The LA Kings finished fourth in the Pacific and has not won a postseason series in a while, but it is accustomed to the bright lights -- hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014 -- and plays a bruising style that translates well into the playoffs and contrasts dramatically to the speed of Vegas.

One of the main reasons that bruising style translates into the playoffs is because it travels. We note that teams who control the pace and tempo on ice have the upper hand even on the road and that is a huge factor in the playoffs when you do not have home ice advantage.
The Kings are 10-1 after scoring two or fewer goals in their previous game and coming off of a 1-0 shutout loss on Wednesday. Take the LA Kings with a very good goalie to win game 2 here on Friday night and even up the series.