Vancouver Canucks vs. Vegas Golden Knights – 8/27/20 NHL Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Vegas Golden Knights and the Vancouver Canucks meet in game three of their best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final series in NHL action from Rogers Place on Thursday.

The Vegas Golden Knights will try to bounce back to get back on top in the series after letting Vancouver tie things up at one win apiece following a 5-2 Canucks victory in game two last time out.

Tyler Toffoli opened the scoring for Vancouver just 1:29 into the game before Bo Horvat doubled Vancouver’s lead on the power play with just over nine minutes to go in the opening period. The lead held into the second where Alex Tuch got the Golden Knights on the board 6:34 into the middle frame, but Elias Pettersson would restore the two-goal cushion with just 1:25 to go in the second period. Horvay pushed the lead to 4-1 just :18 into the 3rd with his second goal of the game, but Max Pacioretty would cut it to 4-2 with 1:26 to go in the game. That was as close as Vegas would get the rest of the way however as it was simply too little too late as Tanner Pearson iced the win for the Canucks with just :30 to go in the third period.

Jacob Markstrom got the win in goal for Vancouver after stopping 38 of 40 shots faced in the win while Robin Lehner took the loss for Vegas after allowing four goals on 26 shots faced in the defeat between the pipes for the Golden Knights.

Vegas is 20-6 in their last 26 games overall and 7-2 in their last 9 playoff games as a favorite while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games against a team with a winning record. Vancouver is 8-3 in their last 11 games overall and 5-2 in their last 7 games following a win while the over is 21-9-1 in their last 31 games overall. Vegas is 9-3 in the last 12 meetings between these two teams and the over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings between the two as well.

The first two meetings in this series have each seen seven goals scored and as far as game three is concerned, I think if it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it. Vancouver’s shown that they’re not afraid to hang and bang with the bigger teams and Vegas continues to be one of the more talented teams remaining in the field with scary depth from top to bottom. I think we see another high-scoring game here in a matchup that’s really anyone’s for the taking. Give me the over here.