Preview: Bruins at Kings, 2/23

Just the facts:

Who: the Boston Bruins (30-24-6, 66 points, 5th in Atlantic, 9th in East)
visit the Los Angeles Kings (29-26-4, 62 points, 5th in Pacific, 9th in West)

What: The second of a back-to-back on the West Coast swing.

Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, Californee-Way

When: 10:30 PM

How to follow: SportsNet, FS-W, NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Rival SBN Site: Jewels from the Crown

Los Angeles Leaders:

Points: Jeff Carter, 53

Goals: Carter, 29

Assists: Anze Kopitar, 27

Shots: Carter, 187

Boston Leaders:

Points: Brad Marchand, 59

Goals: Marchand, 25, and David Pastrnak, 25

Assists: Marchand, 34

Shots: Patrice Bergeron, 214

Game Notes

• Coming off the loss to the Ducks last night, a team that has been trending down as of late, should light a fire under the Bruins. Unfortunately, it was last night - and while they're already on West Coast time, back-to-backs are rarely kind to the B's.
• Compounding concerns are that Anton Khudobin should get the start, and while that would be good news for Tuukka's hips, it's less-than-ideal news for those of you that have followed the B's backup goalie woes this season.
• Kings goalie Peter Budaj has almost single-handedly kept the Kings out of the league cellar this year. His backup, Jeff Zatkoff, was waived yesterday but will likely stick around for now, because... Zatkoff.
• Boston is 4-1 under interim coach Bruce Cassidy, the first loss coming last night. It will be interesting to see how they respond to serious lapses in judgment in front of their goaltender. It's this author's opinion that he didn't roll his lines well enough against Anaheim, and that shuffle in chemistry cost them valuable points last night.
• Will the top line please stand up? Late in the game against the Ducks, David Pastrnak was returned to Bratrice Marcheron's right side. That line needs a point in every game if the Schaller/Beleskey-Moore-Nash line is silent.