NHL On Tap: Bedard to make NHL debut for Blackhawks against Crosby, Penguins

Welcome to NHL On Tap. Three NHL.com writers will share what they are most looking forward to on the schedule each day. Today, their choices from the three games Tuesday.

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Lightning to kick off season without Vasilevskiy

Perhaps one of the biggest question marks to begin the NHL season is with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are expected to be without Andrei Vasilevskiy for 10 weeks after the goalie had back surgery Sept. 28. As a result, the Lightning will start Jonas Johansson in their opener against the Nashville Predators at Amalie Arena on Tuesday (5:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS). Johansson, who signed a two-year contract with the Lightning on July 1, played only three games (two starts) for the Colorado Avalanche last season, allowing five goals on 73 shots (.932 save percentage). Now he will be asked to do a lot more over the next two months while the Lightning wait for Vasilevskiy to return. "I'm surprised he hasn't played more in the NHL to this date," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "That being said, I do believe goalies develop later, so maybe this is his time, and everything he's done before this is to get to this point."

Will the Lightning have enough to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a stacked Atlantic Division? Will they tread water until their star goalie returns? Or was last season's exit in the Eastern Conference First Round the sign of a downturn in their fortunes? We won't learn everything Tuesday night, but we'll start to see how the Lightning stack up early on. -- Amalie Benjamin, staff writer

Bedard to make NHL debut

Connor Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, will play against his childhood idol, Sidney Crosby, when he makes his NHL debut for the Chicago Blackhawks at the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS). Bedard (18 years, 85 days), who had five points (one goal, four assists) in four preseason games, will also become the youngest Blackhawks player to debut since Eddie Olczyk (18 years, 56 days on Oct. 11, 1984). Crosby, meanwhile, enters this season needing 48 assists to reach 1,000 in the NHL (550 goals, 952 assists, 1,502 points in 1,190 games). The 36-year-old center has had at least 48 assists in 12 of his 18 NHL seasons.

Aside from Bedard and Crosby, who was selected No. 1 by the Penguins in the 2005 NHL Draft, the game will feature a third player chosen No. 1 in the NHL draft, Taylor Hall (2010, Edmonton Oilers), who was acquired in a trade with the Boston Bruins on June 26 and is expected to play left wing on the top line with Bedard and right wing Ryan Donato. -- Mike G. Morreale, staff writer

A banner night in Vegas

The Vegas Golden Knights will hoist their 2023 Stanley Cup championship banner when they host the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena (10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS). The Golden Knights are promising a one-of-a-kind opening ceremony before the banner is raised, a tall order considering their usual theatrical pregame show. Vegas, which defeated the Florida Panthers in five games in the Final to win the Cup for the first time in just its sixth season, will attempt to run it back with largely the same roster from last season. That includes five of the original "Golden Misfits" in William Karlsson, Brayden McNabb, Shea Theodore, William Carrier and Jonathan Marchessault, though Reilly Smith was traded to the Penguins on June 28.

Seattle will do its best to spoil the party and build off last season, when it improved by 40 points from its inaugural season in 2021-22 to qualify for the playoffs and advance to the Western Conference Second Round, a seven-game loss to the Dallas Stars. The Kraken will feature largely the same balanced offense from last season led by Jared McCann (40 goals, 30 assists in 79 games) and Matty Beniers (24 goals, 33 assists in 80 games), who won the Calder Trophy voted as the top rookie in the NHL. -- William Douglas, staff writer