The Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings meet Saturday in NHL action at the Staples Center.
The Pittsburgh Penguins look for another victory after winning 10 of their last 11 games. The Pittsburgh Penguins are averaging 3.5 goals per game and are scoring on 25.6 percent of their power play opportunities. Sidney Crosby leads Pittsburgh with 20 goals, Evgeni Malkin has 32 assists and Phil Kessel has 117 shots on goal. Defensively, the Pittsburgh Penguins are allowing 2.8 goals per game and are killing 84.2 percent of their opponents power plays. Matt Murray has given up 49 goals on 589 shots faced and Casey DeSmith has allowed 58 goals on 763 shots. The Pittsburgh Penguins have allowed two or less goals in six of their last eight games.
The Los Angeles Kings could use a feel good victory after losing five of their last seven games. The Los Angeles Kings are averaging 2.2 goals per game and are scoring on 14.6 percent of their power play opportunities. Anze Kopitar leads Los Angeles with 11 goals, Drew Doughty has 21 assists and Dustin Brown has 91 shots on goal. Defensively, the Los Angeles Kings are allowing three goals per game and are killing 74.2 percent of their opponents power plays. Jonathan Quick has given up 57 goals on 576 shots faced and Jack Campbell has allowed 30 goals on 427 shots. The Los Angeles Kings have allowed three or more goals in five of their last 10 games.
The Penguins are 5-0 in their last 5 road games, 4-1 in their last 5 games playing on 0 days rest and 20-6 in their last 26 vs. Western Conference. The Kings are 2-6 in their last 8 games playing on 1 days rest, 4-13 in their last 17 Saturday games and 1-4 in their last 5 overall. The under is 4-1-1 in the last 6 meetings. The under is 7-1 in Kings last 8 overall. The over is 7-3-2 in Penguins last 12 vs. Western Conference.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are obviously on fire at the moment and should be the favorites in their current form. However, we’re considering considerable plus money with the Los Angeles Kings at home with the Penguins on the end of a back to back. Also, five of the last eight meetings between the Penguins and Kings have gone into overtime, so these games have come down to the wire, despite the Penguins being on the winning side in each of the last three meetings. I’ll take a stab with the Kings on their home ice in this spot.
Source: “Los Angeles” – Google News