Kings Could Fall Out of a Playoff Spot
The Western Conference playoff race is going to be tight with six teams competing for the last two spots. You can probably pencil in Detroit, Vancouver, St. Louis, Chicago, San Jose and Nashville so the final two spots will be up for grabs between Los Angeles, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Calgary and Phoenix. Even though the Kings are currently in a playoff spot there is not much to like about the way Los Angeles is playing right now.
The Kings have fallen to dead last in the NHL in scoring and even though Los Angeles has a defense that ranks 3rd in the league, if you can’t score you can’t win. This is a huge road trip for the Kings and they are already 0-2 and it may be difficult to get any points with remaining games at Tampa Bay, Florida, the Islanders and Dallas.
Bolts Trying to Make a Late Run
With six wins in their last seven games, Tampa Bay has gotten back into the playoff race. They are still nine points back but if they continue to play as they have recently they might just have a chance. The Lightning have the league’s top scorer in Steven Stamkos and an offense that ranks 8th in the league. If Tampa Bay could just improve their defense, which ranks last in the league, they would really start to move up in the NHL standings.
Game Notes and Hockey Predictions
The Lightning have won six of the last ten at home against the Kings with 7 of those games going under the total. We’ll look for those trends to continue and take Tampa Bay and also take the game under the total.
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