Los Angeles vs Pittsburgh Prediction 21 January 2025

🔊 What can the "Kings" show on their home ice? Los Angeles returns to their home arena for the first time after the emergency that occurred in the city. The motivation of the hockey players will surely be at an all-time high. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has found itself in a full-blown game crisis at the most inopportune moment of the regular season and risks missing the playoffs once again. At first glance, the favorite in this matchup seems quite obvious.

📊 Head-to-head

In the current regular season, the opponents have already met once. In mid-December, the "Penguins" barely managed to succeed on their home ice in Pennsylvania (3:2 OT). The greatest contribution to his team's eventual success was made by Pittsburgh forward Rickard Rakell. The Swede made an assist to Matt Grzelcyk when the current visitors equalized the score and then scored the winning goal in overtime. The player is still in excellent form and has scored points in three of the last four matches.

👑 Los Angeles

The "Kings" will play on their home ice in California for the first time in a long while. After the emergency that occurred in the city, the central circle of the ice arena will be dedicated to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Surely, the team is highly motivated for a successful performance after the tragedy. Among the hosts, it's worth highlighting the attacking trio of Turcotte - Kopitar - Kempe. This combination scores the lion's share of the club's points and is extremely effective on both sides of the rink. In recent matches, the team has shown a noticeable game decline, and the first line players are no exception, but they are precisely capable of bringing Jim Hiller's squad back to a winning path.

🐧 Pittsburgh

The "Penguins" have started regularly losing points at the most inopportune moment of the regular season. In the last ten matches, Mike Sullivan's team managed to beat only Edmonton (5:3) and Buffalo (5:2). However, these local successes did not affect the overall strictly negative trend. The team is falling further behind from the top eight in the East and, if they don't manage to turn things around soon, risks missing out on decisive matchups. Meanwhile, the organization's management is clearly preparing radical steps. The final years of Sidney Crosby's professional career are approaching, and Pittsburgh wants to give their legendary captain at least one more chance to compete for the Stanley Cup.

📌 Projected lineups

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

Pittsburgh: Nedeljkovic - Pettersson, Grzelcyk - Rakell, Crosby, Rust

🥅 Goalkeepers

Los Angeles goalie Darcy Kuemper continues to demonstrate outstanding play at the last line of defense. In his last six games, the Canadian only failed once to maintain a save percentage above 90%, and his team understandably lost in Seattle (85.7%). Nevertheless, his overall statistical indicators remain at a very high level (92% SV and GAA 2.06).

Pittsburgh's goalie Alex Nedeljkovic became a true hero in the matchup against Buffalo and, besides scoring a goal, recorded an assist and 40 saves. After this, the American was given some rest, but without his help, the team clearly won't be able to pull out of their crisis. After Tristan Jarry was sent down to the AHL, another player is missing at the last line for the "Penguins," and management is surely planning a trade.

📝 Editorial Prediction

The "Kings" simply cannot afford to lose points in their first home game after the tragedy that occurred in the city. The team will take to the ice highly motivated and focused. The crisis-ridden "Penguins" are perfectly suited for a successful performance by the hosts. Moreover, Los Angeles players should tip the scales in their favor already in the first half of the match. The difference in class currently seems colossal. We do not expect serious competition already in the second period. Our key bet is total under 2.5 pucks in the 2nd period.