Coyotes-Pens Preview
Pittsburgh, PA – The Pittsburgh Penguins have picked up where they left off.
Pittsburgh looks to open with three straight wins for the first time in 14 years Wednesday night when it hosts the Phoenix Coyotes.
Oddsmakers from online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com have made the Penguins -230 moneyline favorites for Wednesday’s game against the Stars. Current NHL Public Betting Information shows that 93% of more than 170 bets for this game have been placed on the Penguins -130.
The Penguins won their third Stanley Cup in June, defeating Detroit in seven games after falling to the Red Wings in the finals a year earlier.
Pittsburgh has carried that momentum into this season, beating the New York Rangers 3-2 on Friday, a night before Sidney Crosby scored the deciding goal in the shootout of a 4-3 road win over the New York Islanders.
"This was not an easy week, and what could have been a mail-in when we say ‘Oh, it’s not our night’ we put our nose down, went to work as a group and were able to scratch out two points," coach Dan Bylsma said Saturday after his team forced overtime when Ruslan Fedotenko scored with 3:49 to play.
Pittsburgh is in position to win its first three games for the first time since matching the franchise record with seven straight victories to open the 1995 season.
Crosby has been a big part of the current start, scoring a goal in each of the first two games while adding an assist Saturday. The 22-year-old center has 400 points in 292 games, becoming the fifth fastest to reach that mark in NHL history after Wayne Gretzky (197), Mario Lemieux (240), Peter Stastny (247), Eric Lindros (277) and Mike Bossy (283).
The three-time All-Star has a goal and four assists in three games against the Coyotes.
Crosby was held without a point in a 4-1 loss at Phoenix on Oct. 30 in the only meeting last season. These clubs haven’t played at Mellon Arena since the Penguins won 3-1 on Dec. 3, 2007.
The Coyotes are seeking a second consecutive 2-0-0 start. In 2008-09, they missed the playoffs for a team-record sixth consecutive season, and the franchise has been in turmoil since.
Phoenix entered bankruptcy protection in May and Gretzky resigned as coach nine days before the start of the season. Dave Tippett was named his replacement hours later.
The Coyotes put that tumultuous offseason behind them and won 6-3 at Los Angeles on Saturday as Ilya Bryzgalov made 30 saves and Radim Vrbata scored twice.
"I just talked to the other guys, I tell them, we can’t do anything about it (so) we don’t care," Bryzgalov said. "We just have to practice well and play well.
"We don’t have to worry about what goes on outside the hockey rink because we can’t do anything. We can’t buy a team or sell a team."
The Coyotes’ three-game road trip concludes Thursday against Buffalo. They had a Western Conference-low 30 points as the visitor last season, going 13-24-4 and winning consecutive games twice.
Posted: 10/6/09 10:51PM ET