Vegas Golden Knights at Los Angeles Kings NHL Picks & Predictions 12/28/2017

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Staples Center

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The Vegas Golden Knights head to Staples Center to take on the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, December 28, 2017. The opening line for this contest has the Golden Knights at +136 and the Kings at -150.

Vegas has a record of 23-9-2 this year and away from home they have a record of 8-7-1-1. They are 1st in the Pacific Division. They have tallied 119 goals and surrendered 100 goals for a point differential of +19. For the year they have an ATS mark of 23-11-0 and an over/under record of 21-11-0. Los Angeles has a record of 22-11-4 including 11-5-2-0 on home ice this year. They are 2nd in the Pacific Division. They've scored 109 goals and have given up 85 for a goal differential of +24. Their record against the spread is 22-15-0 while their over/under mark is 15-19-0.

Valuable Vegas Golden Knights Betting Trends

The Vegas Golden Knights are 23-11-0 straight up this year

The Vegas Golden Knights are 21-11-0 against the over/under this season

Important Los Angeles Kings Betting Trends

The Los Angeles Kings are 22-15-0 straight up this year

The Los Angeles Kings are 15-19-0 against the over/under this season

Key Vegas Golden Knights Injuries

12/17/17 D Luca Sbisa Lower Body IR (12/11)
11/30/17 LW William Carrier Upper Body IR (11/26)
10/31/17 GO Oscar Dansk Lower Body IR (10/30)
10/06/17 D Clayton Stoner Abdominal IR (10/02)

Key Los Angeles Kings Injuries

12/26/17 LW Kyle Clifford Undisclosed IR (12/16)
12/19/17 D Christian Folin Upper Body IR (12/18)
10/19/17 C Jeff Carter Ankle IR (10/18)

Player Spotlight

James Neal has scored 27 total points this year for the Golden Knights. He has 17 goals this season with 98 shots on net, giving him a shooting percentage of 17%. He has a total of 10 assists on the year and averages 17.5 minutes played per contest. David Perron averages 17.6 minutes of ice time per game this season. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 14% by tallying 7 goals on 50 attempts. He has 20 assists, giving him a total of 27 points on the year. Marc-Andre Fleury has 6 wins and 2 losses this season in goal for the Golden Knights. He has 260 shots against him and he's surrendered 16 goals. He's made 244 stops for a save percentage of 94%.

Player Spotlight

Anze Kopitar has 40 total points this season for the Kings. He has 17 goals this year with 88 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 19%. He has a total of 23 assists on the year and averages 21.9 minutes played per contest. Dustin Brown averages 19.8 minutes of ice time per contest. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 14% by scoring 13 goals on 93 attempts. He has 16 assists, giving him a total of 29 points on the year. Jonathan Quick has 17 wins and 11 losses this season in net for the Kings. He has 880 shots against him and he's given up 63 goals. He's made 817 saves for a save percentage of 93%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Golden Knights have 48 total points this year, which is 4th in the NHL. They've scored 119 goals while giving up 100 scores, which has them ranked 5th and 23rd respectively. They have had 116 power play chances and scored 23 goals on those opportunities for a percentage of 20%. That is 13th in the league. The Golden Knights have given up 109 power play opportunities and surrendered 23 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 79%, ranking them 23rd when short-handed. They average 32 shots per contest and as a team shoot 10.85% for the year. They allow 31 shot attempts to their opposition per game and have a team save percentage of 91%, which is 19th in the league.

Useful Team Statistics

The Kings are 2nd in the league with a total of 48 points this season. They have 17 power play goals on 110 chances for a percentage of 15%. That is 28th in the NHL. They've given up 126 power play opportunities and surrendered 17 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 87%, ranking 1st overall. As a team, the Kings are 13th with a total of 109 goals scored while they've given up 85 goals this season, ranking 30th in goals against. They average 31 shots per game and have a team shooting percentage of 9.57%. As a unit they give up 32 shots per contest and have a save percentage of 93%, putting them 1st overall in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

Vegas has a Corsi percentage of 51.1% as they've tried 2,060 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 1,972 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. That ranks them 13th in Corsi percentage. They are 11th in the NHL in Fenwick percentage with 51.7% as they have 1,532 shots while they've given up 1,430 attempts on defense. The Golden Knights start possessions in the offensive zone 50.3% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 49.7% for the year. That puts them 21st and 15th in the league in zone percentages respectively. They have 1,082 face-off wins as opposed to 1,073 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 50.2%. That is 21st overall in the NHL. On defense Vegas has 648 hits and they've blocked 542 attempts from opposing offenses, which is 11th in the league.

Advanced Statistics

The Kings start possessions in the offensive zone 51.3% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 48.7% for the year. That ranks them 14th and 18th respectively in the NHL. They have 1,120 face-off wins as opposed to 1,134 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 49.7%. That is 17th in the league. On defense Los Angeles has 936 hits and they've blocked 522 attempts from opposing offenses, ranking them 20th in blocked shots. Los Angeles is ranked 15th in Corsi percentage with 49.5% as they've tried 2,127 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 2,171 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. Their Fenwick percentage is 18th in the NHL at 49.2%, as they have 1,600 shots while they've given up 1,649 attempts on defense.

Who will win tonight's Golden Knights/Kings NHL game against the spread?

Josh's Pick: Take Vegas +136

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