Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Los Angeles Kings - 1/6/20 NHL Picks, Odds, and Prediction

Game: Columbus Blue Jackets vs Los Angeles Kings

Date: Monday, January 6, 2020

Location: Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA

TV: FSW

Odds/Point Spread: Blue Jackets (-102) Kings (-108)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

Elvis Merzlikins and the Columbus Blue Jackets (19-15-8, 6th in the Metropolitan Division) go to Staples Center on Monday where they'll take on the Los Angeles Kings (17-22-4, 7th in the Pacific Division). The Kings open this game at -108 while the Blue Jackets are priced at -102. The O/U has been set at 5.5. The Blue Jackets cover 45.2% of the time, having gone 19-23 SU. The Kings cover 39.5% of the time, going 17-26 straight up.

The Columbus Blue Jackets come into the game with a record of 19 victories and 15 losses, putting them at 6th in the Metropolitan Division. During the year thus far, they have scored a total of 109 goals which is 14th in the Eastern Conference and 28th in the league. Their goal differential is -5, putting them at 20th in the league. The Blue Jackets currently have a total of 46 pts, which is 19th in the league and 10th in the East. Regarding shots at the opposing goalie, they currently have a total of 1,381 which is 4th in the conference and 7th in the league. As a team, Columbus currently has a total of 820 hits which means they are averaging 19.5 per game. They currently have a total of 558 blocks for the year. Protecting the goal for Columbus is Elvis Merzlikins from Riga, Latvia. He is 25 years old and has totaled 653 mins minding the goal for the season. Kinkaid is conceding an average of 2.94 goals per game which has him sitting 17th among East goalies and 36th in the NHL among goaltenders. So far this year, he's allowed 32 goals. He holds a save % of .904 which has him sitting 20th among East goalies.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets will need a bounce back game after taking a 3 - 2 defeat to the San Jose Sharks in their previous contest. The Blue Jackets offense left a lot to be desired in this defeat. For this matchup, they scored on 2 of the 23 shots they tried. Furthermore, they had 2 power play attempts but weren't able to score. Columbus earned 2 penalty minutes while out there on the ice. The Corsi for the Blue Jackets sat at 37 and the Corsi against was 45 which means they earned a Corsi percentage of 45.1%. Their Fenwick sat at 30 and the Fenwick against was 37, which earned them a Fenwick percentage of 44.8%. They took 24 face-off wins and lost 31 attempts to control the puck. Their offensive zone starts came in at 59.4% and they had a PDO of 98.4 for this matchup. With regard to the opposition's stats, the San Jose Sharks earned 28 shots. They had 4 penalty mins and they notched 1 power play opportunity.

The Kings are the team looking to add points to their total and for the year they have 17 wins and 22 defeats. In terms of goal differential, they are ranked 14th in the Western Conference and 28th in the NHL with -25. They currently have a total of 110 goals for this year which has them sitting at 14th in the Western Conference. Los Angeles has a team save % of .890 which has them sitting 29th in the NHL, which tells us scoring chances could be plentiful if they attack the goal. They have a team shooting percentage of 7.6% putting them at 15th in the West. In goal for Los Angeles is Jonathan Quick who is having a rough season by allowing 3.05 goals against average and that ranks him 25th in the Western Conference and 46th among goalies in the NHL. In the 1,672 minutes he's been on the ice this year, he has allowed 85 goals. He has a save percentage of .894, which puts him at 28th in the Western Conference and 58th among goalies in the NHL.

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The Los Angeles Kings faced off against the Nashville Predators in an outing where the Kings went home in defeat by a mark of 4 - 1. For this outing, Los Angeles went home with a 45.0% Corsi rating. They wound up with that percentage by having a Corsi of 45 while their opponent had a Corsi of 55. Their Fenwick rate came in at 45.6% with a Fenwick of 36 and the Predators having a 43 Fenwick. This Corsi rating tells us the kind of game Los Angeles had and you can safely assume that they'll look to improve in their next outing. They had a PDO at even strength of 87.5 and they'll go home having earned an oZS percentage of 46.3%. The Kings converted 1 goal out of the 24 shots on goal they pursued. They had 4 power play chances in this one and were able to convert 1 out of those chances. On the other side of the ice, the Predators had 5 power play chances but didn't put the puck in goal. Los Angeles gave up 38 shots on goal and the Predators ended up with a total of 13 penalty minutes.

Who will win tonight's NHL game against the spread?

Tony's Pick: Take Columbus (-102)

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