The Florida Panthers are in Los Angeles to play the Kings on Thursday at 10:30 p.m. ET at the Crypto.com Arena. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.
Florida Panthers vs. Los Angeles Kings preview
The Florida Panthers kicked off their west coast road trip on Tuesday with a 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks. The Panthers are currently 10-4-1, which is good for second in the Atlantic Division, and is riding a five-game win streak.
Florida is currently led by Sam Reinhart (23 points), Matthew Tkachuk (17 points), Aleksandar Barkov (16 points), Evan Rodrigues (13 points) and Carter Verhaeghe (12 points).
Los Angeles, meanwhile, is on a two-game losing streak after losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers on the road. The Kings will now return home and haven't played since Saturday.
LA is led by Adrian Kempe (16 points), Kevin Fiala (14 points), Anze Kopitar (14 points) and Quinton Byfield (13 points).
Panthers vs. Kings: Head-to-head and essential numbers
- LA is 25-14-3 all-time against the Panthers.
- The Kings are 1-3-3 at home this season.
- Florida is 4-3-1 on the road.
- Los Angeles averages four goals per game, ranked fourth in the NHL.
- The Kings allow just 2.86 goals per game, which is ninth.
- Florida ranks 17th in the NHL, averaging 3.27 goals per game.
- The Panthers allow 2.87 goals per game.
Panthers vs. Kings: Odds and prediction
The Florida Panthers are +110 underdogs, while the Los Angeles Kings are -130 favorites. The over/under is set at 6.5 goals, with the over juiced to -130.
Los Angeles is a good team that has struggled at home, which is surprising as playing on the West Coast has been challenging in history for NHL teams.
This should be a very competitive game, but I'll back Florida as LA's offense has struggled, and not playing since last Saturday should mean a bit of rust to start.
Prediction: Florida 3, Los Angeles 2
Panthers vs. Kings: Betting tips
Tip 1: Florida to win +110
Tip 2: Under 6.5 goals +110
Tip 3: Under 1.5 goals first period +130
Tip 4: Aleksandar Barkov over 2.5 shots -115