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- What: Los Angeles Kings vs. Vegas Golden Knights
- Date: Wednesday, November 8, 2023
- Location: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV
- Time: 10:00 p.m. ET
- How to Watch: TNT, MAX
The defending Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights host the LA Kings for the first time during the 2024 NHL season tonight. The teams met in late October in Los Angeles, with the Golden Knights winning that game 4-3 in a shootout. Vegas has the best record in the NHL at 11-1-1. They are the only team in the Western Conference with more than 20 points. Meanwhile, LA comes into tonight’s game with a 7-2-2 record, which puts them in third place in the Pacific Division, behind the Golden Knights and the Vancouver Canucks.
The LA Kings finished the 2023 NHL season with a 47-25-10 record, which put the team in the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference. The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Kings 4-2 in the first round of the 2023 NHL playoffs. LA has yet to win a playoff series since they captured the Stanley Cup in 2014. The Kings head into tonight’s game on a three-game winning streak.
The Vegas Golden Knights finished last season as the top team in the Central Division and the Western Conference with a 51-22-9 record after missing the playoffs the previous year. Vegas downed the Florida Panthers in five games to win its first Stanley Cup. Vegas heads into tonight’s game coming off their first regulation loss of the season, dropping Sunday’s game 4-2 to the Anaheim Ducks.
Before we look at the betting breakdown for the Western Conference matchup between the LA Kings and Vegas Golden Knights, check out our betting picks to win the 2024 Stanley Cup and our tips for betting on the NHL.
Los Angeles Kings vs. Vegas Golden Knights betting picks
| Teams |  |  |  |
| Los Angeles Kings | +110 | +110 | +110 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | -124 | -130 | -130 |
Los Angeles Kings beating breakdown
The Los Angeles Kings have made the NHL playoffs the past two seasons. However, the team did not make it past the first round in either season. Despite the team’s shortcomings, ownership is not giving up on the current management team. The club has the same coach, GM, and president as last year. That group made some off-season changes in the hopes of making a deep run at the end of the 2024 NHL season. Los Angeles re-signed trade deadline acquisition Vladislav Gavrikov and made a trade for Pierre-Luc Dubois. They join a core group of players in Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, and Trevor Lewis, who played for the team the last time the Kings made it past the first round of the playoffs. In addition, the team has a group of young players it has developed since that playoff win.
Goaltending could be a concern for the team, as Cam Talbot has not played more than 50 games in a season since 2018. Talbot has played well so far, posting a 2.14 goals against average to go with a .923 save percentage. Backup goalie Pheonix Copley has a 4.98 goals against average to go with a .788 save percentage in 132:37 of ice time this season.
One of the players the Kings developed, their 2014 first-round draft pick, Adrian Kempe currently leads the team in scoring with 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists). Anze Kopitar has the most goals on the club with six, and Kevin Fiala is tops on the team in assists with 11.
LA is 6-0-0 on the road this year.
Vegas Golden Knights betting breakdown
The defending Stanley Cup champions, the Vegas Golden Knights largely stood pat this offseason. The team’s only significant change to its roster was trading Riley Smith to the Penguins. That trade freed up the cap space the club used to sign forward Ivan Barbashev to a five-year, $25 million contract. Barbashev played 23 regular season games for the team, picking up six goals and 10 assists, but he picked up steam in the playoffs, finishing with 18 points in 22 games. The 27-year-old had a career-best year in 2022, scoring 60 points for the St. Louis Blues. Barbashev spent most of the playoffs teamed with Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault, who led the team in scoring during the playoffs.
The fact that management did not make any enormous changes to the Stanley Cup-winning roster speaks volumes about the chemistry and confidence this team has heading into the 2024 NHL season. With how the club has played this year, ownership and management made the right decision to keep most of the Cup-winning lineup intact.
William Karlsson leads the team in scoring with 15 points. He is tops in goals (6) and assists (9) as well. Jack Eichel is second on the team in scoring with 14 points (6G, 8A).
Adin Hill and Logan Thompson are sharing the netminding duties for Vegas. Both men are playing well, with a combined goals against average of 2.15 and save percentage of .931. Of the two, Hill has the better numbers with a 1.81 goals against average and a .938 save percentage.
Vegas has a 7-0-1 home record this season.
Best bet for LA Kings vs. Vegas Golden Knights
This is an important game for both teams. Los Angeles is riding their longest winning streak of the young season and looks to continue with a victory over the defending Cup champs. Meanwhile, Vegas gets to show how they can bounce back from a regulation loss. In their only other defeat this year, which came in overtime to the Chicago Blackhawks on the road, Vegas bounced back with their win over the Kings in the shootout.
The Kings and Golden Knights will play a competitive game, but the betting favorite, Vegas, is the pick to get the win to go up 2-0 on the Kings in the season series.
Betting pick: Vegas Golden Knights to beat LA Kings.
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