Vegas Golden Knights vs Seattle Kraken NHL Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/12/2021

The Seattle Kraken and the Vegas Golden Knights square off in opening night NHL action from T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday night.

The Seattle Kraken make their long-awaited debut on Tuesday, facing the old new kids on the block and hoping to replicate’ Vegas success in their inaugural season just a few short years ago. The Kraken named former Calgary Flames defenseman Mark Giordano their captain on Monday, General manager Ron Francis put together a solid group of experienced veterans, with many of the players selected in the expansion draft in their prime. Some of the top forwards in the lineup include a former 34-goal scorer in Jordan Eberle, Jared McCann who was on a pace for 60+ points in 2020-21 and a wing in Jaden Schwartz who is also a goal-scoring threat. Giordano has some solid teammates alongside him on defense like Vince Dunn who comes over from St. Louis as well as solid pieces like Adam Larsson, Carson Soucy and Jamie Oleksiak. The Kraken’s top strength will likely be the goaltending, as the franchise’s first two goaltenders are former Vezina trophy finalist Phillipp Grubauer who had a GAA under two last year as well as a .919 save percentage as well as former Florida Panther Chris Dreidger who has had a .931 save percentage over the last couple of seasons.

The Vegas Golden Knights will be out to build on their success from yet another solid campaign, aking it to the final four for the third time in their four seasons in the NHL, finishing 40-14-2 in the regular season, taking down Minnesota and Colorado in the first two rounds before losing to Montreal in the Stanley Cup semifinals. Mark Stone led the group with 61 points while Max Pacioretty had a team-high 24 goals and 51 points which translater to the playoffs where he potted 5 goals and 6 assists. Jonathan Marchesault had 18 goals and 44 points while leading the Golden Knights with 6 goals in the postseason and Robin Lehner and Malcolm Subban have been retained as the two returning goaltenders as well for the upcoming season.

Vegas is 42-16 in their last 58 home games and 73-35 in their last 108 games overall while the under is 2-0-4 in their last 6 games as a favorite.

Seattle is I get the case that can be made for Vegas at home in this game, but I’m simply not a Robin Lehner or Malcolm Subban fan between the pipes for Vegas. The Seattle Kraken are the new kids on the block, but there’s a lot of veterans on this team and while there weren’t the same big names that landed with the Golden Knights in their expansion draft, the blueprint is out there for teams like Seattle to thrive in their maiden voyage. I’ll take my chances with Seattle +1.5 in what I think is a one goal game either way.