Los Angeles Kings vs Calgary Flames 12/2/21 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Calgary Flames and the Los Angeles Kings meet in NHL action from the Staples Center on Thursday night.

The Calgary Flames will be out to build on a 2-1 shootout win over Pittsburgh last time out.  Johnny Gaudreau leads the Flames in scoring with 25 points including a team-high 16 assists while Elias Lindholm has 23 points with 14 assists and both logging 9 goals with Lindholm posting a team-high +18 plus/minus rating while Gaudreau has a +14 rating. Matthew Tkachuk has 10 goals and 9 assists for his 19 points while Andrew Mangiapane has 17 points and a team-high 15 goals. Jacob Markstrom’s gone 9-4-4 with a 1.75 GAA and a .938 save percentage up to this point in the season in goal for Calgary.

The Los Angeles Kings could use a win after a 5-4 shootout loss to Anaheim in their last game. Anze Kopitar leads the Kings in scoring with 23 points including team-highs of 8 goals and 15 assists while Alex Iafallo and Adrian Kempe each have 8 goals apiece as well with Iafallo logging 15 points to Kempe’s 13. Jonathan Quick’s gone 4-5-3 with a 2.38 GAA and a .924 save percentage this season between the pipes for the Kings while Cal Petersen’s gone 5-3-1 with a 3.00 GAA and an .895 save percentage.  

Calgary is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall and 0-4 in their last 4 games against the Pacific division while the under is 6-2 in their last 8 Thursday games. Los Angeles is 1-6 in their last 7 games overall and 2-10 in their last 12 games as a home underdog while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games played on one day’s rest.

I get the case that could be made each way as both teams want a division W. With that said, I’m leaning towards the under here as I just envision this being a low-scoring physical affair where neither side really wants to give anything up. I think this is a 3-2 game whichever way you slice it, so give me the under here.