Kings shut out Devils to open New Year on a positive note

Andrew Knoll, The Orange County Register on Jan 1, 2025

Published in Hockey

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LOS ANGELES — The Kings started 2025 just the way they spent most of 2024, defending home ice, as they won their eighth straight match at Crypto.com Arena, a 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.

Their points percentage moved to .844 at home, improving upon what was already the best mark in the NHL. They’re 27-5-2 at home under Coach Jim Hiller dating back to last season, good for an .824 points percentage.

The Kings also played their 12th straight game with 11 forwards and seven defensemen — teams traditionally dress 12 and six — moving to 8-2-2 in those games. Since the February promotion of Hiller, who’s fond of the alignment, the Kings have gone 21-4-3 when utilizing it.

The Kings’ first penalty of 2025 was picked up by Anže Kopitar, who hadn’t been whistled for one all season, and their first goal of the calendar year was scored by Andre Lee, who had never scored one in his career. Quinton Byfield would add an insurance marker and Adrian Kempe tacked on an empty-netter, which were made luxuries by Darcy Kuemper’s 31-save performance in his second shutout as a King.

Backup goalie Jake Allen stopped 21 of 23 shots in defeat for the Devils.

Halfway through the third period, the Kings nearly scored off a Kevin Fiala backhand from the slot during a four-on-four situation brought about by a questionable penalty against Byfield. Though they didn’t score at that moment, they did 65 seconds later, when Byfield avenged the call by scoring off a low shot that snuck under Allen’s pads for a goal he likely regretted.

Kempe would add an empty-netter after the Devils pulled Allen early, with a little under five minutes to play. With 4:35 showing on the clock, Kempe iced the game with a shuffleboard shot from just behind the red line.

The first 40 minutes of action were defined largely by suffocating forechecking, especially by the visitors, and, at times, the scoring chances that those efforts generated.

A turnover by Kuemper onto the stick of Nico Hischier initiated a sequence that appeared to tie the game in the second period, with Timo Meier sweeping a loose puck in the slot past Kuemper for what appeared to be his second goal in two nights. However, the Kings’ risky challenge for goalie interference paid off as a video review determined that Stefan Noesen impeded Kuemper’s ability to make a save.

The Kings had gone up 1-0 off Lee’s first career goal, which was their first shot on goal in the middle frame. Jacob Moverare knocked the puck down in the defensive zone and slid it to Jordan Spence, who lofted the puck down the ice to create a footrace that Lee won confidently before zooming in on net with a forehand-to-backhand-to-forehand move. Lee, a seventh-round pick out of Sweden in 2019, was playing in his 19th NHL game.

Prior to that, close calls were the only calls for both sides. Earlier in the stanza, Kopitar navigated the slot masterfully and set up Alex Turcotte for a shot he could have blown into the net, but the pass eluded Turcotte.

The first period was carried in terms of both traditional and analytical barometers by the Devils, whose best chance, for leading scorer Jesper Bratt no less, was foiled by a rolling puck and a sprawling Kuemper. The Kings also had a brilliant opportunity earlier, when a two-on-rush was quieted by an assertive glove save from Allen.

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