BEST LINES: Pinnacle -103 Bet365 -105 SportsInteraction +100 5DIMES -101

Posted at 1:25 PM EST.

10:05 PM EST. Analytics are nice. They give you a clear understanding of which teams are dominating puck possession and which teams are dictating the play. In that regard, give a clear edge to the Kings in the early going but we’re sure you don’t need us to tell you that. Neither do the oddsmakers, Furthermore, the Kings are 10-2-2 while the Ducks are plodding along at 6-6-2. The market and/or the oddsmakers don’t need us to point that out either. L.A’s strong start has not gone unnoticed and neither has the Ducks slow start. In fact, the last time the Ducks were at home on November 3, they were a dog against the struggling Predators. Think about that for a second. Anaheim was a dog at home to Nashville just four days ago and now it is not a dog (at Pinnacle) against the team with the third most points in the league behind Tampa Bay and St. Louis.

Again, analytics are nice. Current form, results and computer generated outcomes are also nice. You can apply any theory or strategy you want but we take everything into consideration and never exclude what the line is telling us. We call it “reading between the lines” and in that regard this line makes no sense. For the Ducks, Ryan Getzlaf is out and he joins Ryan Kesler, Cam Fowler and Patrick Eaves on the rack. That’s a serious quartet of missing players, yet Pinnacle Sports, the sharpest book on the planet, is encouraging L.A. money with a price of -105 on both sides (at the time of this writing) while everyone else has the Kings anywhere from -111 to -120. That’s our prompt to move in hard because when Pinnacle takes a position on a game, we want to be on their side 100% of the time. Make no mistake that the numbers say to bet the Kings but there are times when the line dictates the play and that applies here.

Open an account today at Pinnacle Sports and take advantage of their -104 style pricing on sides and totals, which is 60% better than other sportsbooks