{"id":487228,"date":"2026-04-09T08:05:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T12:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=487228"},"modified":"2026-04-09T06:02:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:02:41","slug":"nhl-predictions-vancouver-canucks-vs-los-angeles-kings-april-9th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/04\/09\/nhl-predictions-vancouver-canucks-vs-los-angeles-kings-april-9th\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: Vancouver Canucks vs Los Angeles Kings, April 9th"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, our writers here at\u00a0Last Word On Hockey<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>look 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. For this edition, we will look at the\u00a0<\/span>Vancouver Canucks<\/a> taking on the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Don\u2019t forget to check out more NHL Predictions, as our writers continue this series throughout the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

NHL Predictions with <\/span><\/strong>Vancouver Canucks at Los Angeles Kings
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n

2025-2026 Season Series:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>LA<\/span> 2<\/span>-0 Vancouver<\/p>\n

Time:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>10:30<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) | 7:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)<\/p>\n

How to Watch<\/a>: Sportsnet+, SNP, FDSNW, ESPN+, NHL Centre Ice<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Location:<\/strong> Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California<\/span><\/p>\n

The Vancouver Canucks embark on a three-game road trip through California, starting in Los Angeles against the Kings. Vancouver sits at 22-47-8 after 77 games, with 52 points. Los Angeles sits at 32-26-19 after 77 games, with 83 points. This is the third of four meetings between the two teams. Los Angeles won their last meeting, 4-0, on March 26th. They will face each other again in five days, on April 14th.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

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

The Canucks Story<\/h3>\n

Vancouver has fallen on hard times yet again, getting dominated in their last game against the Vegas Golden Knights. They only managed 10 shots in the game, which is the second-fewest shots in a game in franchise history. Their home record will be the worst record in the salary cap era as well, as they will end the season without even 10 wins at Rogers Arena. One bright spot of the last game was Nikita Tolopilo<\/a>‘s performance, where he stopped 26 out of 28 shots. Hopefully, he can build upon it with another strong performance.<\/p>\n

The Kings Story<\/h3>\n

LA is staying in the Stanley Cup Playoff race with a 3-0-1 record in their last four games, all of which required extra time. That has been their story the whole season, pushing games to extra time to gain as many points as possible that way. They have the second-least regulation wins on the season with only 19, which is only four more than the last-place Vancouver Canucks. If they want to make the playoffs, they would need to finish above their opposition, as they would not win a tiebreaker against any team. In their remaining five games on their schedule, they only have one game against a playoff team, which could prove beneficial to them in this home stretch.<\/p>\n

Starting Goalies<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Below are the projected starters for tonight\u2019s game. Please check social media for the most updated information before locking in your daily fantasy lineups.<\/p>\n

For Vancouver,\u00a0Nikita Tolopilo<\/a> could get the start. In 19 games this season, he has a 5-10-2 record, a 3.63 goals-against average, and an .883 save percentage. He has lost five straight starts coming into this matchup. Jiri Patera<\/a> will likely back up, with Kevin Lankinen<\/a> out day-to-day with an upper-body injury.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Los Angeles,\u00a0<\/span>Darcy Kuemper<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>should get the start in net. In 49 games this season, he has a 19-14-14 record, a 2.76 goals-against average, and an .892 save percentage.<\/div>\n

Prediction and Best Bets<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Kings desperately need this game to propel themselves into a playoff spot. They should be able to take advantage of Vancouver’s porous defence and get the goals they need for a decisive victory.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Kings win 5-2.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Best Bets<\/strong><\/h3>\n

To wrap things up, here are our anytime goal scorer picks. For Vancouver, we will pick Brock Boeser<\/a> <\/span>to score a goal. On the Kings’ side, we will pick Artemi Panarin<\/a> to pot one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions; some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/strong><\/em><\/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 give in-depth analysis. Our team breaks down the key matchups, storylines, and stats, then makes predictions based on how they might play out. For this edition, we will look at the\u00a0Vancouver Canucks taking on the Los Angeles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5733,"featured_media":451978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,4547,24,4548,4524],"tags":[6028,6014],"class_list":["post-487228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canucks","category-hockey","category-kings","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","tag-los-angeles-kings-predictions","tag-vancouver-canucks-predictions"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5733"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487228"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487407,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487228\/revisions\/487407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}