{"id":534965,"date":"2026-04-01T16:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/534965\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:06:15","slug":"nhl-predictions-st-louis-blues-vs-los-angeles-kings-april-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/534965\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: St Louis Blues vs Los Angeles Kings, April 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, our writers here at\u00a0Last Word On Hockey\u00a0look at the games and give in-depth analysis. Our team breaks down the key matchups, storylines, and stats, then makes predictions based on how they might play out. Our featured game of this edition is the St Louis Blues taking on the Los Angeles Kings check out more NHL Predictions<\/a>, as our writers continue this series throughout the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions
\nSt Louis Blues vs Los Angeles Kings
\nHead-to-Head: Blues 0-2 Kings
\nHow to Watch<\/a>:\u00a0US TV: Fan Duel Sports Midwest; Fan Duel Sports West; ESPN+. Canada TV: Sportsnet+.<\/p>\n

Time: 9 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a light night on the ice to start off the month of April. Tonight\u2019s in-depth edition of NHL predictions has the St Louis Blues<\/a> trying to avoid the three-game season sweep against the Los Angeles Kings.<\/a> Both teams are currently on the outside looking in of the Stanley Cup Playoff picture. However, both teams are still alive to sneak into the postseason.<\/p>\n

St Louis sits four points off<\/a> the Nashville Predators<\/a> for the second Wild Card spot in the West. The Blues also have a game in hand on the Predators, and a win would help their cause of sneaking into the postseason.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles could leapfrog Nashville for the last wild card spot with a victory. However, there are a plethora of teams bunched up for those playoff spots. Every point is important and this is a pivotal game.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at the stats and storylines for this round of NHL predictions.<\/p>\n

The Blues Story<\/p>\n

St Louis is 6-2-2 in its previous 10 games but did come off a loss to the San Jose Sharks<\/a> last time out. The Blues did have a four-game winning streak going into the game against the Sharks.<\/p>\n

Joel Hofer<\/a> is the expected starter for St Louis but always check social media before locking in a daily fantasy starter. Hofer is 19-12-5 with a 2.45 goals-against-average and .909 save percentage. The veteran goalie also has six shutouts so far this campaign.<\/p>\n

Robert Thomas<\/a> has his name in trade rumours but the Blues are glad they didn\u2019t deal him. Thomas leads the club in assists (33) and points (49) so far for St Louis.<\/p>\n

(Credit Image: \u00a9 Alex Cave\/ZUMA Press Wire)<\/p>\n

The Kings Story<\/p>\n

Los Angeles is in danger of missing the postseason for the first time in several seasons. The Kings are 3-3-4 in their previous 10 games, including losses in four of their last five games.<\/p>\n

Darcy Kuemper<\/a> is the probable starter for the Kings and has a 18-14-13 record and three shutouts this season. However, his save percentage is .896 and he cards a 2.55 GAA.<\/p>\n

Artemi Panarin<\/a> leads the team in assists (49) and points (75) after coming over from the New York Rangers<\/a> prior to the trade deadline. Adrian Kempe<\/a> is first on the team in goals with 27.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/p>\n

This is a crucial matchup for both clubs if they have designs on getting into the postseason. St Louis has trouble scoring goals but are very sound at keeping pucks out of the net. This should help them get the win over Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Blues win 3-2.<\/p>\n

Best Bets<\/p>\n

We round out NHL predictions with some prop bets of the night. The over\/under for the Blues versus the Kings is 5.5, and we like the under in this game.<\/p>\n

As for individual props, take Pavel Buchnevich<\/a> to get a goal for St Louis. On the Los Angeles end of things, go with Quinton Byfield<\/a> to get a power-play point.<\/p>\n

Main photo by: Alex Gallardo-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions; some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, our writers here at\u00a0Last Word On Hockey\u00a0look at the games and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5120],"tags":[3039,71,368,5,1190,371,4,1482,534,84,33535,5285,5284],"class_list":{"0":"post-534965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-blues","8":"tag-artemi-panarin","9":"tag-blues","10":"tag-darcy-kuemper","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-joel-hofer","13":"tag-los-angeles-kings-predictions","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-robert-thomas","16":"tag-st-louis","17":"tag-st-louis-blues","18":"tag-st-louis-blues-predictions","19":"tag-stlouis","20":"tag-stlouisblues"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116330311404160861","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}