NHL Daily Betting Odds Rundown: Three games on opening night to handicap
The 2025-26 NHL season will get underway Tuesday night with a tripleheader, which will be available on Sportsnet1 to Canadian viewers and ESPN in the United States.
The Florida Panthers will raise their 2024-25 Stanley Cup championship banner prior to their matchup versus the Chicago Blackhawks, and are massive -280 favorites despite Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk being sidelined.
The second game of the night offers an intriguing narrative, as head coach Mike Sullivan will begin his tenure as head coach of the New York Rangers with a matchup versus his former side. Oddsmakers are offering the Pittsburgh Penguins only a 35% chance of earning a win Tuesday over their longtime bench boss in a Metropolitan Division showdown.
The nightcap may offer the slate’s most exciting matchup, as a high-powered Colorado Avalanche side that is expected to contend for the Stanley Cup will play on the road versus the Los Angeles Kings, who played to an NHL-best record of 31-6-4 on home ice last season.
Best Bet: Colorado Avalanche Moneyline -115 (bet365, play to -120)
Despite the Kings’ incredible play on home ice last season, they still appear to be overvalued in tonight’s matchup versus a true cup contender after a shaky offseason. Betting on teams playing in their home opener is a trendy strategy in the betting world, but home-ice advantage can also be overrated in situations where road teams are not at a rest or travel disadvantage, which is obviously the case in tonight’s season opener.
It seems fair to price this matchup fairly straight up given that it is the season opener, and with that in mind, I’d argue that the Avalanche deserve to be a bigger favorite.
After getting some key bodies back in the lineup and revamping their crease last season, Colorado played to a record of 36-17-4 from December on. The Avs have regularly dealt with key absences of skaters such as Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog in recent years, but are at full strength entering this matchup and seem to be underrated.
The Avalanche obviously have an edge in terms of elite talent thanks to Nathan MacKinnon and arguably the best defensive tandem in the league, but the roster depth may be closer to the Kings’ than it was last season. Los Angeles had one of the best third defensive pairings in the league last season, but dealing away Jordan Spence to bring in Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin could lead to a drastic dropoff.
Chicago Blackhawks vs Florida Panthers
| Blackhawks moneyline odds | +230 |
| Panthers moneyline odds | -280 |
| Game total | Over 5.5 goals (-120), Under 5.5 (+100) |
| Time | 5:07 p.m. ET |
- The Blackhawks originally opened as +280 underdogs in this matchup but have ticked down to +230 following the news that Aleksander Barkov would miss the entirety of the regular season.
- Given the gigantic gulf in team success between these two sides over the last two seasons, Chicago has fared well in head-to-head matchups, playing to a record of 2-2-0.
- Chicago struggled to a record of 10-26-5 on the road last season, while Florida owned a record of 27-12-2 on home ice.
- Sam Bennett has overtaken Aleksander Barkov’s role on the top Panthers’ top line, making him a trendy target in prop betting markets.
- The Panthers appear to be going with two defenders (Seth Jones and Aaron Ekblad) on the top power-play unit.
- Spencer Knight will likely start in goal for Chicago versus his former side. Knight finished the 2024-25 season with a record of 17-16-3, and held a +6.9 GSAx rating.
- Highly touted prospect Sam Rinzel is expected to skate on the Blackhawks’ top defensive pairing and first power-play unit.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Rangers
| Penguins moneyline odds | +190 |
| Rangers moneyline odds | -230 |
| Game total | Over 6 goals (-115), Under 6 (-105) |
| Time | 8:00 p.m. ET |
- The new-look Rangers will play for the first time under Mike Sullivan in this matchup. Sullivan held a record of 409-255-89 in the regular season with the Penguins and helped the team win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
- The Rangers went 3-1-0 in head-to-head matchups with the Penguins last season, averaging 4.25 goals scored per game.
- Arturs Silovs has been named as the Penguins’ starting goaltender for this matchup. Silovs spent the majority of last season in the AHL, finishing with a .908 save percentage in 21 regular-season starts, before leading the Abbotsford Canucks to a Calder Cup championship.
- Rookie Ville Koivunen appears to have earned the right to skate on Sidney Crosby’s wing entering this matchup. Koivunen recorded seven points in eight games at the end of last season and could prove to be a strong sleeper pick in deeper fantasy leagues this season given his expected role.
- Despite Igor Shesterkin finishing with a +21.6 GSAx rating, the Rangers allowed the 14th-most goals against in the NHL last season. Sullivan will likely push hard to develop sharper defensive posture in his new side and will be aided by the acquisition of shutdown defender Vladislav Gavrikov.
- The Penguins played to a record of 13-21-7 on the road last season, while the Rangers went 19-19-3 on home ice.
Colorado Avalanche vs Los Angeles Kings
| Avalanche moneyline odds | -115 |
| Kings moneyline odds | -105 |
| Game total | Over 5.5 goals (-130), Under 5.5 (+110) |
| Time | 10:30 p.m. ET |
- Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog will play in his first season opener since October 13th, 2021. Landeskog recorded three points in four playoff games last April. He is expected to skate on the second line alongside Brock Nelson and Valeri Nichushkin.
- Scott Wedgewood is expected to start in goal for the Avalanche. Wedgewood played to a record of 13-4-1 with the Avalanche last year in the regular season.
- Based on Monday’s practice, the Kings appear to be going with a five-forward top power-play unit, consisting of Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Quinton Byfield.
- Fiala, Byfield, and Alex Laferriere also appear to be sticking together on the second line. The trio formed one of the NHL’s best second lines in the final third of last season, with Fiala and Byfield registering 31 points each in the final 32 games.
- The Avalanche were 23-17-1 on the road last season, while the Kings held an NHL-best record of 31-6-4 on home ice.
- The Avalanche won two of three games versus the Kings last season.