Carolina vs Los Angeles Prediction 2 February 2025

🔊 Will the "Hurricanes" extend the guests' losing streak? Carolina continues its winning streak, not losing in regulation time for seven consecutive games. The players from Raleigh are already second in the East and potentially capable of challenging the leading Washington. Los Angeles, on the other hand, has completely fallen into a full-fledged game crisis and is likely to soon exit the playoff zone in the West.

📊 Head-to-head

Last season, the opponents met twice and exchanged away victories. First, the "Kings" triumphed in Raleigh (6:5 SO), and then the "Hurricanes" returned the favor in California (5:2). The most productive player in those encounters was Los Angeles defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. The Russian scored a goal and provided two assists. However, lately, the player has not been performing as effectively, failing to score points in 10 consecutive matches.

🔴 Carolina

Rod Brind'Amour's team has significantly strengthened its roster and literally "soared" through the Eastern Conference standings. In the last 10 games, Carolina has only suffered one regulation loss, against Buffalo (2:4). In all other cases, the team consistently earned its routine points. This impressive tournament surge has allowed the team to substantially improve its position and reach second place. There is a strong feeling that this is not the club's limit, and in the future, it has a chance to become the leader. Newcomer Mikko Rantanen has already started scoring his first points with the new team and making a difference on the ice.

👑 Los Angeles

The "Kings" have fallen into a full-blown game crisis at the most inopportune moment of the regular season. Jim Hiller's team has suffered eight losses in their last 10 games, managing to defeat only Vancouver (5:1) and Florida (2:1). However, these local successes did not stop the club's overall decline in the standings. The guests are already on the verge of dropping out of the Western Conference playoff eight, and there is reason to believe that this will happen very soon. There are no signs of improvement yet.

🔗 Projected lineups

Carolina: Kochetkov - Burns, Slavin - Blake, Roslovic, Rantanen

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

🥅 Goalkeepers

Carolina's goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov continues to alternate his games with backup Frederik Andersen, and this rhythm benefits the Russian. In the last four matches, he failed to maintain a 90% save percentage only once, and it was then that he suffered his only defeat in this stretch, against the Islanders (88.9%).

Los Angeles goaltender Darcy Kuemper is experiencing a severe slump along with the team. The Canadian has suffered three consecutive losses and only once managed to show a decent performance, against Florida (94.1%). However, even then he lost because his teammates couldn't support their goalkeeper and didn't score a single puck.

📝 Editor's prediction

The revamped "Hurricanes" offense doesn't sit idle and never leaves the ice without scoring pucks. Many matches involving Carolina become extremely high-scoring. Los Angeles, on the other hand, tends to minimize risks, but this time such a trick won't work. The home team's attacks will be wave-like, and they won't be able to hold them back. They'll have to respond blow for blow. It's also worth considering the "Kings'" rather extensive problems at the last line of defense. Our key bet is total over 5.5 pucks.