By Eric Staal, Ryan Suter, and the Minnesota Wild will do battle against Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, and the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena in an East-West showdown. This one gets underway at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 14 and it can be viewed live on NBC Sports Network.
Minnesota Wild at Pittsburgh Penguins Odds
Pittsburgh is 28-17 straight up (SU) and has earned moneyline bettors 6.7 units this year. That winning percentage, ranked third in the league in this young season, is an improvement over the 44-38 record from last year’s regular season campaign. Of its 45 games this season, 22 have gone over the total, while another 22 have gone under and just one has pushed. This year, the team’s 16-8 SU at home.
The Penguins have converted on 18.9 percent of their power play chances this year, a mark that’s right around league average. On the other hand, their penalty kill is ranked 13th overall, and they’ve successfully killed off 81.5 percent of all penalties.
Averaging 24.5 saves per game with a .896 save percentage, Matt Murray (14-11-4) has been the top goalkeeper for Pittsburgh this year. If the Pens choose to give him the night off, however, Pittsburgh might roll with Tristan Jarry (15-7-7 record, .932 save percentage, 2.08 goals against average).
On the other bench, Minnesota is 20-25 straight up (SU) and has lost 4.9 units for bettors taking the moneyline this year. Through 45 regular season contests, 21 of its games have gone over the total, while 20 have gone under the total and just four have pushed. As the visiting team so far, the Wild are 9-16 SU.
The Wild have converted on just 17.5 percent of their power play opportunities this year, a figure that’s ranked 23rd in the NHL. On the other hand, its penalty kill unit is ranked 25th overall and it’s successfully killed off 76.5 percent of all penalties.
Alex Stalock (25.9 saves per game) has been the main option in the net for Minnesota. Stalock has 10 wins, 12 losses, and three OT losses to his credit, and has registered a .903 save percentage and 3.01 goals against average this year.
Minnesota Wild at Pittsburgh Penguins Betting Predictions
Prediction: SU Winner – Penguins, O/U – Over
Betting Trends
Extra-man opportunities may prove to be even more critical than usual in this game. The Wild are 10-8 in games where they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 15-16 when they serve fewer than 10 penalty minutes, in total. The Penguins are 14-8 when the team serves fewer penalty minutes than the opposition and 18-13 in games where they’re in the box for less than 10 minutes.
Pittsburgh is 3-0 in games decided by a shootout this season while Minnesota is 1-2 in shootouts.
For both of these teams, the over has hit in three of their past five outings.
One of the top teams at valuing the puck, Minnesota is ranked first this season with just 6.7 giveaways per game. That figure’s trended down lately, however, as the team’s averaged 5.1 giveaways over its last 10 games and 5.4 giveaways over its last five.
Pittsburgh is ranked 11th this season with 9.2 giveaways per game. That figure has improved recently, however, as the team’s averaged 7.5 giveaways over its last 10 games and 8.0 giveaways over its last five.
The Penguins this season have recorded the second-most hits in the league (28.6 per game), but that average has jumped up to 31.4 over their past five games as the home team.
