Kraken at Golden Knights Preview: The Champions Return to Their Throne
Vegas celebrates with a banner ceremony on Opening Night
Kraken at Golden Knights Preview: The Champions Return to Their Throne
Vegas celebrates with a banner ceremony on Opening Night
The 2023-2024 National Hockey League Regular Season
Gets underway on Tuesday night as the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights begin defending their title at home against the upstart Seattle Kraken. Vegas ran through the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars in the Western Conference side of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, before steamrolling the Cinderella run of the Florida Panthers in the Final to clinch their first championship in their seven years of existence.
The third-year Kraken made a 40-point turnaround to reach the playoffs for the first time last season and upset the then defending champs in the Colorado Avalanche. Will the Leaders of the League defend their home throne, or will the visitors from the northwest spoil the Sin City Party? Let’s analyze and break down some key factors for this opening night showdown in the Kraken vs Golden Knights Preview for Tuesday night.
Seattle Kraken vs Vegas Golden Knights 
Day/Time:
Location: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Streaming: Live Sports Stream
Watch The Throne In Las Vegas
The Vegas Golden Knights made an incredible run through the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season en route to clinching their first championship in franchise history. After beating the Winnipeg Jets in six games to start the playoffs, then eliminating the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars, coach Bruce Cassidy relied on the offensive firepower of forward Jonathan Marchessault and Jack Eichel, along with the solid goaltending of Adin Hill and the Golden Knights beat the Florida Panthers in six games, culminating with a 9-3 beatdown in their clinching game to bring the Cup officially to Sin City.
Now cut to four months later, Vegas is looking to defend its throne as champions, starting with this Opening Night clash against division foe Seattle, who they have beaten in seven of their first eight meetings in the two seasons since the Kraken became the 32nd Franchise in the National Hockey League back in the 2021-22 regular season.
The Golden Knights must avoid the “Stanley Cup Hangover” that tends to hit specific NHL teams early right after winning a title. And with a long playoff stretch comes injuries and NHL players still recovering, like defenseman Zach Whitecloud, who is week-to-week with a lower-body issue. Also dealing with injuries from training camp are veteran blueliner Alec Martinez and forward William Karlsson.
Aside from those three, this club is focused and ready on the task at hand this season. Head Coach Bruce Cassidy will have the majority of his top stars available, including Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Marchessault and goaltender Adin Hill, who parlayed his late-season promotion to starter after Logan Thompson suffered an injury into a brand new 2-year, $9.8 Million contract and still holds the top position between the pipes to start the new campaign.
Time to Release The Kraken?
The Seattle Kraken begin their third season of play in the National Hockey League schedule this year with high hopes after a 40-point turnaround from the 2021-22 season with 60 points to a 100-point playoff-bound campaign in 2022-23.
Once the club entered the postseason, Head Coach Dave Hakstol’s troops played solid, balanced hockey. They eliminated the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Colorado Avalanche, in a six-game upset before battling the Dallas Stars, losing the Conference Semifinals in six games.
Head Coach Dave Hakstol was rewarded as a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy, given to the best coach in the league. While he did not win the award, he’s a firm contender to win this season if this club can continue to improve on the incredible blend of young talent they possess.
Starting at forward with Matthew Beniers and Jared McCann, the latter of which scored 40 goals and 30 assists in 79 games played, a nice milestone for the 27-year-old winger. Beniers, 20, will look to follow up his 57-point campaign. Their “secondary” lines, which I use for lack of a better term, are packed with a who’s who of top two-way skaters like Brandon Tanev, Yanni Gourde, Jaden Schwartz, and Andre Burakovsky, just to name a few.
This is one of the few squads in the National Hockey League that can adapt and play any style of hockey you wish. They have the speed and scoring talent to keep up in a boat race, but also the Hockey I.Q. and defensive stability to play a tight contest.
This Kraken team also plays solid defensive hockey, a staple of Coach Hakstol, a stay-at-home blueliner during his professional playing career. The big question is goaltending health. Starter Philipp Grubauer had had injury concerns during his career, and backup Joey Daccord had a great year, mostly with Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League, a season removed from having major surgery to repair a torn ACL.
Kraken at Golden Knights Betting Odds
Sportsbooks have the hosting of Vegas Golden Knights odds to win as moderate favorites against the visiting Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night, priced around -170 to -180.
Last season in NHL Betting Predictions, the Vegas Golden Knights were a grand total of 67-37, earning +21.8 units of profit for $100/unit bettors on the moneyline, while the Seattle Kraken went 53-43, also returning plus profits of +17.15 units for $100/unit bettors.
Concluding the Kraken vs Golden Knights Preview: The total for this contest is six goals with the Over priced as the short -120 favorite. Last year, the Seattle Kraken posted an Over/Under record of 45-47-4, while the Vegas Golden Knights went 47-51-6 in totals for the entire season and playoffs.
As mentioned, Vegas has played Seattle eight times over the last two seasons, with the Golden Knights winning seven of those contests. The totals are dead even at four overs and four unders, with Vegas converting on 26% of their power-play chances in those eight meetings.
Check out all the updated Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights NHL schedule, NHL standings, lineups, futures odds, team stats, recent news and betting tips, right here at Point Spreads.
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