Anaheim Ducks vs. Vegas Golden Knights: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 10/28/2022

Time: 6 p.m. ET

Venue: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV

Where to watch: Bally Sports Southern California, AT&T Sportsnet-Rocky Mountain

DraftKings: Golden Knights -265, Ducks +225

FanDuel: Golden Knights -265, Ducks +215

BetMGM: Golden Knights -286, Ducks +225

Caesars: Golden Knights -278, Ducks +222

Ducks: 1-5-1

Golden Knights: 6-2-0

Ducks: lost five in a row; lost 4-2 vs. Lightning

Golden Knights: won 4-2 at Sharks

The Anaheim Ducks are not having a fun time right now. Having lost five straight games while scoring 10 goals in that span is not a fun time, and this promising team is having to scrape from the bottom. But it could be worse: They could lose every game like the Vancouver Canucks. So at least they’re not sitting at the bottom of the division.

The Ducks are coming off a 4-2 loss at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning in which Anaheim got goals from the two usual suspects, Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry. Zegras opened the scoring, and Terry tied it in the second before Tampa took over late in the third. John Gibson finished with 26 saves as he couldn’t do enough to beat Brian Elliott. The fact the Ducks only got 21 shots on the Lightning’s backup goalie also says a lot that doesn’t need further elaboration.

“That's an elite team,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. “They're multiple champions for a reason, and they don't need you to make five mistakes to score a goal. They just need you to make one. It's amazing to watch how they play. They're rattled by nothing. ... It's a good team to play and learn those lessons.”

Anaheim was supposed to come into this one with some serious momentum, but so far it looks like this young team has reverted to what they’ve known in the past: to have these expectations, only to be laughed at later on. Their PK continues to be bad, their defense at 5-on-5 is also bad. If there was a time for the opponent to keep this rolling, it might be now.

The Vegas Golden Knights are off to as good a start as anyone could’ve expected them to be. Vegas, eight games through the Bruce Cassidy era, is 6-2-0 and is coming off a 4-2 win against the San Jose Sharks that came off the heels of a back-to-back after winning against Toronto the night before. Phil Kessel played his record-breaking 990th consecutive game and scored his 400th goal in the process, and the Golden Knights had to score three goals in the third to complete the comeback.

“I think all the boys wanted to rally behind him,” Vegas goalie Adin Hill said after improving to 3-0-0 for himself this season. “We didn’t have the second period that we wanted to have, and then we kind of had a little talk in the locker room and just kind of a gut check. I thought we responded in the third period and the results showed.”

If you’ve ever wondered just how truly goalie-friendly system means, this would be it. The Golden Knights, before Tuesday, had allowed three goals at 5-on-5 in their last three games. But they’ve been holding opponents to three goals or fewer in every game this season. So far, the defense and goaltending has been living up to the hype with Hill and Logan Thompson. Against a struggling Ducks team, this should be another whooping by hands of VGK. Golden Knights win 5-1

Ducks are 5-20 on Friday games the past three years.

Ducks are 25-50 off an under the past three years.

Ducks are 14-31 off a home loss the past three years.

Golden Knights are 67-32 against division opponents the past three years.

Golden Knights are 58-39 off a win the past three years.

Ducks:

Max Comtois -- Trevor Zegras -- Troy Terry

Mason McTavish -- Ryan Strome -- Frank Vatrano

Max Jones -- Isac Lundestrom -- Brett Leason

Adam Henrique -- Derek Grant -- Jakob Silfverberg

Cam Fowler -- John Klingberg

Dmitry Kulikov -- Jamie Drysdale

Simon Benoit -- Kevin Shattenkirk

John Gibson

Golden Knights:

Chandler Stephenson -- Jack Eichel -- Mark Stone

Reilly Smith -- William Karlsson -- Jonathan Marchessault

Brett Howden -- Nicolas Roy -- Phil Kessel

William Carrier -- Jake Leschyshyn -- Michael Amadio

Alec Martinez -- Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague -- Zach Whitecloud

Logan Thompson

Points: Troy Terry -- 9

Goals: Troy Terry -- 4

Assists: Troy Terry -- 5

Goalie: John Gibson -- 1-4-1, 4.26 GAA, .893 SV%

Points: Three tied -- 7

Goals: Jonathan Marchessault -- 5

Assists: Alex Pietrangelo -- 5

Goalie: Logan Thompson -- 3-2-0, 2.03 GAA, .931 SV%