- 1 New York Rangers vs Los Angeles Kings: Panarin returns to a building where the Rangers are 6-0
- 2 New York Rangers: Garand has made seven straight starts and the Garden hasn’t seen a loss
- 3 Los Angeles Kings: 13 shots in New Jersey and the league’s worst penalty kill
- 4 Free NHL Prediction: New York Rangers vs Los Angeles Kings
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
New York Rangers vs Los Angeles Kings: Panarin returns to a building where the Rangers are 6-0 
Artemi Panarin leads the Los Angeles Kings with nine points, and on Monday he plays at Madison Square Garden for the first time since the Rangers traded him to LA on February 4. He has since signed a two-year, $22 million extension with the Kings.
Puck drop is at 7pm ET on Monday, October 26, with the game on NHL Network. The Rangers are 7-5-1 overall and a perfect 6-0-0 on home ice, while the Kings sit at 2-5-2 and are on the fourth stop of a five-game road trip.
New York has hit a rough patch away from the Garden. The Rangers lost 4-5 in Toronto on Thursday and 4-7 in Ottawa on Saturday, when Drake Batherson scored a hat trick, and they’ve dropped four of their last five games. All of those defeats came on the road.
Los Angeles has its own problem: scoring. The Kings managed only 13 shots in a 1-3 loss at New Jersey on Saturday afternoon, and they’ve scored 2.50 goals per game, tied for 27th in the league. Their penalty kill sits at 63%, last in the NHL.
The Rangers’ penalty kill is at 91.7%, tied for second, and they allow 2.42 goals per game, fourth-best in the league. That gap on special teams is the number I keep coming back to for this one.
The Kings did win both meetings last season, 4-3 at home on January 20 and 4-1 at the Garden on March 16. The Rangers had Igor Shesterkin in net for the second of those, and he won’t be there on Monday.
New York Rangers: Garand has made seven straight starts and the Garden hasn’t seen a loss 
Shesterkin was hurt on October 9 in Washington and is out for the season with a knee injury. Joonas Korpisalo went down with a lower-body injury in the same week and was given about four weeks on October 10, which left the crease to Dylan Garand.
Garand has started seven straight games and gone 4-3-1 with a 2.31 goals-against average, a .915 save percentage and one shutout. His last two outings were rough: 30 saves on 35 shots in Toronto and 17 saves in Ottawa, where the Senators also added two empty-netters.
Alexis Lafreniere is carrying the offense with eight goals and 14 points, and he scored again on Saturday. Fox has 14 assists without a goal, and Zibanejad has 11 points. Will Cuylle scored shorthanded in Ottawa, and J.T. Miller and Pavel Dorofeyev also found the net.
Dorofeyev is one of coach Mike Sullivan’s summer additions. The Rangers acquired him from Vegas on June 26 and signed him to a seven-year, $77 million deal. They also traded Trocheck, who scored New York’s only goal in the March loss to LA, to Utah on July 1.
The Rangers score 3.08 goals per game, 15th in the league, and they’ve converted 20% of their power plays. Against a Kings penalty kill at 63%, the special teams math favors New York heavily.
Rest is even. New York played Saturday night in Ottawa and flew home, and this is its last game before November 1 against Edmonton.
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Los Angeles Kings: 13 shots in New Jersey and the league’s worst penalty kill 
The Kings started the season 0-4-2, losing to Colorado, San Jose, Florida, Vegas, Edmonton and Boston. They then won 5-2 in Washington, with Kempe scoring twice, and 3-2 in overtime on Long Island, where Panarin scored two goals and Brandt Clarke won it.
Darcy Kuemper made 41 saves on 43 shots in that Islanders win. He’s 2-3-1 with a 3.55 goals-against average and an .890 save percentage, and with Anton Forsberg in net on Saturday, Kuemper is the likely starter on Monday. That hasn’t been confirmed.
Saturday’s loss in Newark showed the offensive ceiling. Scott Laughton scored LA’s only goal in the second period, assisted by Kempe and Andre Lee. Brett Pesce scored the winner for New Jersey at 8:08 of the third, and Jake Allen needed only 12 saves.
Panarin has six goals and nine points, Kempe has seven points and a four-game point streak, and Clarke and Laferriere each have seven. Quinton Byfield is day-to-day with an upper-body injury after leaving the Washington game and missing the Islanders game.
Peter Laviolette, hired in June, coached the Rangers until the end of the 2024-25 season, so Monday is a return to the Garden for him too. The Kings added Mats Zuccarello, Corey Perry and Erik Haula on July 1.
LA allows 3.63 goals per game, tied for 28th. The Kings’ 63% penalty kill is the worst in the league, and New York has scored on 20% of its chances.
Probable lineup New York Rangers: Dylan Garand projected in goal; skaters not announced at time of publication
Probable lineup Los Angeles Kings: Darcy Kuemper projected in goal (not confirmed); skaters not announced at time of publication
Free NHL Prediction: New York Rangers vs Los Angeles Kings
Our prediction: New York Rangers to win (odds 1.75)
The Rangers are 6-0-0 at home with the fourth-best defense in the league and a penalty kill above 90%. The Kings have the worst penalty kill in the NHL, score 2.50 goals a game, and managed 13 shots in their last outing.
The case for LA is real: the Kings won both meetings last season, Panarin will be motivated, and New York has lost four of five. All four of those losses came on the road, though, and the Garden is the one building where this team hasn’t lost in six tries.
At 1.75 I’d take the Rangers moneyline. A 2-5-2 team with the league’s worst penalty kill doesn’t justify the 2.17 on offer for LA.
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