Los Angeles vs Florida Prediction 23 January 2025

🔊 Will the "Kings" break their losing streak? Los Angeles has fallen into a full-fledged game crisis at the most inopportune moment of the regular season. In the second decade of January, the team managed to beat only Vancouver and lost a lot of points, significantly complicating the tournament situation. Florida, on the other hand, is overcoming difficulties like a champion and has recently gained a stable pace in earning points.

📊 Head-to-Head

Last season, the opponents met twice and exchanged home victories. First, the "Kings" prevailed in California (2:1), and then the "Panthers" returned the favor in Miami (3:2 OT). The most productive player in those encounters was Florida forward Sam Reinhart, who managed to score two goals and provide an assist. However, the current form of the player raises some doubts, as he has managed to score points only once in the last four games.

👑 Los Angeles

Jim Hiller's team started January with a bang - with a five-game winning streak. At that moment, it seemed that the team was quite capable of competing with the leaders of the Western Conference for the top spot in the near future. However, there was a rapid regression in results. In the last five games, the "Kings" have managed only one victory over Vancouver (5:1). In all other cases, the current hosts of the ice were defeated. The tragedy that engulfed Los Angeles did not serve as a motivating factor for the players. Now the team is already balancing on the edge of the playoff eight and risks losing a small cushion of five points in the near future.

🔴 Florida

The "Panthers" are struggling to overcome a pronounced game slump that occurred at the beginning of the new calendar year. At that time, Paul Maurice's team suffered four defeats in six games and sometimes looked frankly pale in attack. However, the visitors managed to recover thanks to back-to-back games against Western underdog Anaheim (3:0, 5:2). These local successes should give the team the necessary momentum and help make up for lost ground in the fight for a place in the playoff eight of the East. Now the champion is again much closer to the conference leaders than to the playoff zone boundary.

🔗 Projected Lineups

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

Florida: Bobrovsky - Kulikov, Forsling - Reinhart, Barkov, Tkachuk

🥅 Goalkeepers

Los Angeles goaltender Darcy Kuemper completely flopped in the game against Seattle. The Canadian saved only 85.7% of shots on his goal, conceding four pucks. Moreover, at least twice, the goalkeeper could have saved his teammates. Following this, he was benched for the match against Pittsburgh by decision of the coaching staff, but things only got worse as his backup David Rittich capitulated five times.

Florida's goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has been alternating games with young backup Spencer Knight by decision of the coaching staff. Surprisingly, this approach worked; after a series of outright unsuccessful matches, the Russian convincingly dealt with Anaheim's attack, saving 93.3% of shots on his goal. Ahead of decisive regular season and playoff matches, he must regain his best form.

📝 Editorial Prediction

Both teams have not been able to boast stability lately, regularly making missteps. However, the difference is that the "Kings" almost never lose in regulation time on their home ice - they have earned points in 9 out of their last 10 home games. Adding to this is the fact that they have not lost to Florida within three periods for seven head-to-head meetings in a row, leading to this bet - Los Angeles will not lose.