Kings vs Blackhawks Lines: Blackhawks Playing for Pride
NHL Western Conference Clash on Thursday
Kings vs Blackhawks Lines
The Los Angeles Kings are looking to solidify their spot in the Stanley Cup Hockey Playoffs as they attempt to earn two more points on the hockey standings as they travel to the Windy City on Friday night to battle the Chicago Blackhawks.
Let’s take a quick look and breakdown some key factors for this showdown in the Western Conference between the Kings vs Blackhawks Lines matchup preview for Friday night on the West Side of Chicago.
Kings vs Blackhawks 
Day/Time:
Records: Kings (33-21-11, 77 points)/Blackhawks (18-43-5, 41 points)
Location: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Streaming: ESPN
King Nothing?
The Los Angeles Kings are currently sitting in third place in the National Hockey League’s Pacific Division with 77 points as they head into Friday night’s contest against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Kings have alternated wins and losses over their last six hockey games, most recently losing a 3-1 decision to the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night to start their three-game Midwest road trip.
Forward Adrian Kempe scored the only goal for Los Angeles, his 21st of the season as goaltender Cam Talbot makes 27 saves on 30 shots faced for his third loss in the last five starts.
It’s projected that backup David Rittich will get the nod between the pipes for this hockey game tonight in Chicago. The 31-year old Czechia native has a 3-1 record against the Blackhawks with a 3.42 goals-against average and a .875% save percentage in five appearances.
Hawks Standing Strong
The Chicago Blackhawks are looking towards the future as they continue with their rebuild, but this hockey team is showing fight and resiliency, especially inside the “Madhouse on Madison”, more commonly known as the United Center, where the Hawks have won back-to-back games for the first time since early December and have won three of their last four games overall.
Two of those victories came against the Arizona Coyotes, another fellow bottom-ten ranked club in the league, and in goal for both of those contests for Chicago was Arvid Soderblom.
The 25-year old Swedish netminder has been mostly dreadful for his two-plus seasons on the Westside, with an overall record of 6-30-3 in 39 career starts.
Soderblom has four wins on the year, two against the Toronto Maple Leafs along with the pair this past week versus the Yotes. Goaltender scouts have noted his below-average skate positioning, rebound control and difficulty following the puck in traffic as some of his key flaws in net.
Kings at Blackhawks Betting Odds
Sportsbooks have the visiting Los Angeles Kings NHL Odds betting odds to win as large favorites against the hosting Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night priced in the range around -235 to -250.
Los Angeles once had the best Road record in the NHL during the first half of the season, now the Kings have lost 12 of their last 18 games away from Hollywood. Chicago has been dreadful all season, losing 16 of their last 20 games overall. Head-to-head, the Kings have won four of the last five meetings against the Blackhawks.
Concluding the Kings vs Blackhawks LinesBetting Preview: The total for this contest is set at 5.5 goals shaded to the Over between the pick’em price range of -110 and -120.
Los Angeles has gone Under the total in five of their last six games overall, and in nine of their last twelve contests against Central Division opponents.
Chicago has been trending Over the total in four of their last six games, with the Hawks scoring 20 goals in their last four games combined. For context, Chicago scored a combined 20 goals in the previous twelve games before the 5-2 victory at Arizona ten days ago.
Head-to-head, the Under has cashed in four of the last five meetings between the Kings and Hawks. Make Sure to check out all the updated Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings team stats, Stanley Cup Odds, recent news and more right here at Point Spreads.
