Kings travel to Anaheim for battle of bottom dwellers

Not all that far removed from the glory days of hockey in Southern California, there will be scant few reminders Sunday as the Los Angeles Kings head south on Interstate 5 to play the Ducks in Anaheim.

There will be the uniforms, of course, making that the biggest reminder that the Kings won Stanley Cup titles in 2011-12 and 2013-14. There will be the championship banner hanging high in the rafters representing the Ducks' Stanley Cup title in 2006-07.

On the ice, though, neither team has been able to do much to conjure up thoughts of better days. The Ducks will enter 27-33-9 (63 points), next to last in the Western Conference. The only team behind them is the Kings at 24-36-8 (56 points).

Los Angeles is coming off a 4-2 defeat Saturday at Phoenix.

The Ducks, though, have been coming on strong of late. The lowest scoring team in the league at 159 goals, the Ducks have amassed 12 in the past two games alone, although they lost one of those contests.

On Wednesday they appeared to be on their way to victory, until the St. Louis Blues scored two goals in the final 1 minute, 4 seconds to earn a 5-4 decision. Far from heartbroken, the Ducks blitzed the Montreal Canadiens on Friday to the tune of an 8-2 victory, their highest scoring game of the season.

With the trade deadline now passed and with 13 games under new coach Bob Murray (also the team's general manager), the Ducks appear comfortable and in a flow.

The game against the Canadiens was a glimpse into the future for the Ducks. Like rookie Troy Terry, who had a goal and three points. Max Jones scored his first career goal in the closing seconds.

"We found a way to play and be in hockey games and compete every single night," right wing Corey Perry said. "This team, bring the kids in, they have a lot of energy, they have a lot of speed, a lot of skill. They're starting to be selfish with the puck a little bit, which is a good thing."

The Kings also have gone through a coaching change, although not as recent. John Stevens was replaced by Willie Desjardins in November with the effect essentially negligible. Los Angeles was 4-8-1 under Stevens and has been 20-28-7 under Desjardins.

While the Ducks have started to break free from their scoring funk, the Kings are deep in theirs. After falling to the Coyotes, Los Angeles has lost 13 of their past 14 games, scoring one or fewer goals in five of those games and two or fewer in eight.

"It's getting to the point where we just need to stick together, and we can't let one breakdown turn into two," Kings right wing Tyler Toffoli said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "We've got to find a way to ... bounce back instead of falling back."

The matchup is the first of three between the Kings and Ducks over the final month of the season. The only other meeting this year came Nov. 6 when the Kings earned a 4-1 victory.

Ducks center Ryan Kesler (hip) is day-to-day heading into Sunday's game, as is defenseman Brendan Guhle (undisclosed) and goaltender Chad Johnson (head). Kings left wing Austin Wagner is not expected to play with a lower body injury and is at least a week from returning.

--Field Level Media