Aiming for the season sweep over the NHL’s top team, the Los Angeles Kings will try for their third straight win over the visiting Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Winnipeg (51-19-4, 106 points) hasn’t hit many obstacles in its rise to the top, but Los Angeles (41-23-9, 91 points) is one of just three opponents the Jets have yet to defeat this season. The Kings recorded a 4-1 win in Los Angeles on Nov. 27 and a 2-1 overtime win in Winnipeg on Jan. 10.
While the Jets have a strong 23-13-0 road record, the Kings — 27-4-4 at home — hold the league’s best home points percentage (.829). The 27 home wins are a new single-season franchise record, and the Kings achieved the milestone in style with Sunday’s 8-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks.
The win moved Los Angeles into second place in the Pacific Division, two points ahead of the third-place Edmonton Oilers. The Kings and Oilers seem set to meet in the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, and Los Angeles never held the home-ice advantage in any of the three previous series losses.
Los Angeles is 10-3-0 in its last 13 games, and three of the Kings’ five highest-scoring performances this season have come within the previous six games.
An improved power play has been a big part of this success. The Kings are 8-for-32 on the man advantage over their last 12 games, and the club’s season-long struggles with the extra attacker might finally be solved.
“It’s really important going into the playoffs, having a good power play,” forward Adrian Kempe said. “I think we’re getting a lot more looks now than we did previously in the season. … Maybe you’re not going to score on all of them, but you create momentum for the team, for the next time you go out there as a power-play unit.”
In a role reversal, the Kings’ power play has sprung to life just as the Jets’ elite power play efficiency has hit a slump. Winnipeg is only 2-for-19 over its last eight games, though the team is still 6-2-0 in those contests.
The Jets have won their last three games, including Sunday’s 3-1 home win over the Vancouver Canucks. The road-weary Canucks were playing their sixth away game in an 11-day span, and a tied game heading into the third period was broken open by third-period goals from Mason Appleton and Cole Perfetti.
“We knew that if we played a good hard 20 minutes, they were a little tired at the end of a road trip [and] hopefully we’d be able to capitalize and get the win,” Appleton said.
Nikolaj Ehlers has six points (three goals, three assists) over a six-game points streak. Mark Scheifele also has six points (one goal, five assists) during his five-game streak.
Connor Hellebuyck is expected to start Tuesday and can match a career-best 44 wins on the season. Hellebuyck leads the NHL in both goals against average (2.01) and save percentage (.925).
Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper isn’t far behind in either category, with a 2.10 GAA and .918 save percentage to go with a 25-10-7 record. Kuemper is expected to return to action Tuesday since backup David Rittich started against the Sharks.
–Field Level Media
