NHL Odds, Preview, Prediction: Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes (Jan. 25)

Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes Odds

The Vegas Golden Knights are in the midst of a jam-packed road trip with four games in six nights in the Southeast. Vegas was a 1-0 winner on Monday night behind a 34-save shutout from Robin Lehner against Washington.

The Hurricanes were last seen losing to New Jersey, 7-4, on Saturday. That scoreline may look peculiar, but the Hurricanes were without their top two goaltenders for that contest.

It's a good schedule spot for the Hurricanes, but is this line too wide in what could be a potential Stanley Cup Final preview?

Vegas Continues to Play High-Event Hockey

Robin Lehner was the story of last night's game in Washington. Vegas lost the expected goals battle, 3.52 to 2.53, but Lehner stole the show.

Peter deBoer is always cagey when it comes to naming starting goaltenders — especially during a back-to-back — but it wouldn't be all that surprising if Lehner goes again on Tuesday. If not, Laurent Brossoit will get the nod. Brossoit has been a solid deputy for the Knights, skating to a .900 save percentage and a +1.0 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx).

Vegas is just 2-2-1 over its last five games, but the Knights have posted a 52.3% expected goals rate in that span. Their actual goal share at 5-on-5 is at 35.8% however, suggesting the Knights have been a bit unfortunate of late.

The Golden Knights have played at a rip-roaring pace all season long and that hasn't slowed down all that much. The Knights rank inside the top-10 in creating high-danger scoring chances, but also find themselves in the bottom-10 in preventing them. That could be an interesting conundrum against another high-event team on Tuesday night.

The Hurricanes Offense Is on Song

The Canes won the first meeting against Vegas, 4-2, in a dominant performance at T-Mobile Arena. The Canes outshot the Golden Knights, 42-23, in that contest and another showing like that isn't out of the question on Tuesday.

Freddie Andersen will be back in the blue paint for the Hurricanes tonight after getting Saturday night off in New Jersey. Andersen has won his last three starts and has only allowed five total goals in that span. With a +19.8 GSAx and a .928 save percentage, Andersen has been in the discussion for the Vezina Trophy all season.

Carolina is a force to be reckoned with offensively. The Hurricanes create 3.5 expected goals per 60 minutes in all situations and 3.08 xGF/60 at 5-on-5. What's more impressive is that the Canes are outperforming both of those metrics, scoring 3.6 goals per 60 minutes at all strengths and 3.26 G/60 at 5-on-5.

Like Vegas, Carolina does give up a fair amount of scoring chances and ranks inside the bottom-10 in expected goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.

Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes Pick

This is a tough spot for Vegas.

The Golden Knights played a tight contest in Washington on Monday and now need to deal with the go-go Hurricanes 24 hours later. Despite giving up a decent amount of scoring chances against, the Hurricanes are only allowing 2.18 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 this season. Andersen has been superb.

In a game that figures to be up-and-down, I don't think it's very likely that this contest will remain on script for long and that should help the fresher Hurricanes.

Pick: Carolina Hurricanes to win in regulation -110