All-Star break tonight and the first of a back-to-back. Visiting PNC Arena will be the Los Angeles Kings.
The Kings will make their only visit to Raleigh after the Canes paid them a visit at the beginning of December with a 4-2 victory.
Los Angeles is entering tonight’s game having won their last 3 of 4 games but that loss came Saturday night at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 5-2.
This will be the last game for the Western Conference opponents before they begin the break for the All-Star weekend.
Carolina may be able to catch a team with their eyes on vacation and strike early.
Currently, the Kings are in third place in the Pacific Division with 62 points in 52 games. They are just one point behind the Seattle Kraken for the division lead.
Away from home, the Kings are 14-9-4.
The Southern California team has struggled defensively this season, giving up more goals than they have scored.
This can be attributed to a poor season by Jonathan Quick, having a 3.41 GAA and a dismal .881 save percentage. Behind Quick is Pheonix Copley, who has been slightly better in 19 games. Copley has a 2.82 GAA and a .901 save percentage with 15 wins.
In his first season in Hollywood, Kevin Fiala is leading the team in points with 52. 35 of those points are helpers and 12 of those have come on the man advantage.
The Kings captain, Anze Kopitar, is next in points with 40.
The goals have been spread out on this squad, but Adrian Kempe leads the way, reaching the 20-goal mark. Gabriel Vilardi has had a strong season, lighting the lamp 17 times.
As always, their blue line is led by Drew Doughty, playing in his 15th NHL season. Doughty has played over 1,000 NHL games and is just 2 points away from 600 for his career.
The Kings always come out with a strong effort from every line but the Canes can take advantage of some spotty goalkeeping thus far.