Losing Aleksander Barkov is a huge blow to the Florida Panthers, as it leaves them undermanned down the middle of the ice -- which is less than ideal for them as they continue on this four-game road trip to open the season. Anaheim stole a win in Vegas to open their season despite losing the box score; we expect them to play a more complete game in their home opener tonight.
The Kraken and Flames opened their seasons against one another on Thursday, and it was Seattle that came away with the road win 6-1. Now at home and off an embarrassing effort against Edmonton last night, Seattle should be able to find similar success against this Flames defense, which has started the season with 4.74 expected goals against per game. Seattle hasn't been much better, as the Kraken have yielded 4.7 expected goals per game thus far. Both marks are bottom-10 in the league.
Vegas will hit the road for the first time on Sunday when they face the Canucks, who were the worst team in the league by wide margin last year. They're off to a 2-1 start this season, but they've already played three games this week -- this will mark their fourth since Tuesday. Their offense has been solid thus far, but things haven't been good defensively, where they surrender almost six expected goals per contest. Look for Jack Eichel and company to pepper Kevin Lankinen, who has given up 13 goals already.
