The Stanley Cup playoffs are on the verge of seeing history made. The Carolina Hurricanes have opened the playoffs with seven victories, and the Colorado Avalanche have the opportunity to duplicate that feat when they visit the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.

It would be the first time two teams have kicked off the playoffs with seven victories in the same year. Only four teams have opened the playoffs with eight wins, with the last the Edmonton Oilers (who actually won nine straight to kick off the playoffs.)

But before we get to the affairs featuring those teams, here are our three best bets for Friday’s action. Odds are via FanDuel.

• Golden Knights/Ducks Over 6.5 goals (+114)
• Montreal’s Cole Caufield to score (+175)
• Vegas’s Jack Eichel to register 3+ shots on goal (-128)

Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights over 6.5 goals (+114)

Both games to kick off this series finished 3-1. The Ducks put on a defensive clinic in their Game 2 victory that evened the series as it heads to Anaheim.

What makes that unique? Anaheim was among the worst defensive teams in the NHL during the regular season, finishing 29th among the 32 clubs in goal-against-per-game.

We are not buying the Ducks are about to become defensive stalwarts and expect to see more what these teams have done in the regular season and first round of the playoffs.

Anaheim surrendered four goals in four of six games against the Edmonton Oilers and racked up 26 goals in those six outings.

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights averaged four goals per game while facing the Utah Mammoth in their six-game victory.

This is a game for both teams to return to the median.

Montreal’s Cole Caufield to score a goal (+175)

After a series-opening 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, the focus has become more intense on Montreal Canadiens star Cole Caufield and his lack of production so far in the playoffs.

Good.

Caufield this season became only the seventh player in Canadiens history to reach the 50-goal mark, and first since Stephane Richer in 1989-90, when he hit 51 tallies.

The playoffs have been another animal so far. Caufield has netted only one marker in eight games but that’s only part of his swoon. He has not even netted a point in the last four outings.

After winning an emotional Game 7 over the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Canadiens were not quite right to kick off the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Expect a different Montreal team in this affair, and a fired-up Caufield.

Vegas Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel to register 3+ shots on goal (-128)

With a couple of sleeps to digest the first two games of their series, the Golden Knights will be focused on creating more offensively.

One aspect will be to sustain more sustained pressure in the Anaheim zone, especially after the Golden Knights were held to 22 shots on goal in each of the first two clashes of the series.

Speaking of players under the microscope, Eichel averaged 3.51 shots on goal during the regular season but has managed only 21 in eight games so far in this year’s playoffs, and only three over the first two game of this series.

Time for him to lead the charge.

Journeyman NFL quarterback Taylor Heinicke, who started 24 games for Washington from 2021-22, announced his retirement after a seven-year career.

“Many ups and downs throughout the years, but the ups outweigh the downs tenfold,” Heinicke wrote Thursday on Instagram. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would’ve been able to live this life … Excited for this next chapter of my life.”

Heinicke, 33, made his last NFL appearance in 2024 with the Los Angeles Chargers, who released him just ahead of the 2025 season.

He went 7-8 as the starter for the Washington Football Team in 2021 and 5-3-1 with the rebranded Commanders in 2022. He also appeared in games for the Houston Texans (2017), Carolina Panthers (2018), Atlanta Falcons (2023) and Chargers.

Heinicke starred in college at the FCS level at Old Dominion, where he won the Walter Payton Award and was named the FCS Player of the Year in 2012.

Undrafted in 2015, he compiled a 13-15-1 record as an NFL starter while completing 62.5% of his passes for 6,663 yards with 39 touchdowns and 28 interceptions in 42 games (29 starts).

Following an injury to starter Alex Smith, Heinicke served as an emergency starter for Washington’s wild-card playoff game against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Jan. 9, 2021. He completed 26 of 44 passes for 306 yards with one TD and one interception and also rushed for a score in a 31-23 loss played in an empty stadium due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

–Field Level Media

Walk-off victories are becoming almost routine for the Chicago Cubs, whose flair for the dramatic has been a common theme during their eight-game winning streak.

After opening their four-game series against the visiting Cincinnati Reds with three straight walk-off victories, Chicago aims for a sweep on Thursday.

Cincinnati moved ahead with four runs in the top of the ninth on Wednesday before the Cubs forced extra innings on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning.

Chicago emerged with the 7-6 victory after Michael Busch drew a bases-loaded walk from Brock Burke in the 10th inning.

The Cubs have won 14 straight games at Wrigley Field, matching the team’s longest home winning streak since winning 14 in a row in 2008.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more from this group of guys,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I appreciate being at the field every day and I’m so grateful to play for this crowd, as is everybody else in here. This is about as fun as it gets.”

The game marked another close loss for Cincinnati, which has dropped a season-high six consecutive games and eight of its past 10.

“It’s been a tough road trip,” said Burke, whose team was swept in three games at Pittsburgh last weekend. “We haven’t been playing as well as we want. The bullpen hasn’t been doing exactly what we want to finish games. It’s a six-day stretch in a 162-game season. You try to brush it off and move on to the next.”

Reds manager Terry Francona is looking for answers in the bullpen after Emilio Pagan sustained a left hamstring injury in the Tuesday loss. The closer went on the injured list and is expected to miss four to eight weeks.

“(We have) to learn from everything that just happened and move on,” Francona said. “It’s not fun. I know a month from now we’ll look back and go, ‘That was a (bad) week and we’re OK,’ but when you’re going through it, it’s hard.”

Right-hander Rhett Lowder (3-2, 5.09 ERA) will take the mound for Cincinnati in the series finale.

Lowder, 24, is looking to bounce back after allowing eight runs over 1 1/3 innings in a 17-7 loss to the Pirates on Saturday.

Lowder is set to make his second career start versus Chicago. He tossed five scoreless innings in a no-decision against the Cubs on Sept. 28, 2024.

Chicago will counter with left-hander Shota Imanaga (3-2, 2.40 ERA), who tossed seven shutout innings with five strikeouts in a 2-0 home win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday.

Imanaga, 32, owns a 43-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 41 1/3 innings this season. Spencer Steer is 3-for-6 with a homer against Imanaga, who is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in three career starts vs. Cincinnati.

The Cubs’ rotation will be without left-hander Matthew Boyd for an extended period after the veteran sustained a left meniscus injury in a mishap while playing with his children on Wednesday. Manager Craig Counsell declined to say who would replace Boyd in the rotation.

“I’m not even there yet,” Counsell said. “We’ll just kind of figure out after Thursday what we will do. There will be plans, but very loose plans.”

Counsell added that a timetable for Boyd’s return would be set after his surgery takes place.

–Field Level Media