Vancouver Canucks vs. Los Angeles Kings Prediction, NHL Odds
The Kings opened their final home stand of the regular season with Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, and now sit just two points up on fourth-place Seattle with just two games remaining on their schedule. The Canucks open a season-closing three-game road trip on a high after topping Calgary 3-2 on Saturday night. In addition to their current two-game overall win streak, the Canucks arrive in LA vying for their fifth win in six road contests.
The Kings have held steady since opening as -191 favourites to end their late-season slide. The Canucks are pegged as +159 underdogs, while the total sits at 6.5.
Canucks vs. Kings NHL Betting Odds
Monday night’s matchup at Crypto.com Arena marks the fourth and final meeting of the season between these divisional rivals, and their third tilts in just over three weeks. The Kings tallied a 4-1 win when they visited Vancouver back on April 2, snapping a three-game slide in head-to-head action. However, Los Angeles has failed to tally consecutive wins while going a dismal 7-15 straight up in 22 dates with the Canucks since March 2016. These teams have combined to score an averaged of just 4.57 goals per game during a 7-0 run for the UNDER in totals betting, and three of their past four clashes in Los Angeles have been steeled by just a single goal.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks have leveraged fast starts to claim victory in each of their past two games after falling defeat in each of their previous four contests. The club established early multi-goal leads in their wins over Chicago and Calgary, and enjoyed the benefit of superb goaltending from Thatcher Demko, who preserved the victories while stopping 74 of the 76 total shots he has faced over that stretch. Demko was also lights out in his first two starts against Los Angeles this season, stopping 75 of 78 total shots. However, Demko was largely left to fend for himself after the Canucks’ fast start quickly fizzled in the team’s 4-1 loss earlier this month. Elias Pettersson has maintained his consistent production down the stretch. Vancouver’s star centre tallied his 38th goal of the season on Saturday night, and has now racked up eight goals and 23 points while getting on the scoresheet in 17 of his past 18 outings.
Los Angeles Kings
While the Canucks face no pressure entering Monday night’s contest, the Kings are eager to halt a slide that has come at the worst possible time. The club was outclassed in last week’s pivotal losses to division rivals Vegas and Edmonton, which ended any hopes of a first-place finish atop the Pacific Division standings. And while they managed to outshoot Colorado by a wide 32-11 margin through 40 minutes on Saturday night, they never established a lead on the way to a brutal 4-3 defeat. Injuries have emerged as a massive concern for the Kings. The club has been missing Kevin Fiala and Gabriel Vilardi for extended periods due to injury, and the status of the duo for Monday night is far from certain. LA has also failed to get production from key members of the supporting cast. Phillip Danault has failed to score in 14 games and prized prospect Quinton Byfield has potted just one goal in his past 32 appearances. Anze Kopitar has also scored just onAce in 11 games, but set up all three goals on Saturday including both markers by Adrian Kempe, who recorded nine shots on goal after averaging fewer than two shots per game during a six-game scoring drought.
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