NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with Wednesday’s matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning 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.
The Lightning continue their post All-Star break road trip as they head west to take on the Kings. This is the second and final meeting between these two clubs this season. The first matchup came just over two weeks ago on Jan. 14 in Tampa, when the Lightning overcame a third period deficit before defeating LA in a shootout.
The Lightning have won their last seven games against the Kings. The last two matchups between Tampa and LA have resulted in a 4-3 shootout win for the Lightning.
This game will mark the first sports event held at the Staples Center since former Laker Kobe Bryant’s death on Sunday. The arena hosted the Grammy Awards on Sunday night and was scheduled to host a Clippers-Lakers game on Tuesday, but the NBA decided to postpone that game in the wake of Bryant’s death.
In their historically dominant 2018-19 regular season, the Lightning led the NHL with a 28.2% power play. This season the unit has been equally as strong, ranking seond in the league at 26.8%. However more recently it’s been a point of weakness for Tampa Bay. They went 0-for-4 with the man advantage in the loss to the Stars Monday, continuing a concerning trend over the last few weeks.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar continues to be the bright spot on the offensive end for Los Angeles. The 32-year-old leads the team in goals (17), assists (26) and points (43) as he appears on pace to top his numbers from a season ago (22G-38A-60P). Kopitar matched a season-high with three points (1G-2A) in the Jan. 16 loss in Florida but was held without a point in three of LA’s final 4 games before the break.
[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 7 P.M. ET ON NBCSN]
WHAT: Tampa Bay Lightning at Los Angeles Kings WHERE: Staples Center WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 29, 10 p.m. ET TV: NBCSN LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Lightning-Kings stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
LIGHTNING Steven Stamkos - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov Ondrej Palat - Anthony Cirelli - Tyler Johnson Alex Killorn - Cedric Paquette - Patrick Maroon Carter Verhaeghe - Mitchell Stephens - Yanni Gourde
Victor Hedman - Jan Rutta Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak Mikhail Sergachev - Kevin Shattenkirk
Starting goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy
KINGS Alex Iafallo - Anze Kopitar - Dustin Brown Nikolai Prokhorkin - Jeff Carter - Tyler Toffoli Adrian Kempe - Blake Lizotte - Austin Wagner Kyle Clifford - Mike Amadio - Trevor Lewis
Joakim Ryan - Alec Martinez Ben Hutton - Sean Walker Kurtis MacDermid - Matt Roy
Starting goalie: Jonathan Quick
Liam McHugh will host Wednesday’s coverage on NHL Live alongside analysts Anson Carter and Keith Jones and NHL insider Bob McKenzie. John Forslund will call the action from STAPLES Center, alongside analysts Jim Fox and Brian Engblom.