Kings and Ducks Look to Climb West Division Standings Tonight

Mon, Mar 8, 2021
By Jim Vassallo (Veri.bet Writer)

The Los Angeles Kings visit the Anaheim Ducks tonight, Monday, March 8, 2021, as both teams aim to climb the West Division standings looking up at the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Kings (10-8-5, 5th place) visit the Ducks (7-12-6, 7th place) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, tonight.

This is the second game in the eight-game regular-season series between the two teams, who haven’t played each other since February 2, a 3-1 Ducks victory. The teams will meet again on Wednesday and then not until April 20.

A lot is on the line tonight for both of these teams as Vegas looks to add to its stranglehold on the West Division when the Golden Knights take on the Minnesota Wild. Both Los Angeles and Anaheim are in need of wins to keep pace or climb the ladder.

Los Angeles snapped a four-game losing streak the last time they hit the ice with a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Prior to the losing streak, the Kings had reeled off six consecutive victories, outsourcing their opponents 22-7.

In their last 10 games played, the Kings are 6-2-2 with an average of 2.7 goals per game. They have allowed an average of 2.1 goals per game during that span.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles will be without Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who is nursing an upper-body injury. 

The Ducks snapped a nine-game skid with their 5-4 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche this weekend. 

The 2020-2021 season hasn’t been kind to the Ducks. They haven’t been able to put together a winning streak yet, only winning two games in a row once.

In their last 10 games played, the Ducks are 1-6-3, averaging 2.5 goals scored and allowing an average of 3.5 goals per game. 

Anaheim will be without Hampus Lindholm, who is battling an upper-body injury. Max Jones has been listed as day-to-day, also with an upper-body injury.

The Kings are led offensively by Dustin Brown, who has 12 goals this year. The Ducks are led by Max Comtois with nine. 

Even though these two teams have struggled against the rest of the West Division, tonight’s contest should be a good one. They played a back-and-forth affair in their first matchup of the year and tonight might not be any different.

Both teams are hungry for wins, which means you will get to see some good hockey when the puck drops on the West Coast. The over-under for tonight’s contest is set at 5.5 goals, which is a bit ambitious considering the struggles both clubs have had on offense this year. 

It could go either way this evening in terms of total goals, so you are safer taking the money line, which is -135 for the Kings. Just five points separate these teams in the West Division standings, so a win for Anaheim would do wonders for their positioning. A victory for Los Angeles would give them a little more breathing room with the Ducks bringing up the rear of the division.