Canucks at Kings preview

CANUCKS (25-26-7) at KINGS (23-28-5)
10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, SNP, NHL.TV

The Canucks, 0-3-1 in their past four games away from Rogers Arena, have lost two straight and are 1-4-1 in their past six games after going 4-1-1 in their previous six. They lost 1-0 at the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday. Vancouver is two points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Kings have lost two straight (0-1-1) following a three-game winning streak and are 6-3-2 in their past 11 games. They are in last place in the Western Conference, eight points out of the second wild card.
Center Jeff Carter will miss his fourth straight game for Los Angeles because of a lower-body injury, but could return against the Boston Bruins on Saturday, coach Willie Desjardins said.

Players to watch

Canucks center Elias Pettersson has nine points (three goals, six assists) in nine games since he returned from a knee injury.
Kings forward Tyler Toffoli has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak. He has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"I like it when Adam's in the lineup. He brings us speed. He's tenacious. He wants to be hard on the puck. He's played in big games (during his collegiate career at Northeastern) before, so he knows the intensity level of hockey at this time of the year." -- Canucks coach Travis Green on center Adam Gaudette, recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League on Tuesday
"Once you get more confident then you're willing to do a few more things, like you hold the blue line a little bit longer, maybe you step up with the rush a little bit quicker." -- Kings coach Willie Desjardins on defenseman Oscar Fantenberg, who has scored in consecutive games

Canucks projected lineup

Josh Leivo -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Antoine Roussel -- Bo Horvat -- Nikolay Goldobin
Markus Granlund -- Adam Gaudette -- Zack MacEwen
Loui Eriksson -- Jay Beagle -- Tyler Motte
Ben Hutton -- Erik Gudbranson
Derrick Pouliot -- Troy Stecher
Guillaume Brisebois
-- Alex Biega
Jacob Markstrom
Marek Mazanec
Scratched:Tim Schaller
Injured:Chris Tanev (ankle), Sven Baertschi (concussion), Alexander Edler (concussion), Thatcher Demko (knee), Brandon Sutter (lower body), Jake Virtanen (undisclosed)

Kings projected lineup

Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Tyler Toffoli
Brendan Leipsic -- Michael Amadio -- Dustin Brown
Carl Hagelin -- Adrian Kempe -- Ilya Kovalchuk
Kyle Clifford -- Trevor Lewis -- Austin Wagner
Derek Forbort -- Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez -- Oscar Fantenberg
Sean Walker -- Paul LaDue
Jonathan Quick
Jack Campbell
Scratched:Dion Phaneuf
Injured:Jeff Carter (lower body), Jonny Brodzinski (shoulder)

Status report

Markstrom is expected to start in the second game of a back-to-back, with Mazanek remaining on the ice after the morning skate for additional work on Thursday. ... Tanev was placed on injured reserve Thursday. Green said the defenseman will return to Vancouver for further evaluation. ... Goldobin will play in place of Virtanen, who was shaken up on a hit by Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf, Green said.

Stat pack

Boeser is two points shy of 100 in the NHL. … Kempe has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak. … Kopitar has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past eight games.