What you need to know ahead of the Kings' game against the San Jose Sharks:
When: Sunday, March 30th, at 7:00 PST
Where: Crypto.com Arena - Los Angeles, CA
Watch: ESPN
Listen: LA Kings APP & ESPN LA APP
Records:
Kings: 40 - 23 - 9 (89 points), 2nd in Pacific Division
Sharks: 20 - 42 - 9 (49 points), 8th in Pacific Division
Kings Team Stats:
Power Play: 16.3% (28th)
Penalty Kill: 81.4% (8th)
Faceoff Win Percentage: 50.4% (15th)
GF/GP: 2.89 (20th)
GA/GP: 2.52 (2nd)
Sharks Team Stats:
Power Play: 26.5% (5th)
Penalty Kill: 78.1% (16th)
Faceoff Win Percentage: 53.7% (2nd)
GF/GP: 3.26 (7th)
GA/GP: 2.97 (16th)
Kings Notes:
- The Kings have earned points each of their last seven times hosting the Pacific Division rival Sharks at Crypto.com Arena (5-0-2), dating back to March 10, 2022.
- Kings captain Anze Kopitar is set to skate in his 97th career game against the Sharks, the second most in League history behind only Shane Doan (112 GP). Kopitar’s 72 points (28-44=72) against San Jose is fourth-most all-time and one shy of tying Mike Modano (24-49=73) for third.
- Forward Warren Foegele skates into tonight’s contest riding a six-game point streak (4-4=8) against the Sharks, dating back to Nov. 9, 2023, including multi-goal efforts in two of his last four contests.
- Defenseman Drew Doughty enters tonight with points in each of his last four outings against San Jose at Crypto.com Arena (2-2=4), dating back to Dec. 17, 2022.
Sharks Notes:
- Having won two of the three games over the Kings this season, the last time these teams met the Sharks scored six unanswered goals, five of which came in the third period of a 7-2 win.
- 2024 first overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini has only played in one of the three games against the kings this season. That one game was in the latest meeting when the Sharks on 7-2 where he notched three points (2-1=3), including two power-play goals.
- Despite having played 12 less games than his fellow NHL rookies, Celebrinin (21-32=53) trails Lane Hutson (5-51=56) and Matvei Michkov (24-32=56) by just three points for the NHL rookie lead.
- Fellow rookie teammate and 2023 fourth overall draft pick Will Smith ranks fourth among scoring rookies with 37 points this season (13-24=37). Smith has two assists and a shootout goal in the last three games.
- The Sharks have lost 14 of their last 16 games against current playoff teams with both of those victories coming against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Players to Watch:
Kings: Forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who enters tonight’s game on an active four-game point-streak (4-2=6) against San Jose and has totaled 15 points (8-7=15) in 10 career matchups against the Sharks.
Sharks: 2021 seventh overall draft pick William Eklund, who leads the Sharks with three goals and five points in his last four games. Eklund (17-37=-54) enters Sunday leading Celebrini by one point for the team lead in points.
