The Los Angeles Kings and the high-scoring Edmonton Oilers resume their opening round NHL playoff series Sunday in Southern California. The Kings lead the series 2-1 and another victory would push the favored Oilers to the brink of elimination.
The puck drops at 9:00 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena in LA for Game 4 where the Oilers are -155 moneyline favorites compared to the Kings price of +135. The total is 6.5.
Los Angeles Kings (49-26-7-3, 2-1)
The Kings won Game 3 in overtime on Friday night, getting a controversial goal from Trevor Moore to secure the 3-2 victory and a 2-1 series lead.
https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1649647774227472385
After cheering Moore’s goal, the crowd had to wait several minutes while the referees reviewed whether the puck was played with a high stick by Kings forward Gabriel Vilardi seconds before the game winning goal.
Goalie Joonas Korpisalo has come up huge in the series. He has a 2.53 goals-against average and .931 save percentage through the first three games. He stopped 38 of 40 shots in Game 2 and has made 108 saves in the series.
Joonas Korpisalo reaches out with his glove and makes a save on Nick Bjugstad.#GoKingsGo #LetsGoOilers #StanleyCupPlayoffs #EDMvsLAK pic.twitter.com/ZnnSo14Dz6
— LA Royalty (@LARoyalty1967) April 20, 2023
The Kings trade deadline acquisition has been a revelation between the pipes, stopping 70 of 76 shots for a 92.1% save percentage.
Edmonton Oilers (51-23-7-4, 1-2)
Heading into the series the Oilers were 14-0-1 in their previous 15 games. That streak was due in large part because of the NHL’s #1 (3.96 goals per game). However despite having 13 double-digit scorers including Connor McDavid, Edmonton has struggled to score. McDavid notched 153 points (64 goals, 89 assists) during the regular season, but was kept off the scoresheet in the first two games of the series.
He finally broke through with a pair of power play goals in the second period of Game 3.
Playoff McDavid is something else 🔥 pic.twitter.com/fk5jeSIgo9
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 22, 2023
But while McDavid finally found the net, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who scored 37 goals during the regular season, is still looking for his first one of the series, as is 36-goal scorer Zach Hyman.
Home Ice Advantage
Throughout the regular season, L.A. allowed more than two goals at five-on-five in just 13 home games.
Since joining the Kings in March, Korpisalo has thrived on home ice going 5-0-1 with a 94.0% save percentage and 1.38 goals against average.
Since the All-Star break, the Kings are 13-2-2.
Betting Trends
Edmonton is 7-1 straight up in its last eight road games while Los Angeles is 13-4 SU in its last 17 home games.
The under has cashed in seven of Edmonton’s last 10 games and has hit in eight of LA’s last 12 games. In addition, the under is 4-1 in the last five head-to-head matchups and 2-1 in this series.
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