NHL Odds, Preview, Prediction: Golden Knights vs Sharks (Thursday, October 12)

Golden Knights vs Sharks Odds

Vegas opened its defense of the Stanley Cup on Tuesday with a convincing 4-1 victory over Seattle. The Kraken are considered to be a great team this season, but few people are expecting much from the Golden Knights' next opponent, the San Jose Sharks.

Still, the Sharks did manage to split their four-game season series against the Golden Knights last season, so Vegas shouldn't overlook Thursday night's contest.

Find a betting pick, preview and prediction for the Vegas Golden Knights vs. the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, October 12, below.

William Carrier exited Tuesday's game with an upper-body injury, and Brett Howden delivered a high hit that led to a suspension, so Vegas is already missing part of its forward corps. However, all of the Golden Knights' key scoring threats should be in the lineup.

Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone each recorded two points in Vegas' season opener while Ivan Barbashev, Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault are all beginning on the right foot too after each found the back of the net against Seattle.

That leaves William Karlsson as the only major Vegas forward searching for his first point after just one game in the books.

Adin Hill was fantastic Tuesday as he saved 32 of 33 shots, but Logan Thompson is expected to be in net versus San Jose tonight. Thompson was solid last season with a 21-13-3 record, 2.65 GAA and .915 save percentage in 37 contests, so the Sharks aren't necessarily catching a break by getting Thompson over Hill.

Paul Cotter is the main X factor for the Golden Knights. With Carrier and Howden unavailable, Cotter is expected to serve on their second line, which is a great opportunity for the 23-year-old. He has scored just 18 points in 56 contests over the last two seasons, but he's also been limited to 12:49 of ice time per game in that span.

While Vegas won the Stanley Cup, San Jose finished the 2022-23 campaign with a 22-44-16 record. The Sharks ranked 25th in goals per game (2.84) and 30th in goals allowed per game (3.84).

So how did they manage to frustrate the Golden Knights last year?

In the two games the Sharks won, Logan Couture played a big role by scoring the overtime winner in one contest and providing the primary assist on Timo Meier's game-winning goal in the other one.

It's unfortunate that Couture won't be available Thursday night due to a lower-body injury. However, he's not the only noteworthy absence from those two wins either because Meier is now a member of the Devils. Erik Karlsson, who registered two assists in one of those wins and was the driving force behind the Sharks' offense in 2022-23, also wears a Penguins jersey these days.

The Sharks aren't completely devoid of scoring threats, though. Tomas Hertl, who scored 63 points in 79 outings last year, is both healthy and still with San Jose. The Sharks also have an exciting young forward in William Eklund. Still, if anything the gap between San Jose and Vegas has only widened over the last year.

San Jose will also be without James Reimer, who was the winning goaltender in both games, given that he now plays for Detroit. In his place, Kaapo Kahkonen is slated to start Thursday.

Kahkonen struggled last season with a 9-20-7 record, 3.85 GAA and .883 save percentage in 37 starts. He also was in net for one of San Jose's losses to Vegas in 2022-23, though it was actually one of his rare solid starts from that campaign – he stopped 36 of 38 shots in a 2-1 defeat.

To no one's surprise, the moneyline return for picking Vegas isn't much, but the puck line of Golden Knights -1.5 at +105 on FanDuel as of this writing offers a solid return. Maybe that's because the game is being played in San Jose or the Sharks' pattern of playing the Golden Knights hard, but whatever the case, it's an enticing offer.

Although I don't want to ignore history, this edition of the Sharks looks like a serious contender to win the draft lottery. When combining that with them missing one of their best forwards in Couture, this is a game that the Golden Knights should not only win – but win handily.