Rangers vow not to overlook Kings after big win

Fresh off a dominating victory, the New York Rangers hope they do not have the same false sense of security that haunted them following their last impressive victory.

Two days after beating the New Jersey Devils 4-0, the Rangers lost 4-1 at home to the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 2. On Sunday, New York exacted some revenge on the Golden Knights with a 5-0 victory in Las Vegas, but the Rangers aren't expected to take their next opponent for granted.

The Rangers continue their four-game road swing Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings, the first of three straight games in California for New York. The Rangers will visit San Jose on Thursday and return to Southern California for a matchup at Anaheim on Saturday.

The Rangers are on a run of six victories over their last nine games, while earning a point in seven of those nine (6-2-1). On Sunday at Vegas, goalie Alexandar Georgiev made 38 saves for his second shutout of the season. The first one came in that Nov. 30 game against the Devils.

Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba, Jesper Fast and Mika Zibanejad all scored goals in a victory that had plenty of positives other than the elbow Rangers forward Brendan Lemieux delivered to the head of Golden Knights center Cody Glass. Lemieux was fined $2,000.

"That's a good road game," Kreider said, according to NHL.com. "You know they come on hard here; they throw the kitchen sink at you early. Georgie made some good saves."

The Rangers might be one of the youngest teams in the NHL, but elder statesmen such as Panarin, Kreider and Fast have been influential leaders. New York started the season 2-4-1, but has found its way in going 7-3-1 over its last 11 games.

The Kings, however, continue their search for a winning formula. Los Angeles enters on a four-game losing streak, which ties a season high. The team also is 2-6-1 over its last nine games.

The Kings are just glad to be home with an 11-game losing streak outside of their own building. They are 7-2-1 over their last 10 home games.

The Kings' most recent defeat came Saturday at Calgary when they took an early 2-0 lead only to give up four consecutive goals from the 18:14 mark of the first period to the 1:29 mark of the third. The 4-3 defeat to the Flames came one day after 2-1 loss at Edmonton.

Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty scored early goals for the Kings against the Flames, before Matt Roy scored late to make things interesting over the final 14-plus minutes.

It didn't help the Kings that left wing Kyle Clifford was ejected with Calgary forward Zac Rinaldo for fighting during a timeout in the second period. Clifford had taken exception to Rinaldo's hard hit on Nikolai Prokhorkin.

It has been so bad for the Kings on the road that Clifford's show of unity was noteworthy, even if the team appeared to show signs of exhaustion while covering for his absence.

"A pretty honest effort again by the group," Kings head coach Todd McLellan said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "Moral victories aren't what we aim for, but that's what we're taking out of the last two games. I thought we were pretty competitive in a lot of areas."

--Field Level Media