Nashville Predators vs Seattle Kraken NHL Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/14/2021

The Seattle Kraken and the Nashville Predators meet in NHL action from Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night.

The Seattle Kraken will try to notch their first regular season win after starting their debut season with a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights in their last game. Vegas opened the scoring just 3:10 into the game and doubles the lead just 3:26 later and the 2-0 lead held until early in the 2^nd where Vegas extended their cushion to 3-0. Ryan Donato scored the first regular season goal for the Kraken just after the midway point of the second period and Jared McCann cut the deficit to 3-2 just over a minute later and the 3-2 score held until early on in the 3^rd where Morgan Geekie tied things at three for the Kraken just before the eight minute mark of the final frame. Vegas responded just 35 seconds later with the nail in the coffin as Seattle wouldn’t find another game-tying goal despite outshooting Vegas 8-7 in the 3^rd period. Philipp Grubauer took the loss after allowing 4 goals on 30 shots faced in the losing effort.

The Nashville Predators will look to maintain and stay the course after a seventh straight trip to the postseason with a 31-23-2 record, finishing 4^th in the Central division, but the stay in the postseason was short-lived as Nashville was bounced in the opening round by the division leading Hurricanes in six games. The Predators did some roster re-tooling, with signings like Dante Fabbro and re-upping Mikael Granlund as well as picking up David Rittich in free agency to tend the crease alongside Juuse Saros as Pekka Rinne retired in the offseason. Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg both return as the lone pair of 30+-point scorers from the Predators lineup last season.

Nashville is 5-1 in their last 6 home games and 3-7 in their last 10 Thursday games while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 games against the Pacific division.

I get the value of Nashville at home, as the Predators have a crazy home ice environment. However, Seattle opened some eyes by showing some serious heart in their opener against Vegas and I really like the direction the Kraken are headed. Nashville has been overrated in my opinion since their run to the Stanley Cup Finals a few seasons back and the goaltending in Nashville is some of my least favorite in the entire NHL. I’ll be taking my chances with the Kraken and the plus money here.