The Los Angeles Kings will be looking for a little payback on Wednesday when they take on the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas defeated Los Angeles on Monday, 4-1.
Here you can find the best picks, news, and stats for this West Division battle at the T-Mobile Arena. Vegas is the favorite at -227. This according to PointsBet Sportsbook, which puts the odds for Los Angeles at +195 as the underdog.
Los Angeles will be without Brendan Lemieux who will be out indefinitely as part of the Covid-19 protocols. Vegas suffered a big blow as goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is listed as questionable after suffering an undisclosed injury that kept him out the last contest.
Kings Crumble in Vegas
The Los Angeles Kings (13-14-6) took a 1-0 lead, then watched Vegas score four unanswered goals to defeat the Kings, 4-1. Jonathan Quick stopped 20 of 24 shots. Matt Roy had the only goal of the game for the Kings.
Los Angeles is 18th in scoring at 2.76 goals per game, connecting on 9.1% of their shots, 11th overall. The power play has been solid at 23.7%, ninth overall. The Kings are led in scoring by Anze Kopitar with 29 assists and 37 points. Dustin Brown is one of only two players on the team with double-digit goals, leading the team with 14.
The Kings are 15th in goals allowed per game at 2.82. They are fourth at killing penalties at 85.3%. Calvin Petersen will go for L.A. He is 6-7-4 with a 2.54 GAA and a .923 save percentage. Petersen has been solid at times, holding opponents to one goal in three of his last five starts, but he gave up four goals in his last appearance.
Surge Propels Vegas to Victory
Vegas trailed the Kings by a goal coming out of the first period, but scored three in the second and added one in the third in the 4-1 victory. Robin Lehner stopped 24 of 25 shots. Jonathan Marchessault had two assists. Four players scored goals for the Golden Knights.
Vegas is second in goals per game at 3.28 and is connecting on 10.7% of their shots, eighth overall. The Golden Knights are 20th on the power play at 19.6%. Mark Stone is the team leader in points with 40 and also leads in assists with 28. Max Pacioretty is first in goals with 18.
Vegas is second in goals allowed per game at 2.24 and they have been very good at killing penalties, sixth at 84.9%. Lehner will likely be back in the net. He is 6-1-1 with a 2.35 GAA and a .906 save percentage. Lehner has allowed a single goal in each of his last two starts.
Trends:
Los Angeles:
- 1-4 in their last five games.
- 1-4 in their last five games against teams with a winning record.
Vegas:
- 19-7 in their last 26 games.
- 10-3 in their last 13 games following a win.
While Petersen has been the better of the two netminders for L.A., there is no denying how well Lehner has been for Vegas since returning from injured reserve. He makes it so that the team can have their star goaltender out for a few games and not miss a bit. I like Vegas at home where they have played exceptionally well, especially considered that Los Angeles has not been playing well of late.
Pick: Take Vegas at -227.
The Total:
These teams went under 5.5 in Monday’s game, scoring five total goals. These teams have gone over in seven of their last 10 meetings, but the Kings have gone under in six of their last eight games and Vegas has gone under in 15 of their last 22 against teams with a winning percentage below 40%.
The last two games between these teams have gone under 5.5 goals. I think that pattern continues here as well.
Pick: Go under 5.5 goals at -110.