Thursday, March 6

SoCal NHL Preview


Ottawa (37-24-7) at Los Angeles (26-37-5), 7:30 pm, FSN

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - A meeting with the worst team in the Western Conference might be exactly what the Ottawa Senators need to get back on track. The Senators continue a four-game Western Conference road trip on Thursday when they visit the lowly Los Angeles Kings.

Ottawa is just 1-5-1 in its last seven games, including a 3-2 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. With the loss, the Senators fell to 1-2-1 since general manager Bryan Murray took over behind the bench for John Paddock, who was fired on February 27. The Senators have lost four straight road games - one in overtime - but hope to break out of their slump against a dismal Kings squad, which fell to 0-2-3 over its last five games on Tuesday after enduring a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues.

Los Angeles' already disappointing season took yet another turn for the worse Wednesday when starting goaltender Jason LaBarbera was lost for the rest of the season due to a sports hernia. The 28-year-old LaBarbera, who hasn't played since February 18, posted a 17-32-2 record this season with a 3.00 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.