The Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings meet in NHL action from the Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night.
The Chicago Blackhawks will try to bounce back from a 4-0 loss at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets last time out. Patrick Kane leads Chicago with 10 points coming with a team-high 8 assists while Jonathan Toews has 9 points with a team-high 7 goals. Max Domi, Jason Dickinson and Sam Lafferty each have 7 points with Domi and Dickinson each logging 4 goals with 3 assists while Lafferty has 3 goals and 4 apples this season. Petr Mrazek has gone 1-1 with a 3.76 GAA and an .873 save percentage while Alex Stalock is 3-2-1 with a 2.93 GAA and a .914 save percentage in goal for Chicago this season.
The Los Angeles Kings will look to build on their 1-0 win over the Minnesota Wild in their last game. Gabe Vilardi has 15 points with a team-high 10 goals and 5 assists while Kevin Fiala has 14 points with a team-high 11 assists. Anze Kopitar also has 13 points with 11 assists while Adrian Kempe has 6 goals of his own this season. Jonathan Quick has gone 5-4-1 with a 3.02 GAA and an .897 save percentage while Cal Petersen has a 3-2 record with a 4.30 GAA and an .868 save percentage this season.
Chicago is 10-48 in their last 58 games against a team with a winning record and 18-38 in their last 56 games overall while the over is 12-5 in their last 17 games against the Western Conference. Los Angeles is 4-1 in their last 5 home games and 23-8 in their last 31 games against a team with a losing record while the over is 6-1-1 in their last 8 games following a win.
I get why the Kings are favored at home. However, the Blackhawks have shown signs of life here and there and by no means are the Kings world-beaters and a team I want to lay this kind of price with. A lot of the recent meetings between these two have been one goal games, so I’ll take a shot with the Blackhawks +1.5 here.