Florida Panthers vs Los Angeles Kings 12/16/21 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Los Angeles Kings and the Florida Panthers meet in NHL action from BB&T Arena on Thursday night.

The Los Angeles Kings come into this game looking to bounce back from a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay last time out. Anze Kopitar leads the Kings in scoring with 25 points including a team-high 17 assists and 8 goals while Alex Iafallo has 9 goals, logging 17 points while Adrian Kempe’s point total is at 16 with a team-high 11 goals of his own. Jonathan Quick’s gone 7-5-4 with a 2.09 GAA and a .931 save percentage this season between the pipes for the Kings while Cal Petersen’s gone 5-5-1 with a 3.10 GAA and an .893 save percentage.

The Florida Panthers will try to rebound from an 8-2 dismantling at the hands of the Ottawa Senators in their last game. Jonathan Huberdeau leads the Panthers in scoring with 32 points including a team-high 22 assists while Aaron Ekblad has 24 points with 8 goals and 16 assists as well as a team-best +17 plus/minus rating this season. Aleksander Barkov and the aforementioned Huberdeau lead the Panthers with 10 goals apiece so far this season. Sergei Bobrovsky’s gone 12-2-2 with a 2.37 GAA and a .920 save percentage between the pipes for Florida while Spencer Knight is 6-4-2 with a 3.42 GAA and an .892 save percentage.

Los Angeles is 4-9 in their last 13 games overall and 7-16 in their last 23 games as an underdog while the under is 4-0-1 in their last 5 games as a road underdog. Florida is 39-13 in their last 52 games as a favorite and 37-14 in their last 51 home games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games as a home favorite.

I get the case to be made for Los Angeles here as the Panthers were just beaten and bruised in their last game, but I think that’s even more reason to back the Panthers here. Florida doesn’t lose often at home, and that loss was downright humiliating in front of their home fans. Look for the Panthers to take out some frustration on the Kings in this one. Give me Florida -1.5 here.