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Preview: Penguins begin California swing tonight in Los Angeles

Posted on by Sarah Avampato

How to Watch

Game Time: 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time

TV: NBCSN

Radio: iHeart Radio

The Opposition: Pensburgh

What to Watch

  • Take a guess as to who’s the leading goal-scorer for the Penguins. Go ahead, guess. Whoever you were thinking, you’re probably wrong, as the answer is 27-year old winger Bryan Rust, who has 23 goals in 47 games. No, I don’t know how it happened, either. Rust’s previous career high was 18, set last year, and he’s already blown past that with more than a month of hockey left. Evgeni Malkin is second with 21; Jake Guentzel, who hasn’t played since December 30, is third with 20.
  • In addition to the recently acquired Jason Zucker, the Penguins also traded for Conor Sheary and Evan Rodrigues, sending Dominik Kahun to Buffalo in exchange. This will be Sheary’s second stint with the Pens; he was part of the squad that captured back-to-back cups in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Also: Patrick Marleau. /

  • Sidney Crosby, recently returned from injury, is close to a milestone of his own, as he closes in on 800 career assists. Crosby has 16 points (4 goals, 12 assists) in 15 career games against the Kings. /

  • The Kings will continue to tinker with their roster in the wake of the trade deadline moves. In the last game, Todd McLellan started to switch up his lines in an attempt to get something out of his group of players, who are all just limping along to the finish line now that their roster has been even more gutted. Against Edmonton, the Kings tried their patented late push, but weren’t quite able to catch up to Edmonton after digging themselves a big hole. Additionally, Gabe Vilardi was called back up after spending an additional day-ish technically assigned to the Reign. Skate today was optional so no clear ideas as to who lines up where.
  • Look: just buckle up. The rest of the season is going to be very bumpy as the Kings operate with a defense of Drew Doughty and a bunch of guys stuffed into Kings jerseys. The Kings are 1-1-1 on their current homestand and haven’t looked awful but, let’s not lie, haven’t looked great, either.
  • For anyone headed to the game, the Black Hockey History mobile museum will be at Chick Hearn Court from 2:30-7:30 pm. Go check it out!/

Talking Points