Kings look to continue home dominance against Rangers

The Los Angeles Kings enter Tuesday’s contest on a dominant run at home, while the New York Rangers battle for survival in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.While the Kings are seeking their seventh straight home win and to extend their home point streak to 15 games, the Rangers are attempting to stay afloat in the wild-card race Tuesday night when the teams get together in Los Angeles.The Kings (39-21-9, 87 points) are trying to earn home-ice advantage over the Edmonton Oilers while also attempting to close a five-point gap with the Vegas Golden Knights atop the Pacific Division. Los Angeles is helping both causes thanks to a dominant stretch that has seen them go 11-0-3 on home ice since its last regulation home loss on Jan. 20 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.Los Angeles saw its home dominance continue with a pair of impressive 7-2 victories over the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins in a weekend back-to-back set. On Sunday against Boston, 16 players recorded a point and the night before 13 players notched at least one point.”It’s impressive,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said after the Kings scored seven goals on consecutive days for the third time in team history. “That one, I think, we share with everybody, with our fans, with the city.”Adrian Kempe scored Saturday and then assisted on goals by Anze Kopitar and Andrei Kuzmenko on Sunday when the Kings allowed the first goal 19 seconds into the contest and scored the final five goals.Kempe is on the verge of his third 30-goal season and has four goals and seven assists during the home points streak.Kopitar scored in both games and has five goals over his past 11 contests. Quentin Byfield also scored in both games, giving him eight goals in his past 10 contests along with goals in seven straight home games.Byfield and Kempe also scored while Kopitar registered two assists when the Kings rolled to a 5-1 rout in New York on Dec. 14.