The NHL is back! The Seattle Kraken will make their NHL debut tonight against another recent expansion franchise in the Vegas Golden Knights. The defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning will host Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins as well.
Before tuning into this thrilling doubleheader to kick off the 2021-2022 NHL season, check out our NHL bet of the day for October 12. All odds are current as of 4 PM EST.
NHL Bet Of The Day 10/12/21
Seattle Kraken vs Vegas Golden Knights (10:00 PM ET)
- Projected Goaltenders: Philipp Grubauer (SEA) @ Robin Lehner (VGK)
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The Kraken’s starting goaltender to open the season will be Philipp Grubauer, who they signed to a massive six-year, $35.4 million deal during the offseason. Grubauer manned the net for the Colorado Avalanche prior to joining Seattle and has vast postseason experience. He will look to get comfortable with his new team while the Kraken try to get their lines to mesh.
The Golden Knights also made headlines during the offseason by trading veteran goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to the Chicago Blackhawks. With Fleury gone, Vegas will turn to Robin Lehner, who signed a five-year deal with them in the 2020 offseason and started multiple games in the postseason last year.
With Grubauer still settling in with his new team and Lehner seizing a starting job, it will be interesting to see how both goalies perform in tonight’s season opener.
The Kraken actually look like a pretty formidable force out of the gate, somewhat like the Golden Knights did when they entered the league. The main hang-up in this game, though, is the presence of five key Seattle players on the COVID list. The Kraken haven’t played together enough to develop the chemistry to withstand this sort of loss, in my opinion.
Not only that, but the Golden Knights are one of the best teams in the NHL. Accordingly, it’s hard to envision Seattle winning this game given their lack of line depth.
Kraken vs Golden Knights Prediction: Golden Knights 3, Kraken 2
NHL Bet Of The Day: Seattle Kraken +1.5 Goals (-115) at BetMGM
Wager: 1 Unit
While the Kraken are undermanned, I still expect this game to be fairly close given the quality of both goalies. Taking a goal on the spread is never a bad idea when it comes to betting on the NHL, either. Look for the Kraken to cover in our NHL bet of the day.
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