Los Angeles vs New Jersey Prediction 1 January 2025

🔊 Will the "Kings" extend the negative series of the visitors? Los Angeles firmly holds its position in the playoff eight of the West and has earned points in four of the last five matches. New Jersey, on the other hand, continues to remain one of the leaders of the East but is experiencing failure after failure. The form of the visitors raises many questions.

📊 Head-to-Head

In the current regular season, the opponents have already met once. In mid-December, the "Devils" prevailed on their home ice with a score of 3:1, showing remarkable resilience. The main hero of the encounter was New Jersey forward Jack Hughes, who managed to score a goal and provide two assists. Thus, the player participated in all of his team's scoring actions. The American is still in excellent form - he has earned points in two of the last four matches.

⚫ Los Angeles

After a slight slump in the second decade of December, Jim Hiller's team secured two victories before the new year - against Edmonton (4:3 OT) and Philadelphia (5:4). These local successes allowed the team to maintain its position in the playoff eight of the West and look to the future with optimism. However, the results are so tight here that just a few consecutive setbacks can seriously worsen the tournament situation.

😈 New Jersey

The "Devils" have not lost their quality of play but have started regularly losing points. For instance, Sheldon Keefe's team has already suffered two consecutive setbacks, first losing to "Hurricane" Carolina (2:5), and then to Anaheim in California (2:3). Explaining the defeat by a Western Conference underdog is quite difficult. Now New Jersey has lost the top spot in the Eastern Conference and risks dropping even lower if they cannot reverse the negative trend.

🔗 Probable Lineups

Los Angeles: Rittich - Gavrikov, Anderson - Kempe, Kopitar, Turcotte

New Jersey: Markstrom - Hamilton, Dillon - Noesen, Hischier, Meier

🥅 Goalkeepers

Los Angeles goalkeeper David Rittich, despite the final victory over Philadelphia, is unlikely to be able to count this game as a success for himself. The Czech saved only 81% of shots on his goal and won not because of his own efforts, but rather in spite of them.

New Jersey's goaltender Jacob Markstrom for the first time in the last two weeks saw his save percentage drop below 89%. This happened in the match against Anaheim, and now the Swede needs to overcome this setback.

📝 Editorial Prediction

Most encounters between both teams are not distinguished by an abundance of goals. Often, the battle for initiative and key advantage goes on until the final minutes. Specifically, in 11 of the last 12 matches between these teams, no more than two goals were scored in the second periods. In our opinion, this trend will remain relevant. We recommend a bet - total under 2.5 goals in the 2nd period.