I like a lot about the St. Louis Blues tonight. Their opponent just went 0-3 SU on a three-game road trip and was outscored 15-4 including a 4-1 loss in St. Louis. The Los Angeles Kings have lost four in a row and just returned from the East Coast which is a tough schedule spot. St. Louis has been winning hockey games and the offense has been productive — scoring 3+ goals in seven straight while ranking third in hockey in scoring chance% over the last 10 games at all strength. I’ve already bet the visitor's team total Over 2.5 at -115, but I’m adding the Rob Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich stack at +170, too. Thomas is riding a 10-game point streak where he has 14 points. Over those 10 contests, this stack has hit at 80%. Thomas’ power-play group has also been seeing more ice with the extra man than Jordan Kyrou’s unit. I would buy the Thomas/Buchnevich pair in any game at +140 or better these days.
Quinton Byfield has been attached to the hip of Kevin Fiala, and those two have played terrific hockey together. They have helped the Los Angeles Kings dominate the run of play at 5v5, controlling 61% of the shot attempts and 62% of the expected goals while scoring more than three goals per 60 minutes. Very strong numbers across the board. As you’d expect, Byfield has seen a spike in production when playing with Fiala and controlling the game to such an extent. Byfield has averaged 2.33 points per 60 minutes with Fiala on his wing. That is the most efficient output out of any of the 12 Kings players Byfield has played at least 100 minutes with.