Happy New Year Kings fans! The Kings picked up their third consecutive win on Wednesday afternoon, defeating the New Jersey Devils 3-0, resulting in a season series split between the two clubs. With the victory coming at Crypto.com Arena, the Kings extended their home winning streak to eight games, the third longest home winning streak in franchise history. Now four wins shy of tying the 1991-92 Kings’ 12 consecutive home wins, the 2024-25 team continues to shut down their opponents offensive game.
The Devils held a shot advantage in each period, ultimately outshooting the Kings 33-24, but it was the Kings that held the advantage in the most important category. The first period went scoreless between the two clubs with each team failing to convert on a power play. Also noteworthy, Anze Kopitar was the guilty party of the lone Kings penalty in the first period, snapping the NHL's longest penalty-less streak of 37 games to start the season.
While there wasn’t much offense in the game, the opening goal did eventually come 6:23 into the second period. A seemingly harmless flip of the puck out of the Kings’ defensive zone by Jordan Spence turned into a golden opportunity thanks to rookie and 2019 seventh-round draft pick Andre Lee. Using his size and speed in the neutral zone, Lee gathered the puck, fought off a Devils defenseman on his way to their net and roofed the puck bar down with an in tight chip wrist shot for his first career goal. Lee’s goal was the only puck to find the back of the net in the second period.
Leading 1-0 midway through the third period, Quinton Byfield was assessed a controversial two minute minor penalty for tripping. Unhappy with the call, Byfield had to serve his time in the penalty box and rely on the Kings’ penalty kill unit against the Devils third ranked power play. A successful kill followed and Byfield was released from the box at the perfect time, joining his teammates for an offensive zone rush. Rested and full of speed, Byfield entered the offensive zone, got behind one of the Devils defensemen and beat veteran goalie Jake Allen five hole to double the Kings lead for his eighth goal of the season and sixth tally in the last eight games. An Adrian Kempe empty net goal followed in the final minutes of the game, his team-leading 18th goal of the season and the Kings started the new year off with an impressive shutout win over one of the NHL’s top teams.
Darcy Kuemper’s 33-save shutout earned the 13-year veteran goalie his first career win over the Devils. Kuemper had previously dropped his first nine games against the Devils, going 0-5-4. Kuemper has now gone 6-0-2 since returning from injury on December 7th.
