Tampa Bay Lightning (26-9-5) vs. Los Angeles Kings (20-14-5)
January 18, 2022 10:30 pm EDT
The Line: Los Angeles Kings +150 / Tampa Bay Lightning -175; Over/Under: -5.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Los Angeles Kings meet in NHL action from the Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night.
The Tampa Bay Lightning will look to keep the puck rolling after a 3-1 win over Dallas for their fifth win in six tries last time out. Steven Stamkos leads the Lightning in scoring with 46 points including a team-high 18 goals along with 28 assists while Victor Hedman also has 40 points with a team-high 33 assists as well this season. Alex Killorn has 36 points with 12 goals and 24 assists while the aforementioned Hedman has a team-high +12 plus/minus rating as well for the Bolts this season. Andrei Vaslievskiy has seen the bulk of the workload between the pipes for Tampa Bay this season, posting a record of 22-6-3 with a 2.14 GAA and a .924 save percentage on the year.
The Los Angeles Kings will attempt to bounce back from a 6-2 beatdown at the hands of the San Jose Sharks last time out. Anze Kopitar leads the Kings in scoring with 35 points including a team-high 23 assists and 12 goals while Alex Iafallo has 10 goals, logging 23 points while Adrian Kempe’s point total is at 24 with a team-high 17 goals of his own. Jonathan Quick’s gone 11-9-4 with a 2.53 GAA and a .915 save percentage this season between the pipes for the Kings while Cal Petersen’s gone 8-5-1 with a 2.58 GAA and an .906 save percentage.
Tampa Bay is 10-3 in their last 13 games following a win and 40-15 in their last 55 games against the Pacific division while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 road games. Los Angeles is 11-2 in their last 13 games against the Atlantic division and 18-5 in their last 23 games against the Eastern Conference while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games as an underdog.
Well, the Kings got a rude awakening by Timo Meier and the Sharks on Tuesday and the Lightning on a back-to-back are far from an ideal opponent. With that said, I’m siding with the under here. I’m expecting tired legs from the Kings and if L.A. wants any shot at battling the Bolts here, they’ll have to play superb defense to keep things close. Give me the under in this one.
