Los Angeles @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 7, 2018 ) Detroit 2, Los Angeles 4

The Los Angeles Kings reside in the cellar of the NHL standings due in large part to a sputtering offense that has mustered a league-low 66 goals this season. Fresh off a campaign high-tying five goals in their last outing, the Kings hope their new-found offense travels well on Monday when they open a four-game road trip against the Detroit Red Wings.

"You know, goals haven't come easy for us, so it was good to get that one," Los Angeles coach Willie Desjardins told reporters following Saturday's 5-1 triumph versus Vegas, which marked the team's most goals since a 5-2 win over Edmonton on Nov. 25. Defenseman Jake Muzzin recorded his first multi-point performance of the season by setting up a pair of goals against the Golden Knights to give him four of his eight assists this season in December. One of the 29-year-old's helpers came in the Kings' 4-2 victory versus Detroit on Oct. 7, with Michigan native Dylan Larkin scoring a goal for the Red Wings. Larkin, who has a club-best 28 points, set up a pair of tallies on Saturday to give his team an early lead before Detroit fell for the third time in four outings with a 3-2 setback against the physical New York Islanders.

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network, FS West (Los Angeles), FS Detroit Plus

ABOUT THE KINGS (11-18-1): Defenseman Drew Doughty set up a goal for the second straight contest on Saturday while playing in his 800th career game to raise his team-leading assist total to 15. "It was a full 60 minutes. I thought everyone played hard tonight; there wasn't one guy that took the night off," the 2016 Norris Trophy winner told reporters. "So, when your team does that, you're going to win more hockey games. Hopefully we realize that tonight because we need to win more." Captain Anze Kopitar (team-leading 18 points), who has just one assist in his last five games, has ravaged the Red Wings for eight points (four goals, four assists) in this last three outings.

ABOUT THE RED WINGS (13-13-4): Gustav Nyquist notched his club-best 20th assist on Saturday to give him 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his last seven games to reside one shy of Larkin for the team lead. The 29-year-old Swede set up Larkin for a power-play goal in the first encounter with the Kings while Dennis Cholowski had a pair of assists, although the rookie defenseman has been held off the scoresheet in nine of his last 10 games. Jonathan Bernier turned aside 21 shots against his former team in October and has yielded at least three goals in four of his last five times on the ice.

OVERTIME

1. Detroit F Andreas Athanasiou, who shares team top honors in goals with Larkin, has been held off the scoresheet in six of his last eight games.

2. Kings F Alex Iafallo, who has been held off the scoresheet in five straight games, scored a pair of third-period goals in the first encounter with the Red Wings.

3. Detroit D Mike Green has registered 10 of his 16 points at home this season.

PREDICTION: Red Wings 3, Kings 2