Thursday evening brings a must-watch matchup between two of the best teams in the NHL as the Vegas Golden Knights visit the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:07 PM ET. Vegas is coming off a statement 6-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, which ended a short three-game skid. As for Boston, they’ve actually lost three in a row themselves and fell to the Seattle Kraken in a shootout on Monday evening. Needless to say, the Eastern Conference leaders are due for a win. Continue reading below for the Golden Knights vs Bruins picks.
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Despite the recent struggles, the Bruins are a clear home favorite here with -150 odds for an implied win probability of 60%. The Golden Knights come back at +134 and have a 42.74% chance of taking this one. The total in goals is set at 5.5. The last six meetings between these two were relatively even, with both teams winning three times. Expect Thursday to be very competitive.
Vegas has a target on their backs after winning the Stanley Cup last season and so far, they definitely look like a legitimate contender once again. The Golden Knights are second in the Pacific Division behind the Vancouver Canucks with a stout 33-19-7 record. And while Vegas did lose three consecutive games, they did manage to bounce back on Tuesday, as many expected them to.
The Maple Leafs wiped the floor with the champs last Thursday but the Golden Knights weren’t going to let that happen again. In the process, Vegas also ended Toronto’s impressive seven-game winning streak. Jonathan Marchessault was the star of the show here, scoring twice and tallying an assist to lead the way. William Karlsson also scored and set up another. Ivan Barbashev, Nicolas Roy, and Mason Morelli all found the back of the net, too. The Golden Knights showed just why they’re the defending champs. In net, Adin Hill made 28 saves on 30 shots, managing to keep the Leafs’ potent offense at bay.
Although Vegas ranks around the middle of the pack in scoring, they have so many weapons throughout the roster. Mark Stone has a team-best 53 points, but he’s currently sidelined with an injury. Marchessault is also at 51 points, while the likes of Jack Eichel, Barbashev, and Karlsson are all over 30 points apiece. Defensively, Bruce Cassidy’s squad is top-10 in numerous categories. Once the Golden Knights get back to full strength, watch out.
You can’t take anything away from what Boston is doing this season, going 34-12-14 when many believed they’d take a step back. But, the Bruins are in a bit of a cold spell at the moment, losing to the Flames, Canucks, and Kraken. In fairness though, two of them were in overtime and the other was in a shootout. It’s not like Boston doesn’t have a chance in these games. Luck just hasn’t been on their side. The Bruins are still tied with the Florida Panthers for first place in the East.
This Boston team is extremely solid on both ends of the ice. They rank ninth in scoring with 3.32 goals per night while allowing only 2.7 goals per contest, which is fourth-best in the league. Offensively, David Pastrnak is putting together a ridiculous campaign, scoring 38 goals and assisting 47 for a total of 85 points. He’s the main producer, but the likes of Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Charlie McAvoy, and James van Riemsdyk continue to contribute on a nightly basis as well.
Pastrnak made his presence felt against the Kraken, scoring twice before Coyle netted the third for Boston. But, both guys failed to score in the shootout. The Bruins have one of the best home records in the NHL at 18-7-5, which is undoubtedly a huge reason they’re a clear favorite to beat Vegas. There would be no better time to end the skid.
This is a tough one to pick, but Boston is dominant at the TD Garden and will be motivated to get a win here. With that in mind, I’ll take the Bruins moneyline on Thursday.
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