NHL
NHL · Saturday 24 October
Kings vs Devils Best Pick, Prediction and Odds
Bet the Kings at +140. Our number makes Los Angeles a 48.8% winner at Prudential Center, and the price gives them 40.0%.
The Los Angeles Kings are +140 and the New Jersey Devils -166 at DraftKings. With the margin out, that is 40.0% for Los Angeles and 60.0% for New Jersey. The price makes the Devils a clear favourite at home. Our number has this game close to a coin flip, with the Devils just ahead.
How 51.2% is reached
Our home win chance is the average of two 2025-26 rates: the home team’s win rate in its own arena and the visitor’s loss rate on the road. Overtime and shootout wins count as wins. Neutral-site games are left out of both rates.
The Devils went 21-17-3 at Prudential Center, a 51.2% home win rate. The Kings went 20-10-11 on the road, and with overtime and shootout losses counted as losses that is a 51.2% road loss rate. The two rates are the same, so the average is 51.2% for New Jersey and 48.8% for Los Angeles. That is 8.8 points better for the Kings than the price.
A side is a bet when our number and the market’s differ by at least 5 points. At 8.8, the Kings clear that threshold.
The margin is the extra a book builds into both prices so the pair comes to more than 100%. At -166 and +140 they come to 104.1%. With it taken out, the Devils are 60.0% and the Kings 40.0%.
Every input is from 2025-26. This season is outside our number, and so far it has gone the Devils’ way. New Jersey is 6-4-0, 5-2-0 at home, and beat Anaheim 4-1 at home on Thursday 22 October. Jake Allen has played in six of their games. Los Angeles is 2-4-2, 2-1-2 on the road, and won 3-2 in overtime against the Islanders in New York on the same night. Darcy Kuemper has played in six of their games and Anton Forsberg in three.
New Jersey at home, Los Angeles on the road
The two halves the method uses were close to level on goals. The Devils at home scored 2.95 a game and allowed 3.02, a deficit of 0.07. The Kings on the road scored 2.85 and allowed 2.90, a deficit of 0.05.
The halves the method leaves out point the same way. New Jersey on the road went 21-20-0, also a 51.2% win rate, scoring 2.66 and allowing 3.17. Los Angeles at home went 15-17-9, a 36.6% win rate, scoring 2.63 and allowing 3.12. The Kings were a worse team in their own building than away from it, and that half is not in our number.
The season around it
Over the full 2025-26 season the Kings finished with more points. Los Angeles went 35-27-20 for 90 points and was outscored by 22, then lost 0-4 to Colorado in the playoffs. New Jersey went 42-37-3 for 87 points, was outscored by 24, and missed the playoffs.
The Kings played a lot of close games and lost many of them late. They went 21-6-20 in one-goal games, and won 13 of the 33 that went past 60 minutes. The Devils went 20-8-3 in one-goal games and won 13 of their 16 past regulation. New Jersey lost by two goals or more in 29 of 82 games; Los Angeles did so in 21 of 82.
New Jersey won both 2025-26 meetings. The 4-1 win on Saturday 1 November 2025 came in Los Angeles, so it is in neither half of our number. The 6-4 Devils win on Saturday 14 March 2026 came at Prudential Center, and it is in both halves: a Devils home win and a Kings road loss.
Pick: Kings +140
Bet the Kings on the moneyline at +140. The gap is 8.8 points toward Los Angeles, against a threshold of 5.
The line read Kings +140 and Devils -166 on 24 October 2026 at 00:40 UTC, DraftKings via ESPN. It opened at the same prices, +140 and -166, so the market has not moved since opening.
What kills the bet
A shorter Kings price. At +129 or longer the Kings are a bet whatever New Jersey is priced at. Against the Devils at -166, they stay a bet down to +106.
For the Devils to become the bet, they would have to be +117 or longer whatever the Kings’ price, or +179 or longer against the Kings at +140. They are -166.
The rest is on the ice, and the Devils’ start to this season is not in our number. ESPN’s injury list has Connor Hellebuyck day-to-day for New Jersey, not injury related, and Seamus Casey on injured reserve with a knee injury. For Los Angeles it lists Quinton Byfield day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and Alex Turcotte, Jakub Dvorak, Jan Jenik and Kevin Fiala on injured reserve. None of these changes the method. Check the lineups before you bet.
The total and the puck line
The total is 5.5, over -130 and under +110. The Devils’ games went over 5.5 in 40 of 82, a 48.8% rate. The Kings’ games went over in 39 of 82, 47.6%. Devils home games averaged 5.97 goals and Kings road games 5.75.
Averaged, our number has the over at 48.2%. With the margin removed the over is priced at 54.3% and the under at 45.7%, so we lean to the under by 6.1 points. Our method stakes the moneyline only. That makes the under a lean, not a bet.
On the puck line, New Jersey is -1.5 at +150 and Los Angeles +1.5 at -180, which is 38.4% and 61.6% without the margin. Over the full season the Devils won by two goals or more in 22 of 82 games, and the Kings lost by two or more in 21 of 82. On those rates Devils -1.5 lands 26.2% of the time against 38.4% priced, a gap of 12.1 points toward Kings +1.5. That is a lean on the same side, never a second bet. One bet on this game: the Kings at +140.
Kings at Devils, Saturday 24 October, 3:30 PM ET, Prudential Center. Prices: DraftKings via ESPN, read 24 October 2026, 00:40 UTC. Results: ESPN, 2025-26 regular season and playoffs. Injury list, 2026-27 records and goalie appearances this season: ESPN’s game page, read 24 October 2026, 00:40 UTC.