NY Rangers vs Los Angeles Kings Prediction, Betting Odds, and Our Best Bet

The Kings took Game 1 in convincing fashion back in December, simply crushing the Rangers 5-1 on the road. Now they’re back in Los Angeles for their final matchup of the season with momentum and one of the league’s best home records — 25-3-4.

The puck drops tonight at Crypto.com Arena, and oddsmakers have made it very clear that this is LA’s game to lose. Do we agree with them? Maybe, but there’s more to this matchup that we’ll dig into.

Odds and Matchup Breakdown

The Kings are -165 favorites on the moneyline, while the Rangers come in at +140. Given the previous blowout and how these teams are rolling as of late, that seems a bit off as we were expecting the Kings to be a bit heavier on the odds.

Los Angeles is absolutely dominant at home this season with their 25-3-4 record and on top of that they’re riding a 6-game home win streak. That’s not a fluke. This team thrives at Crypto.com Arena. Just over the past few weeks they’ve crushed some of the best teams in the NHL such as Carolina 7-2, Washington was completely shut out 3-0, and Las Vegas 6-5. This team is unstoppable in their own house.

The Rangers aren’t pushovers, either. They’re sitting at 34-31-6, but they’ve been streaky and have lost 3 of their last 5. They’ve been outscored 9-4 over the past 2 games, and now they’ll be up against a Kings team that just dropped 7 goals on Boston and 7 more on Carolina in back-to-back games. LA knows how to light the lamp, but can the Rangers shut them down even a little?

Key Stats and Trends

The Kings are unquestionably hot.

Winners of 3 straight, including a 7-2 blowout of the Hurricanes and a 7-2 win over the Bruins, and they’ve scored 17 goals in their last 3 games. That’s a serious heater.

On the flip side, the Rangers are coming off a 5-3 win over Vancouver, but it followed back-to-back losses to Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton. They’ve allowed 3+ goals in 4 of their last 5 which goes to show that they can be beat fairly easily. That’s trouble against a Kings offense clicking like this.

The goaltending edge leans to LA as well. Darcy Kuemper is 24-9-7 with a .918 SV% which puts him 4th in the NHL. Igor Shesterkin has been solid but inconsistent, sitting at a .907 SV% with a 2.81 GAA, essentially putting him in the middle of the pack.

Home/road splits back up the edge too. While LA is elite at home at 25-3-4 the Rangers are just 17-14-3 on the road. This game already feels pretty lopsided unless the Rangers can pull off a miracle.

To top all of that off, the Kings also took the only meeting between these 2 teams this season — and it wasn’t close. The Kings took off and scored 5 before the Rangers even got their only goal of the night. However, the Rangers did keep it fairly competitive in a few areas such as shots, hits, and faceoffs but as a team, they have to convert all of that into goals, which they didn’t.

Our Prediction and Best Bet

The Rangers might have the names — Panarin, Fox, Shesterkin — but this is clearly LA’s game.

Momentum is real, and the Kings have it. They’re home, rested, scoring in droves, and backed by some of the best goaltending in the NHL. The Rangers simply can’t match their pace right now, and unless something drastically changes before the game, we’re expecting a similar result to Game 1.

• HelloRookie’s Prediction: Kings 4, Rangers 2
• Best Bet: Kings -1.5 at +154

You could play it safe with the moneyline, but the Kings simply score too much to keep the game by one. We’re going with the puck line at +154 to add some cash to our bankroll.

If you’re looking at props, Quinton Byfield as an anytime goalscorer at +285 has some decent value on top of the game bet — he’s scored in 7 straight home games and we don’t see him slowing down at all. And if you like trends, the OVER 5.5 at -105 isn’t a bad look either considering the fact that the Kings just had 2 games with a combined 14 goals of their own.

But this one’s all about the Kings. Keep riding the streak.