Sharks/Rangers:

The San Jose Sharks and New York Rangers will meet in what might be the most contrasted matchup of the early season. The San Jose Sharks are the most talked about team in the West since their acquisition of Superstar puck moving defenseman Erik Karlsson, while the New York Rangers made a surrender statement towards the final months of last season and have given off a vibe that they are in rebuild mode with their new coach and disassembly of the roster. 

The San Jose Sharks have been early CORSI Juggernauts so far, but it was only in their last outing where they showed execution as a result of their puck dominance. The Sharks saw Evander Kanes and Joe Pavelski explode for 4 points each, en route to their 8-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Today, they will look to continue with some of that sharpness against the New York Rangers. 

The Rangers are certainly not proving anyone wrong so far, as they have started off the season just the way that many might have expected; 0-3. Of the worst would be their most recent 8-5 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes. Although their perennial Vezina Candidate Henrik Lundqvist will often keep the Rangers in games, it is the lack of structure that has been hurting them at both ends of the ice. With David Quinn taking over the reigns and coming fresh off the NCAA, this could be quite the task in handling this very confused roster that used to be under a tape to tape puck moving system in Alain Vigneault. 

Normally, I would not take the square approach and back a top team coming off an 8 goal performance who is now facing a bottom team coming off letting in 8 goals, but I will definitely have to go with the talent mismatch analysis in this one. 

Sharks in Regulation +107  1*

Kings/Canadiens:

The Los Angeles Kings have started of the season with a notch in each column, and will now come into Quebec to face the low expectation Montreal Canadiens who have been impressive in effort to start. 

The Kings have been under a microscope the past few seasons in many aspects. One thing that has come to question is whether they are fast enough to compete in today’s NHL that is ever longing for the need for speed. The second question is whether their aging core is going to hold much longer. However, I believe that conversation may be reserved for the seasons to come. 

Right now, Los Angeles still operates on a sound defensive system, but also with a bit of an offensive kick. Essentially, we can call the Kings a veteran team with a handful of elite players, and the best has yet to come with Ilya Kovalchuk starting his new journey back in the NHL. 

Montreal looked good in both of their games so far, forcing the high potent Maple Leafs into overtime and holding them to just two goals, and then blasting the Penguins in their own barn 5-1. They have a crew of very keen youngsters who were probably riding of adrenaline and most likely catching the Penguins off guard. 

Now that some time has passed since that last game, things might have calmed down quite a bit. These kids will now face a very experienced Kings team that does not generally leave many openings on the ice. 

Because this is the home opener for Montreal, we saw added favor for the Canadiens. Quite frankly, their results so far have not hurt the cause. I think this is a good line to take advantage of…because as we saw two days ago in Philly, home openers don’t hold much meaning. 

Kings moneyline +100  1*