in theory<\/em>. Roberto Luongo has amazing talent and earned his big-game stripes with an Olympic gold medal in February but struggled mightily down the stretch. Can he put it together in the playoffs? He has a well-rounded, fleet-footed blueline supporting him, led by Alex Edler and Christian Ehrhoff.<\/p>\nNow that I\u2019m done tooting the Canucks\u2019 horn, however, let\u2019s be clear. The only thing stopping the Kings from a deep playoff run is a lack of experience, as they\u2019re making their first playoff appearance since 2002. Otherwise, they\u2019d be a formidable challenger, as they\u2019re one of hockey\u2019s most complete teams. ![\"Sports](\"http:\/\/affiliates.commissionaccount.com\/processing\/impressions.asp?btag=a_3953b_677\")
<\/p>\n
The Canucks throw a deadly attack at L.A., yes, but the Kings have a tough, talented, physical blueline. Drew Doughty is emerging as the next great superstar, often compared to Ray Bourque because of his ability to combine physicality with amazing offensive instincts. Jack Johnson skates well and has a major chip on his shoulder. Even the Rob Scuderis and Sean O\u2019Donnells of the world bring Stanley Cup rings to the table.<\/p>\n
Up front, the Kings are also skilled and big. Anze Kopitar and Alexander Frolov provide the finesse; Ryan Smyth, Dustin Brown, Jarret Stoll, Wayne Simmonds and Justin Williams all forecheck aggressively but can also put the puck in the net.<\/p>\n
Even goaltending turned out better than expected \u2013 much better \u2013 for L.A. this season. Jonathan Quick sagged down the stretch but still had a strong season as the starter, setting a franchise record for victories with 39.<\/p>\n
Looking at this matchup, it certainly seems like the powerhouse Canucks will have their hands full with the Kings. I see L.A. as similar to Chicago a year ago, loaded up with talent through drafting and smart trading and ready to take a leap forward. But the Kings\u2019 youngsters may still be a bit shell-shocked with inexperience \u2013 particularly Quick. I thus see Vancouver being better prepared to make a deep run this season.<\/p>\n
The Canucks will emerge \u2013 but not without going to war. A year from now, though, the Kings should be a real force.<\/p>\n
Prediction: <\/strong>Canucks in six.<\/p>\nCLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT SPORTSBOOK.COM\u2019S NHL HOCKEY BETTING LINES FOR THIS WEEK’S MATCHUPS!!!!<\/h3>\n
<\/strong>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 7 game series between the L.A. Kings and the Vancouver Canucks opens on Thursday night, here’s the odds and our prediction for the series. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[10330,27701,27694,21458,27740,27741,27742,27743,20481,27739,27691,27692,27674],"class_list":["post-21201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nhl","tag-10330","tag-2010-stanley-cup-futures","tag-2010-stanley-cup-playoff-picks","tag-hockey-betting-picks","tag-kings-canucks-lines","tag-kings-canucks-picks","tag-kings-canucks-predictions","tag-kings-vs-canucks-series-preview","tag-kings-vs-canucks","tag-l-a-kings-vs-vancouver-canucks-predictions","tag-stanley-cup-playoff-picks","tag-stanley-cup-playoff-prediction","tag-stanley-cup-playoffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21201"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108178,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21201\/revisions\/108178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}