Overview
The Los Angeles Kings continue their east coast road swing tonight in Florida where they take on the Panthers. Being in difference conferences these two teams don’t play each other all that often and that’s probably a good thing for the Panthers as they have won just 1 of the last 11 meetings.
Head to Head Trends
Kings are 10-1 in the last 11 meetings.
Kings are 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Florida.
Florida Panthers (+105)
The Florida Panthers are 5th in the Atlantic Division with 54 points 15 points behind the 1st place Tampa Bay Lightning and they are also 7 points behind the Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot in the East. The Panthers were actually doing pretty good for most of the season but they have really started to fade over the past few weeks winning just 2 of their last 9 games. I actually think the Panthers were lucky to be anywhere close to a playoff spot as they’re just not very good in general. They’re not very good on offense averaging under 2.5 goals per game and they’re not very good on defense either allowing 2.9 goals per game so it was very surprising they were able to stay up in the points standing as long as they did.
Florida Panther Trends
Panthers are 2-7 in their last 9 overall.
Panthers are 12-29 in their last 41 in the third game of a 3-in-4 situation.
Los Angeles Kings (-115)
The LA Kings are 5th in the Pacific Division with 54 points and are out of the playoffs right now 5 points behind the Vancouver Canucks for the final playoff spot in the West. The Kings are a pretty good team it’s just they can’t win on the road for some strange reason. So far this season the Kings have won just 5 of 22 road games which is actually tied for the fewest road wins in the league. The Kings are ok on offense averaging 2.7 goals per game and they’re the same on defense allowing 2.7 goals per game. If you were to look at just their road numbers they average 2.4 goals per game on offense and are allowing 3.0 goals per game on defense which is really really bad especially for a pretty good team like the Kings.
Los Angeles Kings Trends
Kings are 7-19 in their last 26 road games.
Kings are 1-6 in their last 7 overall.
Conclusion
Even though the Kings have really struggled on the road this season I’m going to pick them over the Panthers tonight. I think the Kings will probably play much better on the road for the rest of the season, it’s kind of like the law of averages says they just have to win. To reach 15 road wins on the season which is still not very good they would have to win 10 of their final 19 road games which I would say is fairly likely.
Free Pick: LA Kings -115
