Colorado Avalanche @ Los Angeles Kings – Saturday February 23, 2013 4:00PM
The best online betting sites would be worried about where the Los Angeles Kings are in the NHL Western Conference standings if it wasn’t for the fact that Los Angeles has done this before. The Kings was the first team to win the Stanley Cup as a number eight seed in NHL history. The year before the Kings won the Cup, it languished in the basement of the standings as well. The fears that fans have about whether or not the Kings will make the playoffs should be moved to at least the halfway point of the season. The Kings can sneak up on the Western Conference in a hurry, just like it did last season.
The betting sites look at the Colorado Avalanche as a young team that is still developing. There is a danger in being a young team, as the Edmonton Oilers will attest to. While the Oilers is showing some level of improvement this season, it took years for the young Oilers to finally become a competitive team. The Avalanche has been undergoing a rebuilding process for years and it is just beginning. So the Colorado hockey fans may want to hold on and just wait this one out as its team tries to find its identity and develop a winning trend.
Los Angeles Kings
In past years, the sportsbook experts have always had something it could pin the Los Angeles problems on. In most cases, it was injuries. The team’s top scorer AnzeKopitar spent a great deal of time on the injured list the past few years, but he is healthy this season. As a matter of fact, the entire Kings’ roster is intact and playing every night. There may be a switch that the Kings need to turn on to make a playoff run, but that will not happen for a while yet.
Colorado Avalanche
A sportsbook review of the Avalanche this season shows a few spots where the team could use some improvement. One of the areas that Colorado needs to see some level of improvement is in goal. SemyonVarlamov is struggling with a 3.00 goals against average and a .905 save percentage. If those numbers can be improved, even slightly, then the Avalanche would be able to win some of these close games that it keeps losing. The Avalanche can score goals, but it needs to get some help from its goaltender.
The Bottom Line
The Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings are both struggling and one game is not going to help set either team on a mad winning streak. But the Kings need to start winning if it wants to defend its Stanley Cup title when the playoffs finally roll around in this shortened season. The Avalanche just need to start putting together wins to help build the confidence of a young and developing team.
Click here to learn more about the Los Angeles Kings and its problems so far this season.
Pick: Los Angeles Kings
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