Chicago Blackhawks (0-0-0) vs. Vegas Golden Knights (1-0-0)
The opening week of the 2022-23 NHL season goes on Thursday, October 13, with the Western Conference showdown from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the Golden Knights host the Chicago Blackhawks.
Chicago and Vegas start their three-game regular-season series, and the Golden Knights open as firm favorites to win straight up. Last season, Chicago won two of its three encounters with Vegas including a 2-1 victory at T-Mobile Arena.
Wednesday night’s games have been excluded from the analysis, and the Chicago Blackhawks visited the reigning NHL champions, the Colorado Avalanche, for their season opener. The Blackhawks were listed as huge +334 underdogs on the first day of a tough back-to-back set. They’ve gone just 2-10 in their last 12 outings on the road as underdogs and 1-4 in their previous five road tilts against the Western Conference.
The Blackhawks enter the 2022-23 season as massive +1700 underdogs to reach the playoffs. They sit at +12500 odds to win the Central Division which tells you a lot about the bookies’ expectations. Both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews will become free agents next summer, so the Blackhawks will certainly look to trade this duo away. Kane, who scored 26 goals and 66 assists in 2021-22, has been the Blackhawks’ best player for years, and Chicago will undoubtedly get the first-round pick in exchange for their superstar.
It's finally here ?? pic.twitter.com/g4AL0ZgKpk
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 12, 2022
Last year, the Blackhawks went 28-42-12, finishing at the seventh spot in the Central Division with 68 points and an awful minus-72 goal difference. Patrick Kane led the way with 92 points, while Alex DeBrincat, who was traded to the Ottawa Senator this past offseason, added 41 goals and 37 assists. The Blackhawks were scoring 2.60 goals per game (tied-28th in the NHL) while yielding 3.52 in a return (26th).