The New York Islanders and the Los Angeles Kings meet in NHL action from the Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night.
The New York Islanders will look to rebound from a 4-3 shootout loss to San Jose last time out. Mathew Barzal leads New York with 36 points split between 12 goals and a team-high 24 assists while Josh Bailey has 22 points with 19 assists and Oliver Wahlstrom has 19 points with 10 goals and 9 assists. Adam Pelech also has a team-best +14 plus/minus rating for the Isles while Brock Nelson has a team-high 19 goals this season. Ilya Sorokin has gone 16-11-7 with a 2.44 GAA and a .920 save percentage this season.
The Los Angeles Kings will look to build on their four-game win streak after a 4-1 win over Anaheim last time out. Anze Kopitar leads the Kings in scoring with 49 points including a team-high 34 assists and 15 goals while Alex Iafallo has 14 goals, logging 28 points and Adrian Kempe’s point total is at 36 with a team-high 25 goals of his own. Jonathan Quick’s gone 14-10-6 with a 2.55 GAA and a .913 save percentage this season between the pipes for the Kings while Cal Petersen’s gone 13-7-1 with a 2.68 GAA and a .898 save percentage.
New York is 5-21 in their last 26 games against a team with a winning record and 0-4 in their last 4 games against a road underdog while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 road games. Los Angeles is 10-1 in their last 11 games against a team with a losing record and 9-2 in their last 11 games as a favorite while the under is 5-1-1 in their last 7 home games following a road trip of 7 or more days.
I get the case to be made for the Isles as Los Angeles is on the back-to-back, but the Kings are playing the far better hockey right now and I don’t think the Islanders have what it takes offensively to keep up here with the confident Kings. I’ll side with the Kings laying the cheap price at home here.