Two streaking teams go head to head on Monday in the NHL as the Los Angeles Kings (29-17-7) host the Boston Bruins (31-17-4).
The Kings have won five games in a row and bookmaker BetOnline has the odds at +119 for them to make it six. The odds for a fifth consecutive Bruins win are at -131.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: February 28th, 8:00 A.M. (EST)
The winning run isn’t the only streak that the Kings are carrying either. Saturday’s 5-2 win over the New York Islanders marked the 20th consecutive game in which they managed to outshot the opponent. It’s the third-longest such streak since the NHL started tracking shots in 1959-60.
The Kings now have a chance to match St. Louis’ streak from 2001-02 and they can then set their sights on breaking the all-time record held by the New York Rangers from 1971-72 with 22 consecutive games.
Los Angeles has battled poor shooting percentages all season, so the numbers were always going to correct themselves at some point. Although, nobody expected to see the Kings dominate for such a long stretch of games.
Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe have been on fire on the first line and the second line has been crushing it as well. Trevor Moore, Philip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson have combined for 60 points since the turn of the year.
Moore had only 43 career points before the season started but now sits on 30 points with 53 games played, and both Danault and Arvidsson enter Monday’s action after going pointless just once over the last seven games.
Two in-form scoring lines make it very difficult to slow down L.A. and the Bruins certainly have to bring their A-game if they want to extend their own winning streak.
The B’s have responded very well to a cold stretch, which saw them winning just three of ten outings. It was a great test of character for a team that suddenly lost long-time goaltender Tuukka Rask to retirement and had to deal with injury issues.
Boston is now back healthy again and even Brad Marchand has stayed out of trouble to be available for selection on Monday. The veteran winger has missed most of the month with a six-game suspension, but he’s returned in great form and ran the show in Saturday’s 3-1 win over San Jose with two goals and one assist.
Marchand has logged only six pointless efforts in 2022 and will no doubt find ways to impact the game whether it’s with his skill or with his physicality.
