Los Angeles Kings vs Tampa Bay Lightning - Odds and Predictions

Where: Amelie Arena – Tampa, FL.

When: Tuesday, January 14, 7 PM EST

How (TV/Radio): SunS, FSW | WFAN

Los Angeles Kings (Away)

Head Coach: Todd McLellan{All-Time 452-307-94 LAK, EDM, SJS}

Having a season record of just 18-25-4, the Kings find themselves sitting in seventh-place in the Pacific division. They have gone just 3-7-0 in their last ten games and are coming off of a 3-0 shutout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Check out also: “Who are the favorite to win the Stanley Cup?”

Offense

L.A. has scored the fourth-fewest goals in the league this season.

However, the team has taken the third-most shots on goal. Unfortunately for the Kings, this translates into the NHL’s worst shooting percentage this year: 7.5 percent. Even the Detroit red Wings rank higher than them (by one).

The Kings have also struggled on the power play all year, having just a 15.11 power-play percentage – the fourth-worst in the league. They have 21 power-play goals.

Their leading scorer, captain Anze Kopitar, ranks 39th in the league with 40 points this season.

Defense

Los Angeles is fourth-last in the league for a reason. Yes, they haven’t gotten reliable goaltending from the once almost unbeatable Jonathan Quick. But the defense core isn’t doing much to help Quick either.

For a team that has allowed the sixth-fewest shots against this season, the Kings have still allowed 145 goals against. That gives the team a combined save percentage of .893 – the fourth-worst in the NHL.

They also can’t kill penalties. Although a disciplined team on the ice, Los Angeles struggles to kill the few penalties that they take. They have the league’s fifth-worst penalty-killing unit with just a 75 percent.

They have, however, managed to score four short-handed goals this season.

Goaltending

It is expected that L.A. goalie Jonathan Quick will get the start in net Tuesday night for the Kings. Quick has struggled this season, going just 11-17-2. His goals-against average sits at 3.02 while his save percentage is .895.

Head Coach: Jon Cooper{All-Time 332-173-48 TBL}

After tying their franchise record by winning ten straight games, the Tampa Bay Lightning were shockingly upset by the New Jersey Devils in their last game, losing 3-1. They hope to start a new winning streak Tuesday night against the L.A. Kings.

Offense

The Tampa Bay Lightning lead the league in two huge statistics.

The first is their shooting percentage. Tampa ranks fourth in goals scored and but only 14th in shots on goal. This means they are making their shots count. At the time of writing, Tampa lead the league with an 11.7 shooting percentage. They are the most accurate team in the league.

The second is their power play. Tampa has a power-play percentage of 27.78 percent and they have scored 40 power-play goals this season.

The team averages over 3.5 goals per game and will also come into this matchup with an edge in the faceoff circle.

Defense

The one glaring disadvantage for Tampa Bay, when compared to Los Angeles, is the number of shots they allow on goal. Tampa has allowed the ninth-fewest shots against, but L.A. has allowed the sixth-fewest. Tampa allows an average of over 30 shots against per game.

Besides that, there’s not much for this team to worry about. For example, the Bolts have the league’s fifth-best penalty-killing unit, boasting an 83.45 percent. Ironically, Tampa does have the sixth-highest average when it comes to penalty minutes per game at almost ten minutes spent in the box each night.

Tampa Bay has also allowed the ninth-fewest goals against this season – just 130.

They will also have last year’s Vezina award-winning goalie in net, Andrei Vasilievskiy, who has yet to reach double-digit losses in regulation yet this season.

Goaltending

Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy is expected to get the nod in goal Tuesday night for the Lightning. Vasilevskiy has a season record of 22-9-2 with a 2.58 goals-against average and a save percentage of .915. He has two shutouts.

This will be the first meeting of the season between these two teams. They last faced off on February 25 of last year where the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Kings by a final score of 4-3.

What’s at Stake?

There’s not much at stake. As proven with the loss to New Jersey, the Lightning can be beat by any team – but probably not twice in a row. Two points will further propel Tampa Bay up the standings, where they currently sit second in the Atlantic division and sixth-overall.

An upset win for the Kings will not mean much as they are so far out of the playoff picture at this point.

Questions to Answer

Can Tampa Bay hit the reset button after having their ten-game winning streak snapped by one of the league’s worst teams, or will they buckle and allow another one of the league’s worst to hand them their second loss in a row?

With this game being outside of Los Angeles, is it over before it even starts? The Kings have gone just 7-15-3 on the road this season whereas Tampa is 14-7-2 at home.

Following another shutout loss, can the Kings find a way to get any offense going? The Kings have already been shutout four times this season.

D Joakim Ryan – DL (undisclosed)

F Blake Lizotte – day-to-day (lower-body)

Tampa Bay Lightning Injury Report

F Pat Maroon – day-to-day (undisclosed)

Los Angeles Kings vs Tampa Bay Lightning Odds

The latest odds for the LA Kings vs TB Lightning are provided by bet365 NJ, DraftKings Sportsbook, and 888Sport NJ.

Money Line