Dallas (29-12-5) at Los Angeles (28-13-3)
When: Tuesday, January 19th 2016
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Time: 10:35 ET | TV: FSN Southwest, FSN West
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The stumbling Dallas Stars will wrap up their California swing against the first-place Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night. Dallas has lost the first two games of their three-game road trip and have lost six of seven overall. The only winning being a shootout victory over Winnipeg on January 7th. The Stars have fallen three points behind Central Division leading Chicago in the West. Tyler Seguin and Captain Jamie Benn are continuing to have great offensive seasons and have combined for three goals and three assists during the last seven games. Benn ranks second in the league with 56 points, while Seguin is third with 53. Ales Hemsky scored on a goal in Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss at San Jose in his second game back from injury, ending a 22-game drought. A two-time 20-goal scorer with Edmonton, Hemsky has recorded just 15 goals in 115 games since signing a three-year, $12 million contract with Dallas on July 1st, 2014. Patrick Sharp ended his 12-game scoring streak when the Stars hit California after collecting six goals and nine assists in his streak. Dallas has not won a road game since beating Minnesota on December 21st.
The Kings can increase their 10-point lead over Arizona in the Pacific Division with a win tonight over Dallas. L.A. has been trading wins and losses since ending their 5-game winning streak on January 4th. They’re coming off a 3-2 win in Anaheim on Sunday night. Vincent Lecavalier has been paying dividends since being acquired from Philadelphia, scoring a power-play goal in each of his last two games while compiling three points in five games with the Kings. The big news out of Kings camp is the contract extension for Anze Kopitar. He received an eight-year, $80 million contract extension over the weekend and was named the NHL’s Third Star of the Week after scoring two goals to go along with five assists in three games. The 28-year-old, who leads Los Angeles in assists (25) and points (38), has a point in 10 of his last 11 games with two four-point efforts in that span. Goalie Jonathan Quick is third in the league with 25 wins and 10th with a 2.10 GAA. With one more shutout, he will become the all-time leader in that category among American-born players.
It’s been almost a month since the Stars have won a road game and I don’t think that trend ends tonight. The Kings are playing well and -135 is not a lot to lay on them in this instance.
Pick: Kings -135
