The Vegas Golden Knights and Chicago Blackhawks meet Wednesday in NHL action at the United Center. The Vegas Golden Knights need a win after losing five of their last seven games. The Chicago Blackhawks need a win after losing 12 of their last 15 games.
The Vegas Golden Knights are averaging 3.1 goals per game and are scoring on 18.1 percent of their power play opportunities. Jonathan Marchessault leads Vegas with 29 goals, Chandler Stephenson has 40 assists and Alex Pietrangelo has 217 shots on goal. Defensively, the Vegas Golden Knights are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 78 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Robin Lehner has given up 120 goals on 1,288 shots faced, and Laurent Brossoit has allowed 62 goals on 588 shots.
The Chicago Blackhawks are averaging 2.6 goals per game and are scoring on 19.8 percent of their power play opportunities. Alex DeBrincat leads Chicago with 41 goals, Patrick Kane has 66 assists and Seth Jones has 187 shots on goal. Defensively, the Chicago Blackhawks are allowing 3.6 goals per game and are killing 75.3 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Collin Delia has given up 19 goals on 182 shots faced, and Kevin Lankinen has allowed 103 goals on 933 shots.
The Golden Knights are 4-9 in their last 13 road games and 1-5 in their last 6 games playing on 0 days rest. The Blackhawks are 17-36 in their last 53 home games and 16-36 in their last 52 overall. The over is 6-2 in Golden Knights last 8 overall. The over is 17-8-1 in Blackhawks last 26 overall. The Golden Knights are 5-1 in the last 6 meetings in Chicago and 13-3 in the last 16 meetings.
The Vegas Golden Knights should be favored for obvious reasons, but they’re having a rough go over the last week or so and they’re coming off a loss last night in overtime, a loss that pretty much sealed their fate. The Golden Knights can’t be feeling great physically or mentally right now. The Chicago Blackhawks have issues of their own, but at least they’re at home here with the rest advantage. That’s enough for me to take a shot in the dark with the plus money.