The Los Angeles Kings and the Nashville Predators meet in NHL action from Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night.
The Los Angeles Kings will look to build on back-to-back wins, improving to 2-2 with a 5-4 OT win over Detroit last time out. Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe each have 6 points with Kopitar logging 5 assists while Kempe has a team-high 4 goals. Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Kevin Fiala each have 5 points as well with Vilardi logging 3 goals and a pair of assists while Iafallo has 2 goals with 3 apples and Fiala has 4 assists. Jonathan Quick’s gone 1-2 with a 3.73 GAA and an .895 save percentage in goal for the Kings while Cal Petersen is 1-0 with a 6.00 GAA and an .829 save percentage this season.
The Nashville Predators will try to bounce back from back-to-back losses, falling to 2-2 with a 5-1 loss to Dallas last time out. Nino Niederreiter leads the Predators with 4 goals while Mikael Granlund, Eeli Tolvanen and Ryan Johansen all have 3 points with Granlund logging a team-high 3 assists while Tolvanen and Johansen each have a goal and 2 assists. Juuse Saros has gone 1-2 with a 2.54 GAA and an .889 save percentage between the pipes for Nashville while Kevin Lankinen is 1-0 with a 2.00 GAA and a .939 save percentage.
Los Angeles is 1-4 in their last 5 games overall and 6-2 in their last 8 games played on no rest while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games against the Central division. Nashville is 1-5 in their last 6 home games and 2-7 in their last 9 games overall while the under is 3-0-1 in their last 4 games overall.
I get the case to be made for either side here, but while I was initially leaning towards the Predators at home, I think I’m going to switch course and back the Kings here. Los Angeles showed a ton of fight in taking care of the Red Wings, not giving up despite multiple comeback attempts from the Red Wings in Monday’s game. Nashville’s a solid group, but the goaltending’s been shaky since returning back from Europe and I just want no part of the Preds in their current form. The Kings did their best work on the road last season and I think they can win another one here. Give me Los Angeles and the plus money.