Dec 5, 20233 min read

Kings vs Blue Jackets Plugs Prediction - NHL Picks 12/5/23

- Columbus Blue Jackets (8-14-4) vs Los Angeles Kings (14-4-3)

( Pic - NHL.com )

Tonight on the ice we have The Los Angeles Kings facing off against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Los Angeles has won six of their last seven games, while Columbus has alternated wins and losses over their last six games. Let’s dig into this game and find a winning prediction.

( Pic - NHL.com )

The Los Angeles Kings are 14-4-3 coming into this game after they just beat up on Colorado, winning that game by a score of 4-1. LA trailed 1-0 after the first period, but they scored the next four goals in the game for that win. The Kings only loss in their last seven games was against Washington by a score of 2-1, but they did dominate most of that game but couldn't close it out. The Kings are scoring over 3 goals per game and they are only giving up 2 lgoals per game, while going 19.7% on the power play and 89.7% on the penalty kill. The expected starting goalie for LA is Cam Talbot, who is 11-4-1 this season with a 1.96 goals against average and a .930 save percentage. Can the Kings continue their dominating defense and stellar offense in this game!?

( Pic - NHL.com )

The Columbus Blue Jackets are sitting on 8-14-4 record so far this year after they just lost to Boston by a score of 3-1 in their last game. Columbus looked good against the Bruins in that game, but they allowed Boston to score three goals in the final period to give them a loss. We did see Columbus beat Ottawa by a score of 4-2 in the game before Boston, but they did lose to Montreal in the game prior to that. This team is so unpredictable and very tough to trust. The Blue Jackets are scoring 2 goals per game and they are allowing over 3 goals per game, while going 12.7% on the power play and 86.8% on the penalty kill. The expected starting goalie for Columbus is Elvis Merzlikins, who is 6-8-3 this year with a 3.04 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. Can they pull a upset here!?

💎 Kings -1.5 +114 ( 1u )

The Kings come into this game as a big favorite, it's for a reason! Kings are 9-0 on the road, one of the best road teams in the NHL this year! Then we have Columbus who is 6-7-1 on home ice this year. LA has won six of their last seven games and they have allowed two goals or less in all seven of those games. This Kings defense is solid and can hold off almost any team in the league. We did see that Columbus played well against Boston for two periods, but then to no surprise they fell apart in the third and took the loss. This Blue Jackets team simply struggles to score goals, which is going to be a very big problem against a good defensive team like LA. I like the Kings on the puck line to get us a easy cash!