What you need to know ahead of the Kings' game against the San Jose Sharks:
When: Monday, November 25th at 7:30 PM PST
Where: SAP Center - San Jose, CA
Watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Listen: ESPN LA APP
Records:
Kings: 11 - 7 - 3 (25 points), 3rd in Pacific Division
Sharks: 6 - 12 - 5 (17 points), 8th in Pacific Division
Kings Team Stats:
Power Play: 14.3% (28th)
Penalty Kill: 89.7% (13th)
Faceoff Win Percentage: 51.6% (12th)
GF/GP: 3.05 (17th)
GA/GP: 2.75 (8th)
Sharks Team Stats:
Power Play: 16.4% (26th)
Penalty Kill: 84.0% (10th)
Faceoff Win Percentage: 48.1% (24th)
GF/GP: 2.85 (18th)
GA/GP: 2.75 (10th)
Kings Notes:
- Tonight’s game marks a league-high 179th matchup between the Kings and Sharks in league history.
- Only Shane Doan (112 GP) has played more games against San Jose in league history than Anze Kopitar’s 95.
- The captain is also set to skate in his 699th career road game tonight, the fourth-most among all active skaters behind Ryan Suter (727), Alex Ovechkin (725) and Brent Burns (714). Tonight will also be Kopitar’s 1,395th career game played overall, which would tie Roman Hamrlik (1,395) for 44th-most in League history.
- Forward Quinton Byfield skated in his 200th career NHL game Saturday afternoon against the Kraken to become the eighth different skater form the 2020 NHL Draft to reach such mark. Byfield notched his third goal of the season in Saturday’s contest for his 10th point (3-7=10) on the campaign. With his goal, Byfield became just the third player in Kings history to score in both his 100th (Oct. 11, 2023 vs. COL) and 200th (Nov. 23, 2024 vs. SEA) career games, joining Luc Robitaille and Sean Avery.
- Byfield’s goal stood as his sixth career game-winning goal (GWG) and 98th career point (31-67=98). Per NHL PR, among players to debut with the franchise, the last player to have as many points through their first 200 career games was Tyler Toffoli (60-63=123).
- Goaltender David Rittich turned aside 19 of 20 Kraken shots Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena to improve his season record to 7-5-0 and bring his regular-season career win total to 199 (199-62-24). With his next victory, Rittich would become just the eighth Czech-born (Jihlava, CZE) netminder in NHL history to reach the 200-win mark, and the 58th undrafted goaltender to win as many games.
- With his 10th goal of the season Saturday afternoon vs. Seattle, Adrian Kempe joins William Nylander (14) and Jesper Bratt (10) as the only three Swedish-born skaters with double-digits goals on the year.
Sharks Notes:
- The Kings will see Macklin Celenbrini, the 2024 first overall draft pick for the first time. Despite having played the Sharks twice this season, Celebrini has missed both games due to injury. Having played 11 games in total this season, Celebrini has appeared in the sharks last 10 games and has recorded seven points (4-3=7).
- The Sharks rank 31st in shots against per game (33.3).
- Despite the division's worst record, the Sharks have earned points in six of their last 10 games (3-4-3).
- One the NHL's top goaltender prospects Yaroslav Askarov made season debut for the Sharks on Thursday. Askarov, whom the Sharks acquired in the offseason stopped 29 of 31 shots faced, but picked up a shootout loss.
Players to Watch:
Kings: Warren Foegele, eho skates into SAP Center riding a five-game point streak (4-3=7) against the Sharks, dating back to Nov. 9, 2023, including multi-goal efforts in two of his last three contests.
Sharks: Mikael Granlund, who has been the Sharks best offensive player this season. Granlund netted two goals in the against the Kings in their first meeting this season and has 24 points (9-15-24) on the year.
