Flyers at Kings
4 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet
The Flyers (15-14-7) close out a three-game West Coast trip against the Los Angeles Kings (24-11-2) on Saturday afternoon at the Staples Center.
It will be the first of two games played by a Philadelphia sports team Saturday in the building, as the Sixers will tip-off with the Clippers at 10:30 p.m.
Here are five things to get you ready for the contest:
1. Fully loaded
Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol has a plethora of defensemen to choose from for Saturday's game against L.A.
The Flyers' blue line was still shorthanded Wednesday night even with Mark Streit returning from injury. Michael Del Zotto missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury.
Del Zotto, however, is expected to play against the Kings on Saturday, according to general manager Ron Hextall. The Flyers have eight defensemen after waiving forward Sam Gagner.
NHL
Defenseman Brandon Manning was the odd man out Wednesday in San Jose when Streit returned and Del Zotto out. With both back, Manning will be scratched again.
Take Manning out of the equation, Hakstol has seven D-men: Shayne Gostisbehere, Evgeny Medvedev, Nick Schultz, Luke Schenn, Radko Gudas, Streit and Del Zotto.
There are a few locks in that bunch such as Gostisbehere, Streit and Del Zotto. Medvedev appears to be a definite, too, but has been scratched in the past.
Considering the Flyers look to Gudas to provide a physical edge, the 25-year-old seems likely to be in the lineup.
So the process of elimination suggests either Schenn or Schultz will find their way into the press box. The thinking here is Schenn gets scratched despite Schultz's struggles.
Against the Sharks, Schultz played the fewest minutes among the defensemen, but the Flyers like his veteran presence and he's paired with Streit.
Hakstol has yet to scratch Schultz this season, even though the blueliner has had his fair share of hiccups.
Regardless, who the odd man out Saturday is a storyline to keep an eye on leading up to puck drop.
2. PK struggles continue
Inconsistency has plagued the Flyers this season, Hakstol's first as an NHL coach, and right now, they're fighting their latest string of poor play.
The Flyers went into the holiday break winning four of their last six games, but have stumbled out of the break with two straight losses. Why? The penalty kill has failed the team.
On Wednesday, the Flyers surrendered three power-play goals against. In Anaheim, they gave up two power-play goals and have allowed at least one PPG in four straight games.
For the most part, the Ian Laperriere-ran PK has been a letdown. The Flyers' penalty kill is 24th in the NHL at 77.6 percent.
The Flyers, however, did go seven games in November — 20 for 20 — without giving up a goal on the PK, but outside of that, it's been a major weakness.
"There was a stretch where we did a good job, but for the most part this season it's kinda struggled," goalie Steve Mason said after Wednesday's game.
"It puts [us] behind the eight ball the majority of games. We have to be a lot better on it."
On Saturday, the Flyers will be facing an L.A. team that ranks 12th in the league on the man advantage at 19.8 percent. The Kings also have five power-play goals in their last four games.
3. King of the West
Speaking of L.A.'s last four games, the Kings have won all of them.
Los Angeles comes home Saturday after a successful 4-0 road trip. The Kings scored four goals twice and five goals twice during their current win streak.
While the Kings are not scoring at a ridiculous pace such as Dallas or Washington, they're sitting just outside the top 10 in the NHL in scoring with 100 goals — 2.7 goals per game.
When L.A. won its two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014, it struggled to score during the regular season and needed a trade-deadline acquisition to give it a boost.
This year, however, that does not seem to be the case. The Kings still get great goaltending in Jonathan Quick and solid defense, but now have a more balanced scoring attack.
With 50 points, the Kings lead a weak Pacific Division and are second in the Western Conference.
4. Keep an eye on …
Flyers: Since Hakstol put Jakub Voracek with Sean Couturier and Wayne Simmonds, the trio has been putting up points. Voracek is scoring goals again. But Couturier has been on an offensive tear since. The 23-year-old has three points during the Flyers' two-game losing streak, including a goal against the Sharks. Couturier has seven points in six games since the line change, with two multi-point games. Let's see if Couturier can continue to show the offense he's known to have but very rarely shows.
Kings: Tyler Toffoli, 23, is the Kings' leading scorer and comes into Saturday's matchup riding a five-game point streak in which he has six goals and two assists. He's tied for sixth in the NHL with 18 goals and has 30 points in 37 games. He's projected to hit 40 goals on the season, which would be his first in the NHL. The Kings also have Anze Kopitar, Marian Gaborik and Milan Lucic, but Toffoli is a prime example of why the Kings have been able to enjoy sustained success: drafting well.
5. This and that
• The Flyers have won their last four games against the Kings in Los Angeles. The Flyers lost, 3-2, in a shootout to the Kings earlier in the season at the Wells Fargo Center.
• Jeff Carter, the Kings' second leading-scorer, is expected to miss his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury. Carter turned 31 on Friday.
• Flyers captain Claude Giroux saw his six-game goalless drought end Wednesday night with a goal off a faceoff. He also had an assist against the Sharks.
• Kings goalie Quick is 10-3-0 with a 1.98 goals-against average at the Staples Center since Oct. 16. He has a 1.88 goals-against average in 10 career games against the Flyers.
• The Flyers have scored fewer than three goals 22 times this season.
• R.J. Umberger has gone 39 games without scoring a goal. He has nine goals in 88 games since being reacquired from Columbus. He has a no-movement clause.
