Time: Thu, December 31, 2009 at 8:00 PM ET
League: NHL – United States of America

Last 10 matches: Los Angeles 5-5-0; Minnesota 6-4-0
In today’s NHL, it doesn’t take long at all to go from the penthouse to the outhouse. It wasn’t long ago when the Kings surged to the top of the Western Conference now, amidst four consecutive losses and a stretch where they didn’t play for eight days, they have slipped to eighth place, just two points ahead of Dallas for the postseason cutoff. This will be their second game in as many nights, as they try to push back in the right direction. Jonathan Quick should be back in net for the Kings after Erik Ersberg gave him a rare breather Wednesday. Quick leads the League in both games (36) and minutes (2,164) played.
Rookie forward Scott Parse scored the Kings’ lone goal Wednesday, his second straight game with a tally. … Wild defenseman Kim Johnsson has goals in three consecutive games. He has scored in both games against Los Angeles this season.
Forwards Andrei Loktionov (shoulder), Jarret Stoll (groin) and Justin Williams (right leg/ankle) are all on injured reserve for Los Angeles, while defenseman Randy Jones has been out of action due to a neck injury.

Concussions have sidelined Minnesota defenseman Brent Burns and forwards Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Petr Sykora. Forward Robbie Earl has joined them on injured reserve as he battles flu-like symptoms, and forward Chuck Kobasew is out long-term due to a sprained MCL/ACL. We will post information about results of this match, as soon as posible.. stay with us.