WHO: Los Angeles Kings (39-21-9) vs. New York Rangers (34-31-6)
WHAT: 2024-25 Regular-Season Game
WHEN: Tuesday, March 25 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings
TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings conclude a three-game homestand this evening as they host the New York Rangers tonight at Crypto.com Arena.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Tonight’s game concludes the season series between the Kings and Rangers, after Los Angeles won 5-1 in New York back in December.
Four Kings forwards had a goal and an assist in the win over the Rangers – Quinton Byfield, Warren Foegele, Adrian Kempe and Alex Turcotte. Forward Anze Kopitar had two assists in the win at Madison Square Garden, giving him seven helpers in his last seven games played against New York. Kopitar has 26 points (9-17-26) from 28 career games against the Rangers.
KINGS VITALS: Following a team day off yesterday, the Kings held what appeared to be a full morning skate today at Toyota Sports Performance Center.
Goaltender Darcy Kuemper was off first this morning, making him tonight’s projected starter against the Rangers. Kuemper made 31 saves on 32 shots when these teams met in New York to earn the win. He brings a lifetime record of 9-4-0 against the Rangers, with a .906 save percentage and a 2.71 goals-against average.
Didn’t see formal line rushes today, so sharing last game’s lineup for reference –
Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –
Kuzmenko – Kopitar – KempeFoegele – Danault – LewisFiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Jeannot – Helenius – Turcotte
Anderson – DoughtyGavrikov – Spence
Edmundson – Clarke
Kuemper
Rittich
— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 24, 2025
Forward Trevor Moore did take the morning skate today. Moore missed Sunday’s game versus Boston with an upper-body injury with a day-to-day timeline. Consider him to essentially be a game-time decision. Jim Hiller said that those conversations will come this afternoon with Moore and the training staff and we’ll go from there. Veteran forward Trevor Lewis took Moore’s spot on Sunday and collected an assist in the victory over Boston.
If Moore is out, that leaves the Kings with three potential healthy scratches – defensemen Kyle Burroughs and Jacob Moverare, as well as forward Akil Thomas. We’ll see during warmups.
RANGERS VITALS: New York enters tonight’s game just one point out of the final playoff position in the Eastern Conference with 74 points on the season.
Per Mollie Walker of the New York Post, here’s how the Rangers lined up last game out, a victory on Saturday against Vancouver –
I accidentally posted totally wrong #NYR lineup vs. Canucks:
Panarin-Trocheck-LafrenièreCuylle-Miller-ZibanejadKreider-Carrick-Brodzinski
Othmann-Pärssinen-Rempe
Miller-BorgenSoucy-Fox
Jones-Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) March 22, 2025
New York has two former Kings on their roster in goaltender Jonathan Quick and forward Jonny Brodzinski. Expect Brodzinski to be in the lineup tonight, while Quick is expected to be the backup to Igor Shesterkin between the pipes. Quick recently signed a one-year contract extension with the Rangers, meaning we should see him in Los Angeles at least once more.
Storyline Of The Day – Seventh Heaven
Seven goals on Saturday. Seven goals on Sunday. I’ll be honest, that was pretty exciting.
Wins in 8 of their last 9 games. 7 goals yesterday. 7 goals today. Quinton Byfield is emerging as a star. Darcy Kuemper, who should be a Vezina finalist, tried to get into a goalie fight.
How can you possibly not be entertained by the @LAKings right now???
— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 24, 2025
Look, the Kings aren’t going to score seven goals every game, we all know that. Not a team in the league that will. But they do feel like they can score more than they have at times this season.
“It’s always good to score,” defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov said. “It’s not going to be like that every single night, but we’ve got to look towards doing that more often……it’s pretty huge and we’re looking forward to doing that again.”
The Kings aren’t suddenly a team that’s going to start scoring freely, popping in goals left and right, but we’ve seen what happens when you get all 18 guys on the same page offensively and the shooting percentage regresses a little bit towards the mean.
Saw a stat that the Kings moved from 24th in the NHL to 16th in shooting percentage in 48 hours. Instant regression for a team that is a Top-5 club, 5-on-5, in several chance creation metrics.
“I think the players know we’re not a six or seven goals a night team, I think they know, but everybody’s happy we scored and it got spread out through the lineup,” Head Coach Jim Hiller said. “Good vibes, all that kind of stuff, but each game presents its own fresh start and that’s what we’ll have here tonight.”
