Anaheim Ducks at Vegas Golden Knights 1/14/21 - NHL Picks & Predictions

The Anaheim Ducks visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday for the opening game of the 2021 NHL regular season for both. Last season Anaheim was 29-33-9 with 67 points finishing sixth in the Pacific division. The major additions to the Ducks during the offseason were Derek Grant, Kevin Shattenkirk and David Backes, while players lost included Patrick Eaves and Michael Del Zotto. The key to Anaheim’s success is John Gibson remaining healthy in goal. 

The top returning scorer from last season is Adam Henrique who had team highs in goals with 26, assists with 17 and points with 43. Anaheim was weak on the blue line last year and needs more scoring with its next generation of stars such as Troy Terry, Sam Steel, Matt Jones and Sonny Milano stepping up. Anaheim faces a tough start as the Ducks must play Vegas, Colorado and St Louis in six of their first 10 games.

The Vegas Golden Knights were 39-24-8 with 86 points and finished first in the Pacific Division and third overall in the Western Conference. The biggest acquisition during the offseason for Vegas was veteran defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, while the Golden Knights lost Deryk Engelland, Valentin Zykov, Nate Schmidt and Jon Merrill. Last season's high scorer was Max Pacioretty with 32 goals, 34 assists and 66 points.

The strength of Vegas is once again in net as the Golden Knights have Robin Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury to form one of the best goalie duos in hockey. The defense overall is very strong and was upgraded with the addition of Pietrangelo. Vegas started its season slow last year but finished 15-7-2 over the final two months and have ranked as one of the top teams in the NHL the last three seasons reaching the Conference Finals twice and the Stanley Cup once.