NHL on TNT Preview: Vladimir Tarasenko and the Blues Hit Hollywood vs. the Kings

Hockey Night in Hollywood.

OK, perhaps it doesn't carry the same television cache quite yet as its hockey-crazed international neighbor to the north, but that doesn't mean it won't be a compelling watch Wednesday night when the streaking St. Louis Blues headline Week Four of TNT's weekly NHL package at 10 p.m. ET.

The Blues, who've opened with six wins in seven games, will put an unbeaten road record (3-0-0) to the test again when they visit Staples Center to take on the Los Angeles Kings.

St. Louis is enjoying a resurgence of sorts from veteran winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who spent much of the offseason as fodder for trade rumors but has opened the season in a Blues uniform and produced four goals and five assists in the team's first seven games.

Injuries had limited the now-29-year-old to just seven goals in 34 games over the past two seasons.

Meanwhile, the Kings are trying to right a ship that nearly capsized in the early going.

Los Angeles was just 1-5-1 through its first seven games but has since bounced back with consecutive defeats of the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres in games two and three of what'll be a five-game homestand through Friday night.

The team has played five games without 14-year NHL veteran Drew Doughty, who was lost for eight weeks with a bruised right knee after an illegal hit by Jani Hakanpaa in an Oct. 22 game against the Dallas Stars.

The B/R hockey writing team took a comprehensive look at the matchup and sized up some of the more prominent betting options from the number-crunchers at DraftKings. Click through to get the pertinent information and perhaps uncover an opportunity or two to cash in on the action.

Their arenas are more than 1,800 miles apart, but there is a bond between the Blues and Kings.

The teams arrived to the NHL simultaneously as part of the paradigm-shifting 1967 expansion, in which the league swelled from its Original Six format to a 12-team operation.

They were playoff rivals in just their second season, with St. Louis sweeping Los Angeles in four games in the West Division final on the way to a Stanley Cup loss to the Montreal Canadiens in 1968-69.

They met again with a similar result 29 seasons later, when the Brett Hull-led Blues eliminated the Kings in the Western Conference quarterfinals before losing a round later to the eventual 1997-98 champion Detroit Red Wings.

Los Angeles got some measure of revenge across consecutive seasons a generation later, sweeping St. Louis in the Western semifinals on the way to its first Stanley Cup in 2011-12 and defeating the Blues in a six-game conference quarterfinal the following year before losing to the eventual champion Chicago Blackhawks.

Overall, St. Louis leads the all-time series (regular season and playoffs) 122-91 with 22 ties.

The season is less than a month old but it's somehow the third and final meeting of 2021-22 between the Blues and Kings, who got together twice in three nights a couple weeks ago in St. Louis.

The hosts were winners by 7-3 and 3-0 scores on Oct. 23 and 25, respectively, at the Enterprise Center, getting two goals and two assists from Tarasenko across both games and a hat trick plus an assist from fellow winger David Perron in the opener alone.

The four-goal victory included four power-play goals, a shorthanded goal and two more at even strength.

Defenseman Torey Krug also had four points, all on assists, for the Blues in the two games.

Finnish goaltender Ville Husso got the shutout for St. Louis in his lone start of the season thus far, while Jordan Binnington stopped 32 of 35 shots in the other game.

Defenseman Alexander Edler, who spent his first 925 NHL games with the Vancouver Canucks, recorded his first two points, both assists, with the Kings in the Oct. 23 game. Goalie Cal Petersen was shelled for seven goals on 40 shots in that game before stepping aside for Jonathan Quick (32 saves) in game two.

As mentioned earlier, Los Angeles has shown signs of turning things around with victories over the Canadiens and Sabres, in which winger Alex Iafallo combined for three goals and an assist. He has four goals in nine games and is on an early pace to blow away his career-best of 17 goals in 2019-20.

Still, the heaviest load is being carried by 34-year-old center Anze Kopitar, whose 13 points on seven goals and six assists were tied for fifth in the league heading into Tuesday's games.

For the Blues, it's the trio of Tarasenko, Perron and youngster Jordan Kyrou with nine points apiece.

Kyrou, a second-round pick in 2016, had 47 points in his first 99 games across parts of three NHL seasons, but has recorded at least a point in five of seven games so far in 2021-22.

Veteran Brandon Saad was removed from COVID-19 protocol after missing four games, but still absent for St. Louis are Husso, Ryan O'Reilly and Kyle Clifford. Goalie Joel Hofer was called up from Springfield of the AHL to cover Husso's absence, but coach Craig Berube would not commit to him getting a start.

The Blues are undermanned these days, to be sure, but the parade of players heading into the COVID-19 protocol hasn't done much to blunt the momentum.

They're a deep team that's getting balanced scoring, and, even though it's a trip to the West Coast, it's still a sojourn that begins against a foe that's been outscored 10-3 in two recent meetings.

Which suggests that all wagering signs point toward St. Louis.

But there are more.

The Blues have a plus-14 goal differential. Los Angeles sits at minus-3. And though Kopitar leads all players from both teams in points, spots No. 2, 3 and 4 are occupied by St. Louis skaters.

It's no different in goal, where Binnington's .926 save percentage and 2.52 goals-against average are better than numbers produced thus far by either Petersen (.895, 3.28) or Quick (.908, 2.60). 

Last but not least, the Blues are unbeaten on the road, while the Kings are a pedestrian 3-2 at home.

So, when you consider that the biggest plus number on the board is backing the Blues at -1.5 goals and it'd pay at a +180 rate (bet $100 to win $180), it's best to read the signs.

And in this case, Blue means go.

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