The Vancouver Canucks will look to complete a California sweep when they face the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.

The Canucks have outshot the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks by 22 in the opening two matchups of the road trip but are certainly getting their toughest matchup of the trip in this spot.

The Kings are coming off two convincing wins on the road over the Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild and have played to a 3-0-1 record at home this season.

I’ll detail the relevant game notes, as well as outline my favourite betting angle below.

It’s tough for any team to replicate the success of a 109-point division-winning campaign, as the Canucks are looking to do this season. Especially considering that the Canucks have yet to receive a single start from 2023-24 Vezina runner-up Thatcher Demko, who is drawing closer to returning to the lineup. 

While most observers would agree that the Canucks haven’t been as strong as their 6-2-3 record suggests, it’s certainly not a bad starting point. The Canucks’ overall process hasn’t looked entirely dominant, and that is reflected by their modest +1 goal differential and 51.8% expected goal share.

The Canucks played arguably their most complete game of the season Tuesday in Anaheim and will look to build on that performance in this matchup.

Strength of schedule has helped the Canucks in the early going, as they have played a number of teams heavily favoured to miss the playoffs. Their win over the Florida Panthers on October 17 was their only victory over a team expected to make the playoffs, and the Panthers were without Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk in that matchup.

Elias Pettersson’s horrid start to the season continues to be the main talking point surrounding the Canucks, and will likely continue to be a big story until the Swedish superstar begins to live up to his $11.6 million contract.

A lack of depth on the back end has also been a concern at times this season. Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers have allowed 4.60 xGA/60, and have been one of the league’s worst second pairings. The third pairing has looked better of late, as Erik Brännström and Vincent Desharnais are starting to gel. They hold a 71.1% expected goal share in 58.9 minutes of play.

Kevin Lankinen has been confirmed as the Canucks starter in this matchup. He has played to a .923 save % and 2.09 GAA in eight games this season.

Based on last season’s exit interviews, it was highly apparent that the key players on the roster were excited to move away from playing the 1-3-1, and to this point, doing so has resulted in better offensive results without sacrificing the elite defensive play Los Angeles has offered in each of the last three seasons.

The Kings have allowed only 2.41 xGA/60 this season, which is the best mark in the NHL. They have scored 3.36 goals for per game (12th), compared to last season’s mark of 3.10.

While Drew Doughty’s pre-season injury left a huge hole on the defence corps, it seemed likely that Brandt Clarke and Jordan Spence could help to fill the void and were ready for bigger roles this season. Clarke has been fantastic, and even without Doughty, the Kings still hold one of the league’s deeper blue lines.

The Kings have generated 3.40 xGF/60 this season, which is the eighth-best mark in the NHL. Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar have combined for 27 points in 14 games and power a defensively responsible top line.

Kevin Fiala enters this matchup in great form and provides meaningful offensive upside to the second unit alongside Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore. The Kings’ new-look third line of Warren Foegele, Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere has been highly effective versus the Wild and could prove to be one of the league’s better third lines if Byfield can trend into top form.

Darcy Kuemper has been confirmed as the Kings starter in this matchup. He has played to a .899 save % and 2.67 GAA in his initial five appearances with the Kings.

While their on-ice process has looked fairly inconsistent, the Canucks’ 6-2-3 record has to be viewed as a cause for optimism.

Vancouver has achieved that mark without a Vezina-calibre netminder in Demko and zero games played from a quietly impactful piece, Dakota Joshua. Pettersson should eventually be able to find better form than we have seen thus far, and Brännström’s strong recent play has helped to alleviate concerns about the team’s defensive depth.

We don’t really need to discredit the Canucks’ start in order to question if they are worthy of being road favourites versus the Kings in this matchup, though.

The Kings have offered a legitimate home-ice advantage the last two seasons, and that has continued with their strong start at home this season. They have allowed the lowest xGA/60 in the NHL and are generating a better-than-league-average amount of chances going the other way.

The Canucks do hold a favourable rest advantage in this spot as the Kings are playing their third game in four nights, having travelled home from Minnesota on Tuesday evening. Still, I think the Kings deserve to be favourites in this spot, considering their well-rounded play this season.

At -105 or better, I see value in backing the Kings in this important divisional showdown.