Boston Bruins (29-4-4) vs. Los Angeles Kings (22-13-6)
January 5, 2023 10:30 pm EDT
The Line: Los Angeles Kings +118 / Boston Bruins -147; Over/Under: +6
(Get latest betting odds)
The Boston Bruins and the Los Angeles Kings meet in NHL action from the Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night.
The Boston Bruins will look to build on their 2-1 win over Buffalo in their last game. David Pastrnak has 50 points with team-highs of 25 goals and 25 assists while Brad Marchand has 31 points while Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk each have 30 points with Bergeron split between 15 goals and 15 assists while Marchand has 21 assists and DeBrusk has 16 goals and 14 assists. Linus Ullmark’s gone 21-1-1 with a 1.86 GAA and a .939 save percentage while Jeremy Swayman’s gone 7-3-3 with a 2.68 GAA and an .897 save percentage this season.
The Los Angeles Kings will attempt to to build on their 3-2 win over Dallas last time out. Kevin Fiala has a team-high 39 points with a team-high 29 assists, while Gabe Vilardi has 25 points with a team-high 16 goals and Anze Kopitar also has 30 points with 19 assists. Viktor Arvidsson also has 30 points and Phillip Danault has 29 points as well this season. Jonathan Quick has gone 8-9-4 with a 3.40 GAA and an .884 save percentage while Pheonix Copley is 9-1 with a 2.52 GAA and a .908 save percentage this season.
Boston is 38-14 in their last 52 games overall and 43-17 in their last 60 games against the Western Conference while the under is 5-2 in their last 7 games against the Pacific division. Los Angeles is 5-1 in their last 6 home games and 7-2 in their last 9 games overall while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 home games.
I get the case to be made for either of these teams as the Kings looked good at home against Dallas, but I can’t pass up on Boston here. The Bruins are simply the better team by a fair margin, even on the road, and are just not a team I’m looking to step in front of. The Bruins won’t win every game, but it’s really hard to go against them. I’ll side with the Bruins here.
