PREMIUM
Rogers' *10* Game 1 NHL TOTAL DOMINATION >> SIZZLING 18-5 NHL Run!
(NHL) Los Angeles vs. Vegas,
Total: 5.50 | -129.00 Under
Result: Loss
Total: 5.50 | -129.00 Under
Result: Loss
The set-up: The Vegas Golden Knights completed a record-setting regular season for a first-year club, going 51-24-7 to win the Pacific Division, while their 109 points were the fourth-most of any team in the entire NHL. After shattering a slew of league records for a first-year team, the Golden Knights prepare for their first foray into the postseason when they host the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.The 45-29-8 LA Kings finished fourth in the Pacific Division but the team's 98 points were enough to enable them to claim the top wild card spot in the West. The Golden Knights dominated Pacific foes, posting a 20-6-3 mark in division play (including two meaningless losses to close the season), and split the four-game series with the Kings, although they dropped both ends of a home-and-home on Feb. 26-27. Los Angeles has not won a postseason series in a while, but it is accustomed to the bright lights, having won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014.
LA Kings: Captain Anze Kopitar is among the front-runners for the Hart Trophy, rebounding from a dismal 52-point campaign in 2016-17 to amass a career-best 92 points (35 goals / 57 assists), 31 more than second-leading scorer Dustin Brown (28 goals / 31 assists). A difference-maker for the Kings could be veteran forward Jeff Carter, who missed more than four months with a lacerated tendon but scored 13 goals in the final 20 games, including in each of the last two matchups versus Vegas (both LA wins). Jonathan Quick had a career-high 28 losses (33-28-3, 2.40 GAA), but the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner posted a .921 save percentage and five shutouts in backboning a defense that surrendered the fewest goals (203 or 2.46 per) in the league, helped by the league's best penalty-kill unit (85.0%)..
Vegas: If it's true that goaltending is the name of the game in the playoffs, then Vegas has an elite one in Marc-Andre Fleury, who won three Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins and piled up a 29-13-4 record (2.24 GAA & .927 SP) this season despite missing two months due to a concussion. Forward Reilly Smith was sidelined for 15 games before returning for the regular-season finale and joins 43-goal scorer William Karlsson (78 points) and 27-goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault (75 points) on a top line that combined for 13 points in the four matchups against Los Angeles. Center David Perron (66 points, including a team-high 50 asssists in 70 games) sat out the final six games but practiced both Monday and Tuesday. However, his status remains unclear for the series opener.
The pick: The expansion Vegas Golden Knights were the feel-good story of the regular season but the question before us now is can they continue their storybook season in the Stanley Cup Playoffs? Vegas opened was an eye-popping 27-9-2 as of Jan. 2 but sputtered down the stretch, including an 8-3 home loss to New Jersey and also a 7-1 season-ending clunker at Calgary, a game in which Fleury was pulled from after stopping just 12 of the 18 shots he faced. Both teams will send out playoff-tested goaltenders but Vegas' strength this season has been its ability to put the puck in the net, averaging 3.27 GPG (5th-best in the NHL). That average jumps to 3.56 GPG here at T-Mobile Arena, which should be rockin' for the club's first-ever playoff game. The play is a 10* on the Over.
LA Kings: Captain Anze Kopitar is among the front-runners for the Hart Trophy, rebounding from a dismal 52-point campaign in 2016-17 to amass a career-best 92 points (35 goals / 57 assists), 31 more than second-leading scorer Dustin Brown (28 goals / 31 assists). A difference-maker for the Kings could be veteran forward Jeff Carter, who missed more than four months with a lacerated tendon but scored 13 goals in the final 20 games, including in each of the last two matchups versus Vegas (both LA wins). Jonathan Quick had a career-high 28 losses (33-28-3, 2.40 GAA), but the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner posted a .921 save percentage and five shutouts in backboning a defense that surrendered the fewest goals (203 or 2.46 per) in the league, helped by the league's best penalty-kill unit (85.0%)..
Vegas: If it's true that goaltending is the name of the game in the playoffs, then Vegas has an elite one in Marc-Andre Fleury, who won three Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins and piled up a 29-13-4 record (2.24 GAA & .927 SP) this season despite missing two months due to a concussion. Forward Reilly Smith was sidelined for 15 games before returning for the regular-season finale and joins 43-goal scorer William Karlsson (78 points) and 27-goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault (75 points) on a top line that combined for 13 points in the four matchups against Los Angeles. Center David Perron (66 points, including a team-high 50 asssists in 70 games) sat out the final six games but practiced both Monday and Tuesday. However, his status remains unclear for the series opener.
The pick: The expansion Vegas Golden Knights were the feel-good story of the regular season but the question before us now is can they continue their storybook season in the Stanley Cup Playoffs? Vegas opened was an eye-popping 27-9-2 as of Jan. 2 but sputtered down the stretch, including an 8-3 home loss to New Jersey and also a 7-1 season-ending clunker at Calgary, a game in which Fleury was pulled from after stopping just 12 of the 18 shots he faced. Both teams will send out playoff-tested goaltenders but Vegas' strength this season has been its ability to put the puck in the net, averaging 3.27 GPG (5th-best in the NHL). That average jumps to 3.56 GPG here at T-Mobile Arena, which should be rockin' for the club's first-ever playoff game. The play is a 10* on the Over.
