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NHL Network and ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes will offer his thoughts for big games each week throughout the season.
The NHL season is back and begins with a great doubleheader. First, the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN NOW), and then the Vegas Golden Knights visit the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena (10 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN NOW).
Here's my breakdown of the games.
For the Lightning and Rangers, this game is a rematch of the Eastern Conference Final last season, won by Tampa Bay in six games, and features two of the best goalies on the planet in Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy . Each has won the Vezina Trophy as the League's best goalie. Each team also has a Norris Trophy winner; Adam Fox with the Rangers and Victor Hedman with the Lightning.
Despite the goalie and defensemen on each team, they're not short on firepower. The Lightning have Steven Stamkos , who is coming off an NHL career high in points (106), to go along with a healthy Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov . However, they'll be without two players who were important pieces of their Cup-winning teams in defenseman Ryan McDonagh , who was traded to the Nashville Predators, and forward Ondrej Palat , who signed with the New Jersey Devils.
The Rangers counter with Artemi Panarin (96 points last season), Mika Zibanejad (81 points) and Chris Kreider (52 goals) and will rely more on the members of the "Kid Line" from last season (Filip Chytil , Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko , although they may not play on the same line. I'm curious to see how Vincent Trocheck fits in with them after he signed a seven-year contract in the offseason.
The Kings may be a little ahead of schedule after making the postseason last season, but I like the job coach Todd McLellan did with them and hopefully they continue to play that way this season. The addition of center Phillip Danault last season was huge for them, both offensively and defensively, and it will be a big boost for them to have a healthy Drew Doughty on defense. Add that to forward Kevin Fiala , who was acquired in a trade this offseason, and it gives the Kings another offensive threat.
For the Golden Knights, this will be an interesting season for them after failing to make the postseason in 2021-22. Robin Lehner is out for the season, so Logan Thompson will be the guy in net. I'm interested to see how he handles the playing time. On the flip side of that, forwards Jack Eichel and Mark Stone are healthy after each missed time last season and should definitely help the offense.
Vegas did lose a few forwards this offseason (Max Pacioretty , Mattias Janmark , Evgenii Dadonov ) and will have a new coach in Bruce Cassidy, who replaced Peter DeBoer. I know the roster has changed a little, but I still think they can compete for the Pacific Division title this season.
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