On Thursday, the Vegas Golden Knights and Ottawa Senators will collide in a high-stakes cross-conference matchup. Ahead of the game, Vegas is sitting atop the Pacific Division with a record of 11-6-2 that has them just one point ahead of the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings, and two points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers.
On the flip side, the Senators have struggled to find consistency this season, and are currently sitting in sixth place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 8-9-1.
When the two teams collide in Ottawa tonight, the Golden Knights will be looking to snap a two-game skid that's seen them drop back-to-back games to the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs. On the flip side, the Senators will be looking to snap a three-game skid of their own.
Since winning two straight against the Bruins and the Maple Leafs earlier this month, the Senators have lost to the Flyers, Hurricanes, and most recently the Oilers.
While Ottawa is heading into tonight's game with a clean bill of health, Vegas has several players sidelined with injuries. Victor Olofsson is still working his way back to 100% from a lower-body injury and has been assigned to the AHL for conditioning, while Ben Hutton and Nicolas Hague are on injured reserve.
Last, but certainly not least, winger Mark Stone is still on the injured reserve list but has been upgraded to day-to-day after missing five straight games.
Vegas Golden Knights vs Ottawa Senators prediction
Although both teams are heading into tonight's game amid losing streaks, the Vegas Golden Knights have without question been the better team this season. The team ranks fourth in goals per game (3.79), and third in power play percentage (32.0), and while the Senators (26.7) are sixth in PP%, they're ranked 14th for goals per game (3.17).
Given that, and the fact that Vegas appears to be due for a win, look for the Golden Knights to get the job done on the road tonight.
Vegas Golden Knights vs Ottawa Senators odds
Heading into tonight's game the betting odds have Ottawa sitting as slight favorites on most major sportsbooks. On FanDuel for example, the team has -162 odds to win, while Vegas is +134 underdogs.
Similarly, on DraftKings, Ottawa is a -162 favorite, while Vegas is a +136 underdog ahead of tonight's game. To simplify these numbers using the DraftKings odds as an example, it would take a $162 bet on Ottawa as the favorites to win $100 while a $100 bet on Vegas as the underdogs would win $136.
Of course, these odds are likely to change between the time of publication and puck drop.