NHL Tuesday best bets: Penguins to spoil Bedard's 1st game
NHL hockey is here! There are only three games on the slate, but the matchups we do have certainly aren't lacking in quality.
Let's dive into a couple of them with our first best bets post of the season.
Blackhawks (+200) @ Penguins (-240)
There is a lot of excitement surrounding the Blackhawks, and understandably so. They drafted one of the most exciting and franchise-altering prospects we have seen over the past 20 years.
While Connor Bedard immediately makes the Blackhawks a team worth watching, they have a long way to go before they're more than that. Their roster is bad. Very bad.
Headlined by Bedard and Taylor Hall, the top line should be dynamic and productive. But the rest of the lineup leaves a lot to be desired.
Chicago is very thin down the middle, which is not ideal when heading into a matchup against Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The team has very little firepower as well. Outside of Hall, the Blackhawks don't have any above-average contributors on the wing. And things only get worse from there.
The Blackhawks were one of the league's worst defensive sides a season ago. Top prospect Kevin Korchinski should help in the long haul, but there will no doubt be growing pains while he - and other Blackhawks youngsters - adjust to the highest level of hockey in the world.
Petr Mrazek is arguably the worst starting goaltender in the league, so it's not realistic to expect him to bail the team out when mistakes are consistently made in front of him.
Jake Guentzel playing would definitely be preferable, but, even if he's out, the Penguins have more than enough firepower to overwhelm this young Blackhawks team.
Look for Crosby, Malkin, Erik Karlsson, and the Penguins' experienced stars to set the tone.
Bet: Penguins in regulation (-140)
Kraken (+150) @ Golden Knights (-175)
This total does not make a ton of sense to me. The Kraken and Golden Knights are both very strong defensive teams that tend to play slow and suck the life out of their opponents.
The Kraken ranked third last season in expected goal suppression, making life as easy as possible on their shaky goaltending tandem. With the same core and coaching staff, I see no reason to expect any different this year.
Meanwhile, the Golden Knights ranked just outside the top 10 in xG suppression a year ago. That's an impressive feat when considering the injuries they dealt with - and to key players.
Bruce Cassidy loves structure, and the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in his debut season with the team. They certainly won't be looking to get away from the formula that worked so well for them.
As you'd expect, there wasn't much offense when these two teams met last year. They faced one another on four different occasions. Three of the games featured six goals or less, and two of them saw the teams combine for just 50 shots. That is unheard of in the modern NHL.
Both of these teams play slow, structured hockey, and both of them enjoyed plenty of success doing so.
The Kraken will be sticking to their guns following their first playoff appearance, while the Golden Knights will do the same after a Stanley Cup victory.
Expect a tight, grind-it-out affair.
Bet: Under 6.5 (-130)
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.