Maple Leafs at Kings preview

MAPLE LEAFS (35-24-8) at KINGS (25-35-6)
10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, SNO, NHL.TV

The Maple Leafs, who are 4-2-0 in their past six games after going 3-5-1 in their previous nine games and trail the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning by nine points, have a five-point lead on the fourth-place Florida Panthers.
Kyle Clifford will play against his former team for the first time since the forward was traded to Toronto by Los Angeles on Feb. 5. Clifford, who won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014 with the Kings, and goalie Jack Campbell were traded for forward Trevor Moore, a third-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.
Forward Ilya Mikheyev could return for Toronto after missing 28 games because of a lacerated wrist sustained in a 5-4 win at the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 27.
The Kings, who can extend their winning streak to a season-long four games, are 6-2-1 in their past nine games following a five-game losing streak and are last in the Western Conference.

Players to watch

Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews has six points (three goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak, including one goal in three straight games.
Kings center Anze Kopitar has scored 20 goals for the third straight season and 11th time in 14 NHL seasons.

They said it

"It's just different being on the visitors' sides of things, but it's business like usual." -- Maple Leafs forward Kyle Clifford on facing Los Angeles
"I don't think we're necessarily doing too much different, but we're playing the system better. But our goaltending has been really good in this stretch." -- Kings defenseman Drew Doughty

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- Mitchell Marner
William Nylander -- John Tavares -- Ilya Mikheyev
Kyle Clifford -- Alex Kerfoot -- Kasperi Kapanen
Pierre Engvall -- Frederik Gauthier -- Jason Spezza
Travis Dermott -- Justin Holl
Martin Marincin -- Tyson Barrie
Rasmus Sandin --
Timothy Liljegren
Frederik Andersen
Jack Campbell
Scratched: Calle Rosen, Denis Malgin
Injured: Morgan Rielly (fractured foot), Jake Muzzin (fractured hand), Cody Ceci (ankle), Andreas Johnsson (knee)

Kings projected lineup

Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Dustin Brown
Adrian Kempe -- Blake Lizotte -- Martin Frk
Trevor Moore -- Gabriel Vilardi -- Trevor Lewis
Nikolai Prokhorkin -- Michael Amadio -- Austin Wagner
Ben Hutton -- Drew Doughty
Kurtis MacDermid -- Sean Walker
Mikey Anderson -- Matt Roy
Jonathan Quick
Cal Petersen
Scratched:Joakim Ryan
Injured:Jeff Carter (lower body)

Status report

Campbell will start at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. … Carter, a forward, will miss his seventh straight game. There is no timetable for his return.

Stat pack

Spezza is one assist shy of 600 in the NHL. … Andersen is 8-1-2 with a 2.21 goals-against average and .930 save percentage in 12 games against Los Angeles. … Doughty needs one point for 500 in the NHL. … Brown has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past four games.