When Vladislav Gavrikov left the Kings last summer, he likely didn’t do so figuring that he would be heading to their East Coast equivalent.
But the parallels have been many between the Kings and his new club, the New York Rangers, who will slink into Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night.
The Kings have lost six of their past seven games while the Rangers just dropped eight of 10, for openers. Though the Rangers are technically in last place in the Metropolitan Division with 48 points, so too are the Ottawa Senators in the Atlantic, though their 51 points would tie them with the Kings, Ducks and San Jose Sharks for the final Western Conference playoff berth.
The black and silver rank second to last in the West in goals per game. The Blueshirts sit one spot from the bottom in the East. The Rangers just careened across a five-game skid, allowing 30 goals, including a 10-spot to Boston. That porousness might or might not help the Kings, who squeezed out a meager three goals and one even-strength marker in two losses to a Ducks squad that was coming off a nine-game freefall during which they gave up 45 goals.
“I don’t know if I have an answer to (what’s missing), to be honest, because if I did, I don’t think we would keep being in the same situation every game,” Kings winger Warren Foegele said after the second loss to the Ducks.
At home, where the Kings dominated last season, they have just seven wins this year. The only organizations with fewer wins en casa? The rebuilding Vancouver Canucks (four) and, that’s right, the Rangers (five), much as those are the only two franchises to score fewer goals at home than the Kings. The Rangers lost their first seven games at Madison Square Garden, with five shutouts and a one-goal display among those defeats.
Both teams are led by former players who seem to love their own letterhead, too.
Kings president Luc Robitaille’s grandiose communique to fans when he seized power nine seasons ago has become a recurring meme. Rangers GM Chris Drury might or might not have that kind of staying power, but he’s certainly been prolific.
In November of 2024, he sent a leaguewide notice that he would be gutting a team that made the conference finals just six months earlier (spoiler alert: New York missed the 2025 playoffs). Last week, he informed fans that more jettisoning was on the horizon, as apparently the first wholesale wave of changes didn’t take.
Gavrikov himself, whom the Kings were confident they would re-sign in March but saw switch coasts in July as part of the Rangers’ vast churn, already has a single-season high for goals and was on pace for a career best in points before his production cratered for a quarter of a season. Going into Monday’s game against the Ducks, he had one goal and one assist in his past 20 games, compiling an unsightly -18 rating in that span. Since Jan. 5, the Rangers have been without top defenseman Adam Fox, Gavrikov’s partner, and 2022 Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin.
The Kings have their own eyesore, having lost an NHL-worst 13 overtime and shootout decisions, including nine of their past 12 matches that required an extra session.
Kevin Fiala had turnovers that led to opposing goals in their two most recent OT losses – in between the Kings fell in a shootout – and Drew Doughty, who also took a penalty to kick off the bonus frame on Saturday, was on for both goals as well.
While Fiala has been a contributor in other areas – he leads the Kings in January scoring and has been their top producer dating back to Oct. 24 – Doughty and partner Mikey Anderson have been producing godawful splits of late. Adrian Kempe has also cooled considerably, despite scoring a two-man-advantage goal on Saturday.
Coach Jim Hiller has been loath to call out individual players, but did allude to skaters at the top of the lineup whose performance had been subpar.
Yet while he wouldn’t name names, he seemed content to point fingers at the players as a whole.
His analysis of the Kings’ OT struggles was similar to his take on his refrozen power play: the preparation is adequate, the players just aren’t delivering.
“We’re used to (overtime). It’s almost part of the evening for us these days. We’re ready for it, we just haven’t been able to execute well enough,” Hiller said.
RANGERS AT KINGS
When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: FDSN West