Vegas has looked like Vegas under first-year head coach Ryan Craig. Jack Eichel passed 700 career points on opening night. Mitch Marner won the Kings game in overtime for the 4th straight win. Minnesota ended that streak, but the Knights answered by beating Calgary 6-2 at home: 2-0 after the 1st, 3 more in the 3rd. They did it without Olofsson, Cormier and Wotherspoon, and none of those absences showed up on the scoreboard. No odds are posted yet, which makes sense with Pittsburgh still having a game to play.
The Penguins' biggest problem is on defense. Ryan Graves and Trevor van Riemsdyk are both on injured reserve, so the defensive depth is thin. A thin defense on the 2nd night of a back-to-back, against a team with Eichel and Marner down the middle and on the wing, is a lot to ask. Justin Brazeau is also on IR with a lower-body injury, which takes some size off the right side. Pittsburgh has allowed 3 or more goals in 4 of its last 5. That has decided most of their games, and Vegas is a hard place to fix it.
Watch the 3rd period. Vegas pulled away from Calgary late, and fatigue on a back-to-back usually shows up after the 2nd intermission. If Crosby and Karlsson keep it close through 40 minutes, Pittsburgh's scoring is good enough to win it. If they don't, Vegas has been finishing teams off lately. What happens in Colorado on Friday will tell you a lot about which way this one goes.