by Vegas Writer
Friday, Oct 25, 2024Friday's edition of the "Morning Skate" recaps Thursday's busy slate that featured nine games and seven teams being unruly guests with some incredible road wins.
We had a couple of potential Stanley Cup Final previews with the Dallas Stars topping the Boston Bruins, 5-2, and the defending champion Florida Panthers beating the New York Rangers, 3-1. Both the Stars and Panthers were on the road.
The Winnipeg Jets also remained unbeaten with their 4-3 win in Seattle, while Marc-Andre Fleury stepped between the pipes to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Both the Jets and Wild were on the road.
Let's take a look at the main highlights from Thursday:
We had a couple of potential Stanley Cup Final previews with the Dallas Stars topping the Boston Bruins, 5-2, and the defending champion Florida Panthers beating the New York Rangers, 3-1. Both the Stars and Panthers were on the road.
The Winnipeg Jets also remained unbeaten with their 4-3 win in Seattle, while Marc-Andre Fleury stepped between the pipes to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Both the Jets and Wild were on the road.
Let's take a look at the main highlights from Thursday:
- Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 of 25 shots to earn his 400th career win, as he stifled the Rangers in their first meeting with the Panthers since the 2024 Eastern Conference Final. Florida handed New York its first regulation defeat of 2024-25 and snapped the Rangers' season-opening point streak at six games. Bobrovsky joined Fleury (561) as just the second active goaltender to earn 400 career wins.
- Nikolaj Ehlers scored the overtime winner to fend off a Kraken comeback attempt and help the Jets (7-0-0, 14 points) become the fifth team in the past 10 years to start a campaign on a seven-game winning streak. Connor Hellebuyck (29 saves) has backstopped Winnipeg to six of its seven victories.
- Kirill Kaprizov had two goals and an assist to help the Wild (5-0-2, 12 points) extend their season-opening point streak to seven contests.
- Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar recorded his NHL-leading 15th point of the season and extended his season-opening point streak to eight games in last night's 5-1 win in Salt Lake City.
Through the first 16 nights:
Favorites are 68-46, including a 43-27 run.
Overs are 53-51-10.
Tonight's FEATURED GAME (lines courtesy DraftKings):
Ottawa at Vegas (-148, 6o, -120)
The Vegas Golden Knights returned from a dreadful three-game road trip and found their offense in a 6-1 win over border-rival Los Angeles, as Kings' netminder David Rittich never stood a chance.
The jury is still out on the Ottawa Senators, as they're one of those three teams from the Eastern Conference that everyone remains on pins and needles, waiting for them, the Detroit Red Wings or Buffalo Sabres to have a breakout season.
Through nearly three weeks, I'd say the Senators have been the most impressive to date. And they could come into T-Mobile Arena for this rather early puck drop and give the Knights a problem.
I'd be leery with both sides, as we never know which Knights offense is showing up, and we don't know if the Senators are going to respond.
PREDICTION: The way to go here is to anticipate a high-scoring game. Ottawa has the offensive firepower to pot goals, and we know the Knights will be looking to push the tempo, as six of their seven games have landed north of the posted number. Seven of the last 10 meetings have gone over, and in the 12 all-time meetings, the average final tally is 6.75 goals per game. Six of the 12 landed on seven or higher. Look for this one to run high.
