The Los Angeles Kings will be looking for their second straight victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday. Los Angeles defeated Vegas back on March 31, 4-2.
Here you can find the best picks, news, and stats for this West Division battle at the Staples Center. Vegas is the favorite at -185. This according to PointsBet Sportsbook, which puts the odds for Los Angeles at +165 as the underdog.
Vegas has three players who are listed as questionable for this contest, Sen. Patrick Brown and right wings Keegan Kolesar and Ryan Reaves. Los Angeles will be without defenseman Matt Roy and Tobias Bjonfot.
Golden Knights Shutout Coyotes
Marc-Andre Fleury had a light afternoon, but left nothing to chance, stopping all 14 shots he faced in a 1-0 Golden Knights victory over the Coyotes. That was his fifth shutout of the season. Tomas Nosek scored the only goal of the game, his seventh of the season.
Vegas is first in goals allowed per game at 2.25 and is third in penalty killing at 84.6%. Robin Lehner will likely be in the net on Monday. He is 8-1-2 with a 2.33 GAA and a .912 save percentage. Lehner allowed four goals in his last start but had allowed two goals or fewer in his previous five starts.
The Golden Knights are eighth in scoring at 3.20 goals per game and are 10th in shooting percentage at 10.1%. They are 25th on the power-play at 17.2%. Mark Stone is the leading scorer with 42 points. Max Pacioretty leads the team in goals with 19.
Three Goal Second Propels Kings
Los Angeles broke a 1-1 tie with three second-period goals to defeat San Jose, 4-2. Dustin Brown scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season and Jeff Carter and Andreas Athanasiou each had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles. Brown also had an assist. Jonathan Quick stopped 26 of 28 shots.
Los Angeles is averaging 2.73 goals per game and they are 15th in shooting percentage at 9.3%. The Kings are 14th on the power-play at 21.5%. Anze Kopitar is first on the team in assists (34) and points (42). Brown leads the team with 16 goals and has 25 points overall.
The Kings are allowing 2.90 goals per game. The penalty killing has been outstanding, second in the NHL at 84.9%. Calvin Petersen gets the start for Los Angeles. He is 7-10-4 with a 2.63 GAA and a .921 save percentage
Trends:
Vegas:
- 20-6 in their last 26 games against teams with a losing record.
- 16-5 in their last 21 games when playing on zero day’s rest.
Los Angeles:
- 3-7 in their last 10 games.
- 3-14 in their last 17 games on Monday.
Teams usually struggle when having to play the second game of back-to-back nights, but Vegas seems to thrive on this. They have been outstanding in these situations, and they have Lehner going, who struggled in his last start but had been brilliant in the previous six. The Golden Knights have a lot going for them here and I take them all the way.
Pick: Take Vegas at -185.
The Total:
These teams have gone over in eight of the last 11 meetings between them, but I do not believe that will be the trend here. Take away the most recent loss and Lehner has been absolutely brilliant. Plus, Petersen has established himself as a No. 1 goaltender. I look for Vegas to be a bit fatigued which will help to keep scoring down.
Pick: Go under 5.5 goals at -105.