Kings vs Rangers on Monday comes with plenty of familiar faces. The Los Angeles Kings visit the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden at 4 p.m. PT. For Artemi Panarin it is his second game back in New York since the February trade, and for head coach Peter Laviolette it is another trip back to the bench he left in 2025. The Rangers are 6-0-0 at home, and the Kings are 2-5-2 and searching for goals. Saturday’s 3-1 loss in Newark was the fifth time in nine games that Los Angeles scored one goal or fewer.
Kings vs Rangers game info
- When: Monday, Oct. 26, 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET)
- Where: Madison Square Garden, New York
- TV: ABTV in Los Angeles; MSG and NHL Network nationally
- Records: Kings 2-5-2 (6 points), Rangers 7-5-1 (15 points)
- Season series: first meeting this season
The Rangers’ perfect home record, and the cracks behind it
New York has outscored opponents 29-10 at the Garden. This is the third 6-0-0 home start in franchise history, and the Rangers are two wins shy of the team record for consecutive home wins to open a season, set in 1990-91. Lately, though, they are 1-3-1 in their last five games and have allowed 22 goals in that stretch, including a 7-4 loss in Ottawa on Saturday and a 5-4 loss in Toronto on Thursday.
“What’s encouraging is I loved our compete and our fight, you know, to claw back into the game,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said after Ottawa. “But it’s hard to win chasing the game the way we did.”
The Rangers’ threats are obvious. Alexis Lafreniere has a team-high nine goals in 13 games, a total he didn’t reach last season until his 44th game. Adam Fox has eight assists over his last five games, seven of them in his last three. In net, Dylan Garand has made seven straight starts since Igor Shesterkin was lost for the season, and he has allowed 17 goals in his last five appearances. New York also signed veteran goalie James Reimer to a one-year deal after he made 35 saves for a shutout on a tryout with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. The Rangers had not named Monday’s starter as of Monday morning.
The matchup in numbers
- Goals per game: Kings 2.33 (28th), Rangers 3.15 (14th)
- Goals against per game: Kings 3.56 (28th), Rangers 2.77 (6th)
- Power play: Kings 14.8% (27th), Rangers 18.9% (20th)
- Penalty kill: Kings 65.5% (31st), Rangers 92.3% (2nd)
- Faceoffs: Kings 51.0% (12th), Rangers 53.4% (7th)
The special-teams gap is the biggest concern for Los Angeles. A Kings power play converting under 15% now faces a penalty kill above 92%, while a Kings penalty kill that has let in more than a third of chances faces Fox, Lafreniere and a Rangers group that has scored four goals in each of its last two games.
Artemi Panarin’s return
The Rangers traded Panarin to Los Angeles on Feb. 4. In his first game back at the Garden on March 16, he set up a Drew Doughty goal in a 4-1 Kings win. He has been the Kings’ engine again this season, leading the team with five points and three goals over the last five games. That includes both goals in Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win over the Islanders.
The Kings’ results track his production closely. Los Angeles is 2-1-2 when Panarin gets on the scoresheet. He has been held off it four times, including Saturday in Newark, and the Kings lost all four of those games in regulation.
What Laviolette said at Sunday’s practice
The Kings practiced Sunday in Newark, where Laviolette was asked whether splitting up the Panarin, Alex Laferriere and Adrian Kempe line could spread the scoring.
“I don’t feel like we put enough at their net, with regard to quantity, with regard to quality and so, therefore, it’s a group effort,” Laviolette said. “Do we need contribution from the top line? We do, but we need contributions from others as well. We need to get people healthy back in the lineup and all those things, I feel, can boost the offense.”
He also named the second period in Newark as the main problem, when the Devils outshot the Kings 14-3. “For me, if we’re playing defense, we’re not playing offense,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to get it behind them, stay in the offensive zone and generate.”
Quinton Byfield: practicing, status unconfirmed
The best news from Sunday was Quinton Byfield. He has missed two straight games with an upper-body injury after leaving the Oct. 20 win in Washington in the first period, and he was back on the ice in Newark. LA Kings Insider reported that he wore a red non-contact jersey for most of the session. He also took reps with the top power-play unit and did controlled contact work with a coach.
“It’s good sign to see Quinton out there today, practicing with the team, so that’s a boost right there,” Laviolette said. “He’s a big player for us. Hopefully, he continues to make improvements.”
Whether Byfield plays Monday remains unconfirmed. He is listed as day-to-day, and the Kings had not announced a decision as of Monday morning. If he returns, the expected second line is Trevor Moore, Byfield and Mats Zuccarello, which the Kings used for only a few shifts before he got hurt.
Kings projected lineup (from Sunday’s practice)
- Panarin, Laferriere, Kempe
- Moore, Erik Haula, Zuccarello
- Joel Armia, Scott Laughton, Taylor Ward
- Andre Lee, Samuel Helenius, Corey Perry, and Jared Wright rotating
- Defense: Erik Gustafsson and Brandt Clarke, Joel Edmundson and Doughty, Mikey Anderson and Brian Dumoulin; Cody Ceci extra
- Goalies: Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg
The Kings had not confirmed a starting goalie as of Monday morning. Forsberg made 23 saves in Newark. Kuemper started the two games before that.
Three keys for the Kings
- Shot volume: Los Angeles managed just 13 shots on goal Saturday, its fewest since Feb. 1. Garand has been beatable lately, but only if the Kings put pucks on him.
- Help for the goalies: The Kings have allowed 43 and 26 shots in their last two games. “We’ve been relying on our goalies way too much the last couple of games,” Edmundson said.
- Depth scoring: Laughton scored the only goal Saturday, which is the kind of support Moore asked for afterward. “We need more offense from more guys, for sure,” Moore said.
Notes and conflicts
One preview listed forward Alex Turcotte as expected back Monday, but he did not travel on this trip and has not been activated from injured reserve, so we are treating that as unconfirmed. Projected lineups from outside sites differ from what LA Kings Insider observed at practice, including where Andre Lee and Moore line up. We have gone with the practice alignment. Kevin Fiala (lower leg) and Jakub Dvorak remain on injured reserve.
After the Rangers, the road trip ends Tuesday in Chicago at 5 p.m. PT, and the Kings return home to face Ottawa on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. PT.
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