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Charlie Grant
Calgary Flames vs. Los Angeles Kings: NHL Odds, Prediction
Los Angeles begins its final six games of the regular season with a cluster of contests in the state of California. The Kings hope to extend Calgary’s losing streak and put themselves back on the right side of the playoff standings with a win on Monday night at the Staples Center.
Flames vs. Kings Betting Analysis
The Flames’ postseason hopes have been all but extinguished because of their five-game slide. Calgary is just 5-13 straight up in its last 18 games and enters Monday’s contest with just three goals in its last four games. The Flames are nine points back of the Kings in the Pacific standings.
LA is coming off a 3-2 loss at Edmonton on Saturday night compliments of Connor McDavid’s two-goal effort. The Kings are 6-6 straight up in their last 12 games and 41-35 on the season. The under is 4-2 in their last six contests and 34-40-2 overall.
Calgary has gotten the better of Los Angeles in five of the last seven meetings between the two teams. The Kings won 2-1 in overtime at the Saddledome back at the end of January.
The Kings’ odds to win the Western Conference are +1200 and +2500 to win the Stanley Cup on the Sports Interaction NHL futures board.
Calgary Flames
The Kings are catching a break playing a Flames side missing its top goal scorer. Sean Monahan is out for the season after undergoing surgery on his injured wrist. The fifth-year forward tallied 31 goals and registered a career-best 64 points in 74 games before being shut down for the campaign.
Calgary hopes winger Johnny Gaudreau will snap out of his cold streak and find the back of the net against Los Angeles. Gaudreau leads the Flames with 82 points but has just one point in his last four games.
Los Angeles Kings
This is the final playoff push for a team with still much of the same core that was there for the 2012 and 2014 Cup-winning squads. They play five home games in their last six regular season games and the other is a date at Anaheim at the end of the week.
Once again, Los Angeles major strength is preventing teams from scoring. The Kings are second in goals against and own the best penalty-killing unit in the league. Anze Kopitar is enjoying his finest season in a decorated pro career. He scored four goals in a game at Colorado last Thursday and he’s accumulated 33 points in his last 26 games.
