NHL Best Bets Today (Rangers, Lightning, Golden Knights and Kings Kick-Off North American Action)
The 2022-23 NHL season technically started over the weekend when the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators played two games in the Czech Republic, but let's be honest, the real NHL season starts tonight.
The New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning will get things started off at Madison Square Garden, and then the Vegas Golden Knights will take on the Kings in Los Angeles.
With two games on the slate for tonight, I'll give you my best bet for each game.
NHL Best Bets for October 11th
- Lightning +100 vs. Rangers
- Kings -115 vs. Golden Knights
Lightning +100 vs. Rangers
Even Rangers fans will admit that they were carried by Igor Shesterkin last season. There are holes in this Rangers team, and until I see those holes have been fixed, I can't bet on them as favorites against the three-time Eastern Conference champs, especially considering Andrei Vasilevskiy will be in net for them.
Throughout history of the league, it's been extremely difficult for goaltenders to put up historic numbers in back-to-back seasons. If Shesterkin can be one of the rare athletes to pull it off, then the Rangers will be in a good spot. But, their 5-on-5 production and tendency to give up high-danger scoring chances makes me believe they'll take a step back this season, so I'll back the Lightning as underdogs tonight.
Kings -115 vs. Golden Knights
Tonight's second game is ironically a matchup between two teams I wrote about in my "Best Future Bets" article I wrote last week.
I'm taking the OVER 95.5 season points for the Kings, and the UNDER 97.5 season points for the Golden Knights, so based off that, you can deduce which side I'm backing tonight.
The Kings did all the hard things right last season, ranking 4th in the NHL in CORSI%. Their biggest issue was finding the back of the net, ranking dead last in shooting percentage. Their offseason signing of Kevin Fiala should help them in that category, and if they can become even an average shooting team this year, they'll be dangerous.
Meanwhile, Vegas is regressing as we expected they would when they went with a "win now" strategy during the expansion draft when they entered the league a handful of years ago. A disappointing performance by Jack Eichel last season, and holes in several areas including goaltending, makes me think they take another step back this season.
I'll back the Kings at home tonight.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.