The St. Louis Blues will be looking for their fourth straight victory when they take on the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. These teams play Friday night, but this preview was written prior to the conclusion of that contest.
Here you can find the best picks, news, and stats for this West Division battle at the Staples Center. St. Louis is the favorite at -133. This according to PointsBet Sportsbook, puts the odds for Los Angeles at +113 as the underdog.
St. Louis has eight players out for this game, including right-wing Vladimir Tarasenko who went out with a shoulder injury on Monday. Center Robert Thomas broke his thumb on Monday and will be out until April.
Blues Deal Ducks Eighth Straight Loss
The St. Louis Blues (13-8-2) scored three power-play goals in their 3-2 victory over Anaheim. The Blues connected on all three of their power-play opportunities and goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 27 of 29 shots. Defenseman Justin Falk finished with two assists and Oskar Sundqvist scored a goal and added an assist in the victory
St. Louis is ninth in the NHL in goals per game at 3.22 and is allowing 3.09 goals per contest. They are averaging 30.7 shots per game while allowing 29.8. The special teams’ units have not been particularly good. They are 23rd on the power-play at 17.1% and 24th in penalty killing at 74.4%.
With the victory, Binnington is now 9-6-2 in 18 starts. The Blues netminder has a 2.62 GAA and a .910 save percentage. He has allowed two goals in three of his last four starts, but this is his first victory in that stretch.
David Perron leads the team with 23 points. Brayden Schenn had a power-play goal in the victory over Anaheim, giving him 11 total goals, tops on the team.
Spurt Leads Coyotes Over Kings
Two goals scored just 13 seconds apart proved to be the deciding factor in the Los Angeles Kings (9-8-4) 3-1 loss to Arizona. Los Angeles had tied the score a little less than two minutes earlier. Then the Coyotes scored at 12:40 and 12:53 to take the lead. Jonathan Quick stopped 20 of 23 shots.
Los Angeles is averaging 2.91 goals per game and they are allowing 28.7 shots per contest. The power-play is connecting on 25.0% of their chances. Anze Kopitar has been a playmaking machine this season, recording 20 assists in 24 total points, both of which lead the team. Dustin Brown is the team’s leading scorer with 11 goals.
The Kings are allowing 2.76 goals and 31.5 shots per contest. They are sixth in the NHL in penalty killing at 83.6%. Quick has started 11 games with a 2.87 GAA and a .900 save percentage. He is 5-4-2. Quick has been solid over his last five starts, giving up eight total goals and recording two shutouts.
Trends:
St. Louis:
- 16-5 in their last 21 games on the road.
- 11-5 in their last 16 games when playing on zero day’s rest.
Los Angeles:
- 18-37 in their last 55 games on a Saturday.
St. Louis is playing exceptionally well. They are winners of three straight games and have been outstanding on the road, going 9-2-0 this season. That includes three straight wins on the road, and they are 8-1 in their last nine on the road.
Since having their six-game winning streak snapped Los Angeles has lost three straight games (0-2-1). They are getting solid goaltending, but their goal-scoring has suddenly evaporated. St. Louis definitely is the team to beat here.
Pick: Take St. Louis Blues at -133
The Total:
The total is set at 5.5. It is likely that the two backups will be in the net on Saturday. Calvin Petersen (2.43, .928) has far better numbers than Ville Husso (3.82, .879), which should give Los Angeles an advantage. However, neither goaltender is playing great of late. In fact, in Petersen’s last start he gave up four goals on 42 shots.
The over looks like the smart pick here, as two tired teams playing on back-to-back nights, leads to mistakes and multiple goal-scoring opportunities.
Pick: Go over 5.5 goals at -105