Los Angeles @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 28, 2018 ) NY Rangers 3, Los Angeles 4

The New York Rangers put forth a spirited effort versus the front-runner for the Presidents' Trophy before falling short in the opener of their season-high five-game homestand. The Rangers bid to rebound on Monday when they host the sputtering Los Angeles Kings, who have dropped seven of their last 11 contests to reside in the cellar of the Western Conference.

"We battled hard. We played a really good game, but it's not enough. You've got to win hockey games and we didn't do it," said Mats Zuccarello, who recorded his 13th point (five goals, eight assists) in seven games after scoring in Saturday's 3-2 setback to Tampa Bay. New York, which resides eight points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, has answered a three-game winning streak with losses in two of three since returning from the All-Star break. Los Angeles fell victim to late uprising on Saturday after allowing three goals in less than five minutes during the third period of a 4-2 setback to the New York Islanders in the opener of its six-game road trip. "I mean, it's cliche, but you've got to play 60 minutes in this league if you want to win," said Kings defenseman Alec Martinez, who scored the go-ahead goal with 55 seconds to play in the Kings' 4-3 win over the Rangers on Oct. 28.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet West, FS West (Los Angeles), MSG (New York)

ABOUT THE KINGS (20-27-4): Captain Anze Kopitar has collected a goal and an assist in back-to-back games to boost his team-leading totals in goals (15) and points (36). Kopitar set up a goal in the first contest versus the Rangers while defenseman Drew Doughty (club-best 23 assists) notched an assist on a pair of power-play tallies in the second period. Dustin Brown, who had one of those man-advantage goals in that game, has three assists in his last two outings to reside two points shy of 600 for his career.

ABOUT THE RANGERS (22-22-7): Kevin Hayes scored a power-play goal versus the Lightning to lift his point total to 19 (six goals, 13 assists) in his last 14 contests. "There's no moral victories in the NHL, but if you watch the game film, we put together a good three games," Hayes told reporters of the team's run since returning from the All-Star break. Hayes has six points (four goals, two assists) in seven career games versus the Kings, including a goal in all three contests of the series at Madison Square Garden.

OVERTIME

1. Los Angeles LW Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and two assists in the first encounter versus New York.

2. The Rangers are 7-for-17 on the power play in their last six contests and have killed off 25-of-29 penalties over the last eight.

3. Kings F Jeff Carter sits three points shy of 700 for his career.

PREDICTION: Rangers 4, Kings 2