Pacific Division Clash: Golden Knights vs Kings Odds & Analysis

The top two teams in the Pacific Division face off in Los Angeles, with Vegas holding a five-point lead. The Knights have been terrific on the road with 14 regulation wins in 17 NHL games, while the Kings have been doing most of their damage at home with a 10-5-2 record.

Last season, both clubs battled in the NHL wild card standings, with Los Angeles claiming one of the entries into the postseason. Opening NHL betting lines have made this a pick ‘em game.

Vegas Struggling Against Better Teams in the League

A guy who doesn’t like to be involved in shootouts was the hero for the Golden Knights before the Christmas break. The Golden Knights beat the St. Louis Blues (5-4) in a shootout after Mark Stone went 5-hole on Jordan Binnington to extend a once comfortable lead in the Pacific Division for Bruce Cassidy’s team.

The loss dropped the Blues to 16-16-2 on the year but solidifies a trend that has been happening over the last few weeks for the VGK. Over their last seven games against teams over .500, the Knights have dropped five of those match-ups, including home losses to Buffalo Sabres and the New York Islanders.

The Blues game was another example of their struggles against the better NHL teams, even though some are masked by a win. For a team that was expected to compete for a Stanley Cup after missing the playoffs due to a rash of injuries last season, they’ll have to find a way to be better than 9-8 as a favorite over their last 17, and 3-4 against teams over .500 over the last five weeks.

Let’s continue our Golden Knights vs Kings odds with a look at the Los Angeles Kings.

Kings Still Searching for Consistency

The ability to avoid losing streaks in the National Hockey League will reward you with a top seed in the postseason. The Los Angeles Kings have found it difficult to maintain a winning streak, especially when playing teams they should have very little problem extending a streak against.

Prior to their game against the Arizona Coyotes, Friday, Los Angeles was riding four straight wins after a high-intensity match-up against the Calgary Flames, a 4-3 OT win. They followed that effort up with a 2-1, head-scratching, loss to the Coyotes.

From a betting perspective, it’s hard to all-in on the Kings except for one aspect of their game that has been incredibly consistent, and that’s their ability to bounce back after a poor performance under first-year Kings coach Mike Brown.

The Kings are looking to extend their five-game streak of bouncing back after scoring two goals or less in their previous game.

We know this, unlike the Golden Knights, the Kings thrive against .500 or better teams with a 9-7 record this season, good for 293 units of profit.

To conclude our Golden Knights vs Kings odds, let’s see where the numbers are going and who we’re betting on.

Opening Number Hasn’t Budged

The bookmakers finally have it right after overvaluing the Golden Knights for most of the season. We fully expected Vegas to be a -120 road favorite, but the oddsmakers got it right, making this -110 each way.

There hasn’t been enough cash flow to move it either way, likely due to the Christmas break, but expect the number to move in Vegas’ direction before too long.

Same with the total, which has stood pat at 6 ½ for a couple of days. To conclude our  Golden Knights vs Kings odds, we suggest betting on the Kings whose recent form is more impressive than the Golden Knights where NHL team injuries seem to be piling up once again in 2022.

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