The Kings will ring in the New Year with its first heavyweight bout, kicking off 2025 with a showdown against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
Both teams have had to work to keep pace in competitive divisions. The Kings haven’t lost consecutive games since Nov. 20, compiling the third-best points percentage in the NHL since that time. The only issue? Both teams ahead of them during that span were also in the Pacific Division. The Edmonton Oilers lost to the Kings and Ducks over the weekend after entering the holiday break as winners of 11 of 13 contests, while the Vegas Golden Knights have won six straight games, 10 of 11 and 14 of 18 dating to Nov. 20.
The Devils have been the Metropolitan Division’s best performer since then and they tied with the Boston Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s best points percentage across that stretch. They’ve been pushed by the Washington Capitals, who added two prominent former Kings this offseason, and the resurgent Pittsburgh Penguins.
For the much-improved Devils, there hasn’t been much ambiguity. Their sixth-ranked offense from 2023-24 once again sits sixth in the league, but has been augmented by goaltending and defense that have dropped their goals-against average nearly a full goal below last season’s. Entering New Jersey’s clash with the Ducks on Tuesday, Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom, acquired via trade from Calgary, had been impregnable across most of his past 20 appearances and put himself firmly in the first-half Vezina Trophy conversation.
For the Kings, the reasons for their rebound have been less clear. They’ve had multiple players with statistical volatility – Quinton Byfield, Trevor Moore, Phillip Danault, Alex Laferriere and Brandt Clarke all spring to mind – as well as pronounced contrasts between their play at home (12-2-1, .833 points percentage, 25.7% on the power play) and on the road (9-8-4, .524 points percentage, 10.9% on the power play). They’ve also been doing it all without top defenseman Drew Doughty and, more recently, utility forwards Moore and Trevor Lewis, with the latter making swift progress toward a return for career game No. 1,000.
The Kings came from behind when trailing at the second intermission on consecutive days over the weekend, their first two such wins at home this season, further diversifying their burgeoning portfolio of home wins.
“At this point, there’s a belief,” coach Jim Hiller said. “You’d like to say there’s a belief at the beginning of the season, but every season the team is new, it’s fresh, there’s new players and you have to earn that belief in one another.”
“I think we start to get 36 games in and I start to think, ‘OK, we’ve done this, we can do this,’ and there’s just a feeling, it’s hard to describe,” Hiller continued. “Some years, you never get it how you want to get it. This year, it feels like we have it.”
Another thing the Kings have at the moment are multiple players on modest scoring streaks. Danault recorded a point in each of his past four games, while Clarke and Adrian Kempe each experienced three-game spikes. Byfield and captain Anže Kopitar powered a win apiece over the weekend, combining for four goals and six points in two victories.
For the Devils, who beat the Kings 3-1 in New Jersey on Dec. 12 to keep consistent with the black and silver’s disparate home/away splits, leading scorer Jesper Bratt lugged a five-game scoring streak into the back-to-back set with the Ducks and Kings. Linemate Ondřej Palát had a three-gamer going. Jack Hughes, who rounds out that trio and once famously chided the Kings, factored into all three New Jersey goals against the Kings this season and also scored the game-winner in Newark.
When: 3 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: FDSNW
