The St. Louis Blues and the Los Angeles Kings continue their Western Conference semifinal matchup this Thursday night as the action shifts to the Staples Center for Game 3 of this best-of-seven series, with the Kings up two games to none. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m. (PT) and the game will be broadcast nationally on the NBC Sports Network.

Series Overview-St. Louis Blues

St. Louis lost the first game of its first-round series against San Jose at home, but responded with four straight victories to win the series in five games. It responded to a stunning 3-1 loss in Game 1 of this series as a 153 home favorite by getting waxed 5-2 as a 153 home favorite in Monday night’s Game 2. Forget the fact that the Blues opened as 165 series favorites, they now need a win just to keep this series within reach.

Andy McDonald and Patrik Berglund put on a scoring clinic against the Sharks with a combined 15 points in five games, but through the first two games against the Kings, McDonald has tallied a goal and an assist while Berglund has been completely shutout. To make matter worse, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who missed Game 2 due to injury, remains questionable for Thursday night. The player that will really be under the spotlight in Game 3 is goalie Brian Elliott. After filling in admirably for an injured Jaroslav Halak in the first series, he has posted goals-against-average of 3.56 and a .857 save percentage in this one.

Series Overview- Los Angeles Kings

Most of the sports betting public expected Los Angeles to make a fairly swift exit from the postseason against No.1-seed Vancouver, but a fast start led to a five-game series win. The Kings have been able to carry that momentum into this series and are now 6-1 in their first seven playoff games while outscoring the competition 16-11.

Los Angeles has done an excellent job at spreading the puck around with five different players registering at least six points in these playoffs. Dustin Brown has led the way with four goals and five assists including four assists against the Blues. The Kings have been outshot 58-50 by St.Louis but with Jonathan Quick in goal this obviously has not been an issue. Through seven postseason games, he has a ridiculously impressive 1.56 GAA and an equally stellar save percentage of .952.

Betting Trends

For those of us looking to make a few NHL picks on this game, here are a few hockey betting trends that can help you select just where you would like to place your money.

The Blues are 2-7 in their last nine games as underdogs on the road and 2-6 in their last eight games following a loss of three or more goals at home. The total has stayed UNDER in 26 of their last 36 games as underdogs.

The Kings are 12-4 in their last 16 games as favorites and 8-2 in their last 10 games as favorites at home. The total has stayed UNDER in four of their last five games overall.

Head-to-head, St. Louis has now lost five of the last six meetings with the total staying UNDER in seven of the last nine games.

Prediction

Given the do-or-die nature of this game, look for the Blues to be flying all over the ice but the end result will be the dreaded 0-3 series hole as once again Quick stands tall in goal to give Los Angeles the win. Los Angeles 2     St. Louis 1