The Los Angeles Kings take on the San Jose Sharks tonight in Game 6 of their First Round NHL Playoffs series. The game is scheduled for a 10:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network. Currently the odds for the game have Los Angeles favored at home.
Los Angeles has climbed back into this series after falling into an 0-3 hole to San Jose. With a victory tonight, the Kings would force a seventh game for a chance to play in the second round. The pressure seems to be on the Sharks right now. Los Angeles has already survived a pair of elimination games and tonight is just another time for the Kings to play without added pressure.
Only three teams have come from an 0-3 playoff series start to win in seven games. Los Angeles is just a pair of victories away from being the fourth club to accomplish the impressive performance. Remember, these Kings have a lot of Stanley Cup Playoff experience that helps them put their current positions in perspective.
The Sharks were obviously the best team on the ice the opening three games of the series. But Los Angeles has battled back to win by three goals in each of the last two games. Now they are back on track and playing on home ice tonight for a chance to tie the series. The Kings love to hold the puck and have arguably the best goalie in the league in Jonathan Quick, who has been sketchy in between the pipes this series. But now he's got a great opportunity to get his team back into the mix. If the Kings can force the Sharks to play out of their comfort zone tonight and Quick can come up big again for LA, we'll have an impressive game to watch.
San Jose's Marc-Edouard Vlasic is a game-time decision tonight and he didn't practice on Sunday with the team, according to reports. Without one of their top defensemen in the lineup tonight, the Sharks would be force to shuffle some things around.
Sharks goalie Antti Niemi has not been great in this series, either. The goalie has a 3.90 goals against average this series and has stopped 88 percent of the shots he has faced. He was pulled from his second straight game in Game 5. Alex Stalock has played twice in this post season and has yet to give up a goal. But he's collected 35 postseason wins over the past five seasons, which includes a Stanley Cup title.
Tonight we like the Kings to get the job done. Quick is going to come through with an impressive performance and we like Anze Kopitar and Marian Gaborik to have solid games offensively.
Free Pick: Los Angeles 4, San Jose 2
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