When all is said and done, all of the Boston major sports teams will have played Los Angeles over a week’s time outside of the defending World Series champion Red Sox, with pitchers and catchers set to report for spring training on Feb. 13.
The Bruins (29-17-8) will host the Kings (23-27-4) early Saturday before the Celtics take on the Clippers later that night, and both Boston teams are large home favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Of course, the New England Patriots started things off nearly a week ago in Atlanta with a 13-3 victory against the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII, and now the Bruins will look to follow that up with another win on the ice at TD Garden after the Celtics fell to the Lakers there Thursday.
The Bruins are listed as heavy -235 favorites (bet $235 to win $100) on the NHL odds versus the Kings, who ride a three-game winning streak into the fifth game of a six-game road trip.
Los Angeles has not won four games in a row since the end of December, which remains the team’s longest winning streak of the season. The Kings opened their East Coast trip with a 4-2 loss to the New York Islanders but have followed that up with wins over the New York Rangers (4-3 in overtime), New Jersey Devils (5-1) and Philadelphia Flyers (3-2 in a shootout).
Meanwhile, the Bruins are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Rangers on Wednesday after defeating the Islanders and defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals by a combined score of 4-1 in their previous two games. Boston backup goaltender Jaroslav Halak took the loss in the shootout after Tuukka Rask had started the prior three games in net.
These teams will be squaring off for the first time since they met at Staples Center on November 16, 2017. The Bruins pulled off the upset 2-1 in that game with the Kings closing as -180 home favorites. Boston also has won three of the past four meetings in the series, while the UNDER has gone 3-0-1 during that stretch, via the OddsShark NHL Database.
