Golden Knights Ready to Keep Rolling vs Blackhawks

There were plenty of nerve-racking moments, but the Vegas Golden Knights secured the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and kick off the Stanley Cup playoffs Tuesday night against the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Place. Vegas piled up 15 goals to overcome weak goaltending and defeat Dallas, St. Louis and Colorado to lock down the top seed.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The Sportsbook odds for this one look nothing like the current numbers; Vegas opened at -283 but has settled into a more reasonable range between -190 and -200. The Sportsbook total of 5.5 has risen by a goal, with the U6.5 at -120 and the O6.5 at +100.

Chicago News & Notes

The Blackhawks would have been a postseason long shot had the regular season unfolded normally – but under the new qualifier setup, Chicago promptly traveled to the Edmonton bubble and sent the home team packing, upending the Oilers in four games. Chicago’s offense was the difference as it produced 16 goals in the series and was led by Jonathan Toews’ four tallies.

But while it’s great to see Toews step up on the goal front, Chicago will almost certainly need more from its regular-season scoring leader if it hopes to cash in on its +273 odds of winning the series. Patrick Kane had 30 goals and 84 points during the regular season but had just one goal vs Edmonton and was limited to five shots over the final two games of the series.

Vegas News & Notes

It was a wild ride for the Golden Knights, who opened their playoff seeding round robin by rallying from multi-goal deficits in back-to-back games en route to wins over Dallas and St. Louis. A 4-3 victory over Colorado secured the No. 1 seed for a team that could be tough to stop if it continues to boast a balanced offense that saw 10 different players score in the round robin.

That certainly looks like it might be the case if Vegas’ regular-season series with Chicago is any indication. Eight different skaters found the back of the net to account for the Golden Knights’ nine goals vs the Blackhawks, with William Karlsson the only player to strike more than once; he’s an intriguing player prop play despite scoring just 46 points in 63 regular-season games.

Betting Pick: Golden Knights -1.5 (+130)

Look for Vegas to get its defensive house in order just enough to pull out a multi-goal victory over a Blackhawks team that played over its head in its series upset of the Oilers.