Senators at Kings preview

SENATORS (9-11-6) at KINGS (18-8-3)
10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV

The Kings kept the streak alive by scoring four third-period goals and rallying for a 5-2 win against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. Center Anze Kopitar had a goal and two assists, giving him nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past five games.
A victory Thursday would match the Kings' longest winning streak since they won seven consecutive games from Oct. 16-31, 2015.
The Senators are 1-8-1 in their past 10 games; they have scored more than two goals once in that stretch and have been shut out three times.

Players to watch

Senators center Matt Duchene has one goal and one assist in 11 games after being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche as part of a three-team trade on Nov. 5.
Kings forward Marian Gaborik has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past five games.

They said it

"When things are not going your way, you try and look for answers that are not there. You try and get out of your comfort zone and do different things, but at the end of the day you need to do the things you are good at, and I think that we are starting to get to that." -- Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson
"Sometimes you get down and the tendency is to try and go win the game in the first few minutes and you end up giving up stuff the other way, but probably what we were the most pleased with -- I think it's an old cliche -- we played the game the right way." -- Kings coach John Stevens on the third period against the Wild

Senators projected lineup

Bobby Ryan -- Derick Brassard -- Mark Stone
Zack Smith -- Matt Duchene -- Ryan Dzingel
Mike Hoffman -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Gabriel Dumont
Tom Pyatt -- Nate Thompson -- Alexandre Burrows
Ben Harpur -- Erik Karlsson
Dion Phaneuf -- Thomas Chabot
Johnny Oduya -- Fredrik Claesson
Mike Condon
Craig Anderson
Scratched: Cody Ceci
Injured:Mark Borowiecki (concussion), Chris Wideman (groin)

Kings projected lineup

Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Dustin Brown
Tanner Pearson -- Nicholas Shore -- Tyler Toffoli
Marian Gaborik -- Adrian Kempe -- Trevor Lewis
Jussi Jokinen -- Torrey Mitchell -- Jonny Brodzinski
Jake Muzzin -- Drew Doughty
Kurtis MacDermid -- Alec Martinez
Derek Forbort -- Christian Folin
Darcy Kuemper
Jonathan Quick
Scratched: Oscar Fantenberg, Nic Dowd
Injured:Andy Andreoff (undisclosed), Kyle Clifford (upper body), Jeff Carter (lower body)

Status report

Kuemper will start for the first time since he made 39 saves in a 4-1 win at the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 1.

Stat pack

Karlsson does not have a point in his past 10 games after beginning the season with 17 points (one goal, 16 assists) in his first 11 games. … Doughty had three assists against the Wild, giving him eight in his past seven games.