This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Over their past 10 meetings, the Ducks have come out victorious seven times, improving their career record against their cross-town rivals to 61-43-11-13 with an average of 2.92 goals scored per game, their sixth-highest average compared to the 29 other teams. That's kind of shocking, considering how good the Kings have been defensively in recent years and how much more successful they've been this decade.
On Sunday, the two teams will meet for the 129th time during the season, and the Ducks should be favored once again with the Kings still without the services of a few key players. The winner of the game will be able to take possession of the Pacific Division lead, with first place and last place separated by less than 10 points, the smallest margin of any division, indicating that it's still very much open season. Even the division's weaker teams – Vancouver, Calgary and Arizona – are still within striking distance and one good week away from climbing back into the thick of things.
Special teams could be the biggest difference maker here as the Ducks are excelling both on the power play and the penalty kill, while the Kings continue to play the pauper in both regards. The Kings' woes on the power play are expected since they don't have any elite scorers and it's never really been their strong suit, and the penalty kill has suffered greatly due to poor goaltending, currently operating at a .861 save percentage, which is eighth-worst in the league.
Featured Matchups
Jets (PP: 18, PK: 17) at Hurricanes (PP: 14, PK: 1), 5:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Connor Hellebuyck (7-5-0, 2.59, .910), Cam Ward (5-4-3, 2.47, .912)
Key Injuries:Bryan Bickell (illness), Joel Armia (undisclosed), Kyle Connor (upper body), Bryan Little (lower body), Shawn Matthias (lower body), Tyler Myers (lower body), Mathieu Perreault (undisclosed), Drew Stafford (upper body)
The best part about this matchup are the potential fireworks Winnipeg's top line of Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers will set off. Though Ward has played very well of late, he's been known to be an average goaltender throughout his career, with the only anomaly coming in his rookie year when he became the first goalie to win the Conn Smythe since Ron Hextall. The Jets power play hasn't been very potent despite the amount of talent they can ice, and will face a top-notch Hurricanes penalty kill, so much of the damage will have to be done at even strength. Hellebuyck is still quite a green goalie with consistency issues, so some of the 'Canes top players such as Jeff Skinner and Victor Rask could be in line to score a few points as well. The over/under for total goals has been set at 5.5, the highest of all the games on the slate.
Kings (PP: 28, PK: 21) at Ducks (PP: 8, PK: 6), 8:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Jeff Zatkoff (0-3-0, 3.39, .875), John Gibson (6-5-3, 2.55, .909)
Key Injuries:Joseph Cramarossa (lower body), Simon Despres (head), Nicolas Kerdiles (concussion), Clayton Stoner (lower body), Nate Thompson (Achilles), Andy Andreoff (upper body), Marian Gaborik (foot), Anze Kopitar (upper body), Brayden McNabb (collarbone), Jonathan Quick (groin)
Sunday's marquee matchup will see the Kings very shorthanded, still without Kopitar, Quick and Gaborik. That means Ryan Kesler will just about kick everyone's butt in the faceoff circle, and Drew Doughty will have his hands full with a Ducks offense that can throw out a lot of different looks. The addition of Rickard Rakell to the third line has also provided some offensive punch, so Zatkoff will have his work cut out for him as he searches for his first win of the season. Gibson has been a disappointment so far, but should have the advantage in this one with a healthier team and excellent special teams play in front of him.
Other Matchups
Blue Jackets (PP: 1, PK: 11) at Capitals (PP: 23, PK: 12), 12:30 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Sergei Bobrovsky (9-4-1, 2.20, .932), Braden Holtby (9-3-1, 1.91, .930)
Key Injuries:Seth Jones (foot), Dalton Prout (back), Andre Burakovsky (undisclosed), Lars Eller (upper body), T.J. Oshie (upper body)
The Caps will be missing a few key players up front after a costly 1-0 win against Detroit when they lost Oshie, Burakovsky and Eller. Paul Carey, who is in the midst of an 11-game point streak, has been called up from AHL Hershey to help provide a little offense, but the key is special teams – the Blue Jackets' No. 1 ranked power play will be facing a Caps penalty kill that is without both of its forwards on the second unit, which means Nicklas Backstrom and Justin Williams will have to step up and perhaps sacrifice some power-play time.
Panthers (PP: 20, PK: 15) at Rangers (PP: 5, PK: 8), 7:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:James Reimer (2-3-1, 3.26, .888), Henrik Lundqvist (9-5-0, 2.30, .916)
Key Injuries:Nick Bjugstad (hand), Jonathan Huberdeau (lower body), Alex Petrovic (lower body), Pavel Buchnevich (back), Josh Jooris (upper body)
The good news is that Aleksander Barkov is expected to play after leaving Saturday's game early for precautionary reasons due to a potential concussion. Still, the Panthers will be in a tough battle starting their backup goalie with a blue line that's lacking experienced depth and going up against a team that rolls four potent lines seamlessly.
Flames (PP: 30, PK: 29) at Red Wings (PP: 16, PK: 27), 7:30 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Brian Elliott (3-8-0, 3.36, .882), Petr Mrazek (4-5-1, 3.16, .901)
Key Injuries:Lance Bouma (shoulder), Johnny Gaudreau (finger), Kris Versteeg (groin), Andreas Athanasiou (knee), Darren Helm (upper body), Tomas Jurco (back), Thomas Vanek (hip)
In a matchup where both teams are still trying to right the ship, the Flames are the slight underdog with shaky goaltending, Gaudreau out of the lineup and last change. Even without the speedy Athanasiou and noted offensive players Jurco and Vanek, the Red Wings should still have enough offensive firepower to score a few goals, though.
Recommended Pickup
Patrick Eaves, RW, DAL – His incredible five-game goal streak aside, the biggest upside to picking up Eaves is his plum assignment playing with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, but also the number of power-play opportunities he's getting. With a couple of the Stars' regular top-six forwards out, Eaves has really picked up the slack. Hampered by various injuries throughout his career, he's also on pace to register 209 shots for the season, which would be a vast improvement over his career-high of 130 set during the 2006-07 season with Ottawa.
