Penguins vs. Jets Pick
Can the Winnipeg Jets find a way to hold off the Pittsburgh Penguins when the two meet up tonight on the ice at 7PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, the Jets are favored at home, as they are getting odds of -115 to win, while the Penguins are getting a money line of +105 to prevail. The over/under total for the contest has been set at 6 goals. Tonight’s game takes place from Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The Penguins are coming off a 2-1 loss at Minnesota last night to drop to 7-4-1 on the season. Pittsburgh is 3-4 on the road. The Pens are putting up 2.92 goals per game while allowing 3.58 per contest. Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel each have four goals and eight assists to lead the team while Sidney Crosby has five goals with six assists. Matt Murray is 7-1-1 in net with a 2.73 GAA and a .913 save percentage.
Winnipeg is coming off its second straight 2-1 OT loss, with the most recent at Columbus on Friday. The Jets are now 4-3-2 overall and 2-2 at home. Winnipeg is averaging just 2.67 goals per game while allowing 3.33 per contest. Blake Wheeler, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele each have eight points to lead the team while Ehlers has a team-high six goals. Connor Hellebuyck is 4-0-1 in net with a 2.25 GAA and a .931 save percentage.
Pittsburgh hasn’t had much trouble disposing of Winnipeg, as the Penguins have won four straight meetings in this series, including a 2-1 OT win last Thursday in Pittsburgh. The Pens have also won four of their last five games at Winnipeg. The Jets are just 7-19 in their last 26 against Metropolitan opponents and 16-36 in their last 52 against Eastern Conference foes. The public is strongly behind Pittsburgh tonight and I side with them on this one.
NHL DAILY PREDICTION: PITTSBURGH PENGUINS +105