BEST LINES: Pinnacle -1½ +314 Bet365 -1½ +300 SportsInteraction +170  5DIMES -1½ +310

BEST LINES: Pinnacle +112 Bet365 +110 SportsInteraction +110 5DIMES +111

Posted at 1:30 PM EST 

Before we begin and until further notice, we’re going to be splitting up our NHL underdogs into two bets. We’re playing them straight up for 1 unit and we’ll be playing them on the reverse puck line (-1½) for 1 unit, thus making up our traditional 2 unit bet. The thinking is that if the dog loses, we lose our bet anyway. If the game goes into OT, which is a coin-toss anyway, we lose our -1½ bet but have a chance to profit a pork-chop if we happen to get lucky and win it in the extra time. If our team is winning by a goal, we know for sure we’ll get a crack at an empty netter and there is also a good chance that if our team is ahead, it might be by more than one goal anyway. Therefore, our bet for this game and every dog we play will be -1½ for 1 unit and straight up for one unit.

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OT included. 8:05 PM EST. With a 9-1-1 record, there is no denying the Kings are on fire, as they get set to wrap up this six-game road trip that started with a 6-4 win in Columbus. A 3-2 loss at Toronto has been the only blemish for Los Angeles, as it racked up wins in Boston, Montreal, and Ottawa.  After dumping head coach Daryl Sutter in the offseason, the Kings are reinvigorated now that they’ve shed their former bench bosses' penchant for boring, defensive hockey. L.A. is routinely scoring goals in bunches, putting up at least four goals in five of its 10 games and averaging 3.4 goals per game. Although Sutter’s system is no longer in place and the Kings are more offensively minded, this is still a top 10 possession team (9th) with a Corsi For% of 51.0%. The Kings are 4-1 on this road trip and will leave nothing on the table in attempting to make it a near perfect trip. Winning is contagious and for the first time since they won the Cup, L.A. can’t wait to get to the rink again. Playing hockey is fun again.

Like the Kings, the Blues are also playing well by winning five of their last six games. St. Louis’s only loss in that time was in Vegas where the Knights are beating everyone. St. Louis is undefeated at home and are considered to be one of the “better” home teams in th8is market but it’s not all peaches and cream. The Blues are just 21st in Corsi For% behind the likes of Vancouver and Buffalo, two teams that do not carry nearly as much weight in the market. Against twop-10 teams, the Blues are just 2-2 but more importantly, they were outplayed in three of those four games. In fact, if you look below or above the hood, the Blues are behind Los Angeles in every stat, be it metric or otherwise. There is a great chance that the winner here will be decided by nothing but pure luck, which is why we stress playing value and letting the chips fall where they may. Of course the Kings can win here.

The bets are as follows:

Los Angeles -1½ +314 for 1 unit

Los Angeles +112 for 1 unit

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