NHL opening night best bets: Lightning will strike

Opening night is finally here!

Though we have just two games to work with, they're good ones. We'll see the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning play host to the always competitive Pittsburgh Penguins.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Kraken play their first-ever game against the Vegas Golden Knights in a battle of the league's two newest teams.

Let's get to our best bets.

Lightning -1.5 (+115)

Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jake Guentzel are just a few of the notable players the Penguins will be without in the season opener.

Hanging around in the game, let alone winning, is a huge ask against most teams given the circumstances. But I just can't see it being possible against the Lightning.

Tampa Bay is best known as a high-powered offensive team, but it's also very stout defensively. The Lightning ranked fourth in shot attempts against and sixth in expected goals against per 60 minutes at five-on-five last season. They don't give up much, and they have arguably the league's best goaltender - Andrei Vasilevskiy - to clean up the mess when they do.

The Lightning should be able to neutralize the Penguins' watered-down attack with relative ease. Even if Pittsburgh can somehow slow Tampa Bay, its chances are relatively slim; a strong finishing team doesn't need many good looks against Tristan Jarry.

Though his 2020-21 counting numbers look OK on the surface, there were problems under the hood. Perhaps the biggest issue is the fact Jarry allowed 11.8 more goals than expected, which ranked him near the bottom of the league.

The Lightning - even after losing some important role players during the offseason - are much deeper than the Penguins, and the talent discrepancy is more extreme with Pittsburgh missing its stars up front.

I was able to get the Lightning in regulation on Monday but the odds moved significantly overnight, so we're going to take a shot on a multi-goal victory.

Player Props

Since a lot of uncertainty looms over the Seattle game (a handful of players are on the COVID-19 list), it's probably best to focus on some props.

One that stands out to me: Jeff Carter over 2.5 shots (-113). He averaged 2.7 per game following the trade to Pittsburgh a year ago and that was while playing a middle-six role.

With Crosby and Malkin out, Carter will center the top line. That'll lead to some extra ice time, and his shot will no doubt be a focal point when the Penguins get on the power play. Regardless of whether he scores, I expect Carer to give Vasilevskiy plenty of work.

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.