Coyotes @ Kings

Who will WIN this matchup?

Arizona Coyotes (16-18-2)

@ Los Angeles Kings (14-20-3)

Starting Goalies:

Darcy Kuemper (ARI): Confirmed

Jonathan Quick (LAK): Likely

Current odds:

Arizona Coyotes: (+125)

Los Angeles Kings: (-145)

• The Los Angeles Kings showed a bit of promise heading into the Christmas break, extending their winning streak to three games with overtime victories over a pair of Pacific Division foes. The cellar-dwelling Kings look to continue their forward progress against another division rival on Thursday when they host the Arizona Coyotes at Staples Center. Tyler Toffoli scored 1:40 into the extra session as Los Angeles posted a 4-3 win versus Vegas on Sunday to improve to a respectable 6-5-1 within the division. Alex Iafallo moved into a tie with Dustin Brown for the team lead in goals (nine) by scoring in his fourth straight game while extending his point streak to seven contests (four goals, five assists).

• The Kings reside three points behind the seventh-place Coyotes, who have responded by winning two in a row following a disheartening 1-7-0 stretch. Nick Schmaltz, who scored in Arizona’s 2-1 road victory versus Los Angeles on Dec. 4, extended his assist streak to three games by setting up Alex Galchenyuk’s second goal in Sunday’s 4-3 shootout win at San Jose.

• Clayton Keller boosted his club-best assist (18) and point (26) totals with a strong December, setting up 10 tallies this month — including one against Los Angeles — to go along with his eighth goal of the season. Brad Richardson, who played in parts of five campaigns with Los Angeles, hasn’t been as fortunate this month as he has scored just three of his team-leading 10 goals in December. Darcy Kuemper is in line to get the nod on Thursday after Arizona shuffled fellow goaltender Adin Hill to Tucson of the American Hockey League earlier in the week.

• Captain Anze Kopitar has been contributing offensively with 14 of his club-best 23 points in his last 16 games, although the two goals in that stretch leave the 31-year-old Slovene a pair shy of 300 for his career. Defenseman Drew Doughty has expressed optimism with the team’s direction after recording three of his club-leading 18 assists in his last four games. “You never know what can happen,” the 29-year-old Doughty said. “We know that if we can win, let’s say 15 out of 20, 17 out of 20, something like that, we might be back in the picture. You never know, so we’ve just got to control what we’re doing and win some hockey games.”

• Arizona D Oliver Ekman-Larsson set up a goal to boost his point total to 18 (eight goals, 10 assists) in 39 career encounters versus Los Angeles.

• Kings LW Ilya Kovalchuk has two goals and an assist in two games since returning from an ankle injury.

• Coyotes C Derek Stepan has been held off the scoresheet in seven of his last nine contests.