The Los Angeles Kings have been on a strong run, moving up near the top of the crowded Pacific Division, while the New York Rangers are still trying to break out of a long slump.
The Rangers will look to fix their issues when they play the Kings on Saturday afternoon in New York.
Last season, the Kings had a record of 21-12-1 after coach Jim Hiller replaced Todd McLellan. This season, Los Angeles started with three straight losses but has been steadily earning points. They had a good start with an 8-3-3 record and are continuing their strong performance.
Since losing two consecutive road games to the Calgary Flames and Colorado Avalanche, the Kings have gone 8-3-0 in their last 11 games. They’ve been winning because of their strong defense, allowing two goals or fewer in every victory.
During a six-game winning streak, the Kings outscored their opponents 21-8, but that streak ended with a 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. Jordan Spence scored the only goal for the Kings, and captain Anze Kopitar didn’t get a point for the third time in his last 14 games.
The Kings are hoping to be more aggressive offensively after finishing Thursday’s game with only 14 shots on goal. They also allowed two goals in the third period, including the go-ahead goal by Jack Hughes.
“Maybe a little more aggressive right from the get-go,” said Kings forward Phillip Danault. “It wasn’t a bad game. They capitalized a little more, but I would say the pace was there. I didn’t mind our game, it’s just a matter of capitalizing.”
The Rangers have a record of 10-12-0 in their last 22 games, after starting 5-0-1. They’ve had problems since winning three games in a row from Nov. 14-19. New York has split six games since then, following a five-game losing streak from Nov. 21-29, which led general manager Chris Drury to say he was open to making trades.
On Dec. 6, Drury traded captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks, and since then, the Rangers have split four games. They won 4-2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on the same day as the trade, but followed that up with poor performances in losses to the Seattle Kraken and Chicago Blackhawks.
New York avoided a third straight loss by winning 3-2 against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday. Mika Zibanejad, who has been struggling, scored a power-play goal, while Reilly Smith and defenseman Adam Fox also scored. This win came after a 2-1 loss to Chicago, where coach Peter Laviolette criticized the team’s lack of effort.
“That’s what we talked about before the game,” Zibanejad said. “Just one win. That’s all we care about. And obviously you want to be able to stand here with an unbelievable effort for 60 minutes and have only positive stuff. But I’ll take the win. We’ll take the win. And keep building.”
However, the win came with a cost. K’Andre Miller was placed on injured reserve on Friday due to an upper-body injury he got during Wednesday’s game. Miller has two goals this season, and the Rangers called up Connor Mackey to replace him. Mackey will play alongside Braden Schneider on Saturday.
“We feel like we have good pieces in place to come up,” said Laviolette after practice on Friday. “Now it’s their turn to step up.”
