NHL Hockey Betting: Los Angeles Kings at Ottawa Senators

Short NHL card for Monday but a fun non-conference game at the Canadian Tire Centre as Los Angeles Kings come to town to take on the Ottawa Senators. The Senators have been playing decent hockey so far this season. Their defense and goaltending has been porous at times but their #4 in the league in goals per game (2.97) and are tied with the Boston Bruins for third place in the Atlantic Division. The enter this game having lost two straight and are just 5-5-0 in their last 10. The Los Angeles Kings are arguably the best team in the NHL at the moment. They opened the season 0-3-0 and the hockey media jumped on them like a school of piranhas on a canned ham. According to the hockey pundits ‘the game had passed them by’ or ‘they’ve lost their intensity’ or ‘in a league where speed wins they look old and slow’.

Since the 0-3 start do they still look ‘old and slow’? Not so much–since then the Kings have gone 19-5-2 and are running away with the Pacific Division. The Kings sit in first place with 40 points with Arizona and Vancouver tied for second place 10 points back. The Pacific Division race for playoff spots 2 and 3 should be epic (the Central Division will likely get both Western Conference wildcard spots). Arizona, Vancouver, San Jose, Calgary, Edmonton and Anaheim are separated by a total of 3 points. With two spots for five relatively evenly matched teams the Pacific Division should be a blast to watch. Meanwhile, Los Angeles will continue to distance themselves from the pack. Their bigger concern now is running down Dallas–the Stars have the best record in the league and lead the Western Conference six points ahead of the Kings.

The Kings have been excellent on the road this year. They’ve also been excellent at home where they’re 11-2-0 since their 0-3 start but don’t slip away from home where they’re 8-3-2. They’ve also dominated the Senators for years on a 15-6-2 run in head to head play. The Senators won the most recent meeting last year but the Kings have taken 3 of the last 4 including the last two in Ottawa.

BET LOS ANGELES KINGS -130 OVER OTTAWA SENATORS