NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with Wednesday’s matchup between the Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings. Coverage begins at 10 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.
Dallas has won four straight games, including two to begin the 2020 calendar year. The Stars have given up two or fewer goals in all four games during the win streak and are averaging 3.5 goals per game over that span.
The Stars defeated the Red Wings 4-1 at home on Friday night. It was Joe Pavelski’s 1,005th career game, but the team was honoring the veteran on reaching the 1,000 game mark (which he did on Dec. 20 at Florida). Before the game, the Stars gifted their offseason addition a crystal plaque with an engraved dedication to his 1,000-game accomplishment. The Stars also gifted him a golf trip to Scotland as Pavelski is an avid golfer.
Corey Perry will miss his second consecutive contest after being suspended by the league for five games for elbowing Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis during the first period of the Winter Classic. Perry was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct, while being forced to do the walk of shame back to the locker room. This is Perry’s third suspension from the NHL. He was first given a four-game ban in 2009 after elbowing Flyers forward Claude Giroux and received the same punishment in 2013 after an illegal check on Minnesota’s Jason Zucker.
The Kings have lost six of their last eight games overall (2-5-1). LA is coming off a 4-2 loss to Columbus on Monday. The Kings were ahead 1-0 vs CBJ before allowing three straight Blue Jackets’ goals. Los Angeles cut it to 3-2 in the third but couldn’t complete the comeback. LA currently sits in last place in the West and appear likely to miss the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since missing the postseason six straight years from 2003-2009.
Former LA captain Dustin Brown spent Christmas in a Torrance hospital “feeling the worst” he had ever felt as he suffered from pneumonia. Brown said he had it once before when he was a child but couldn’t recall many of the details, saying he was “really really young.” Brown returned to the lineup Monday night after missing the previous four games with pneumonia. He played 13:36 and had one shot in the loss vs. Columbus
[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 10 P.M. ET ON NBCSN]
WHAT: Dallas Stars at Los Angeles Kings
WHERE: Staples Center
WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 8, 10 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Stars-Kings stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
STARS
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Denis Gurianov - Roope Hintz - Joe Pavelski
Andrew Cogliano - Radek Faksa - Blake Comeau
Mattias Janmark - Jason Dickinson - Joel Kiviranta
Jamie Oleksiak - Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell - Roman Polak
Andrej Sekera - Taylor Fedun
Starting goalie: Anton Khudobin
KINGS
Alex Iafallo - Anze Kopitar - Tyler Toffoli
Nikolai Prokhorkin - Jeff Carter - Dustin Brown
Adrian Kempe - Blake Lizotte - Austin Wagner
Kyle Clifford - Mike Amadio - Trevor Lewis
Sean Walker - Drew Doughty
Ben Hutton - Alec Martinez
Derek Forbort - Matt Roy
Starting goalie: Jonathan Quick
Kathryn Tappen will host Wednesday’s coverage on NHL Live alongside analysts Patrick Sharp and Keith Jones and Bob McKenzie. Chris Cuthbert will handle play-by-play duties alongside analyst Jim Fox from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, Calif.