The Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning open the NHL season tonight. The Penguins finished last season with 37 wins and made the playoffs for the 15th straight year. The Lightning are defending back-to-back champions and could be the first team to win three Cups in a row since the 1980s New York Islanders.

The Pittsburgh Penguins should be decent this season but are dealing with injuries to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin who will miss this game. They have to be worried between the pipes as Tristan Jarry had a bad playoffs and Casey DeSmith isn't someone you can ride to the Cup. The Pens should have a good chance to make the playoffs as long as Crosby and Malkin can come back healthy and contribute.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have won back-to-back Cups and it is not out of the question for them to win a third. They have a strong core group back in Andrei Vasileskiy, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov is back for a whole season. All is not as rosey as the lost Tyler Johnson, Barclay Goodrow, Yanni Gourde, and Blake Coleman.

The Penguins will be without their top two centers. Tampa Bay is a talented and deep team that has no problems playing four lines. Vasilevskiy will be between the pipes and he won the Conn Smythe in the postseason and was second in the Vezina race last year. The Lightning have won four straight at home against the Pens and should have little trouble with this depleted roster.

Play on the Lightning on the PUCK-LINE minus 1.5 goals.