I think that’s kind of where my head was at this morning.
It was so much fun, honestly, to watch those last two games. To watch the goals flow seemingly at will. For the Kings to finally break through and blow a team out, not sweating things until the end of the game. That was awesome and there’s still a little bit of a high I think coming off those games.
But for a team that is not only trying to make the playoffs, but to secure a Top-2 seed in the standings and play Game 1 in Los Angeles, those games have to be in the past. The “never too high, never too low” mantra usually comes up when things aren’t going well. When they are, though, I think that mentality is just as important. Right now, all that matters is the two points in front of them tonight against the Rangers.
“It’s definitely a good challenge, but right now, I think we have that playoff mentality, so it shouldn’t change our game at all,” forward Phillip Danault added. “We don’t want to get away from good habits, that’s what’s brought us to seven goals the last two games, the habits. Let’s just keep going the same way.”
That playoff mentality is key, I think.
I asked Gavrikov and Danault how much attention they’re paying to the other games around the league right now that impact the standings. Their answer was none. Danault said that he did do that over the last couple of seasons but this year, he’s solely locked in on the Kings.
“I don’t think that there was anybody cheating for offense, anything like that, so I believe we’ve got our game down,” Hiller added. “We know some nights we’ll get rewarded, some nights we won’t, but we’ll play our game.”
3 To Watch For –
– What’s been a theme over the last seven home games for the LA Kings?
Well, there are many.
Quinton Byfield has scored a goal in all seven of them. His point streak dates back even further, over nine games. The Kings are 8-0-1 in those contests, with only a shootout defeat against St. Louis separating them from a perfect stretch of nine victories.
It feels like we’re watching the emergence of Byfield as a star player in the NHL. At the start of the season, his level of play was better than his statistics, but the production was not there. As Warren Foegele joked the other day, with a big laugh, “where were those [goals] at the beginning of the year when I was passing them.”
They are there right now, though. Byfield has clearly added the shot to his other tools and it feels kind of like the final piece to the puzzle.
If you like cool statistics, here’s another one. In the month of February, Byfield led the NHL with 11 assists. So far in the month of March, no player around the league has scored more goals than Byfield’s eight. Since February 1, he’s got 21 points (8-13-21) in total, along with a +16 rating, leading the Kings in both categories.
As Anze Kopitar said recently, “he’s been our best player for some time now”. Been awesome to see him continue to put things together. More on Byfield’s recent form HERE.
– With Moore, feels like a true game-time decision here.
He was on the ice today and seemed to be a full participant. Not necessarily a game-time decision in that it’ll literally be decided later at game time but seems like Hiller wanted to see how he came through the skate, check in with Moore and the training staff this afternoon and see where he’s at. If it’s not a lock, there’s no reason to rush him. This is a big game, the Kings need the points, but there are bigger games to come in April and the Kings need Trevor Moore at 100 percent.
Hiller inserted veteran Trevor Lewis into the lineup on Sunday, playing in Moore’s spot with Danault and Foegele. Were it a different spot in the lineup, I don’t think Lewis would’ve gone in 1-for-1, but in that role, it’s an easy one for a defensive-first player to slide into.
“That line, as much as they’ve scored, is primarily our checking line and Lewie does that well,” Hiller said. “Especially in that role, because he’s conscientious, that’s a job he embraces.”
So, a lot of words to say TBD. Moore will go back in his spot as soon as he comes back in. Whether that’s today or not, he won’t lose anything due to injury. Nine goals since February 1, second most on the Kings. When he’s ready, he’ll be inserted right back in. Until then, let’s make sure he’s ready.
– Lastly, Insiders, a quick shoutout to the Ontario Reign at the AHL level.
They’ve strung together five wins in their last seven games to solidify their place in second in the Pacific Division standings. They’re currently six points off the division-leading Colorado Eagles but the two teams will play twice this weekend in Ontario. A massive opportunity to potentially close that gap with a pair of victories. The top seed in the AHL comes with a bye to the second round of the playoffs in the AHL, so it’s an important place to be.
Big week ahead, as they host Tucson tomorrow before the games with Colorado over the weekend!
Speaking of big weeks ahead, tonight’s game begins a 4-in-6 for the Kings. Tonight versus New York, Thursday in Colorado, back-to-back this weekend versus Toronto and San Jose. Lots of important points on the line, starting this evening.
