Penguins Can Win Stanley Cup with Game 5 Win Thursday

On Thursday night, Game 5 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals will be played when the San Jose Sharks visit the Pittsburgh Penguins. The current line has Pittsburgh favored at -167, with San Jose at +151 and the over/under goal total on 5.

Pittsburgh is on the verge of another milestone as the Penguins are one win from becoming the first major sports franchise in Pittsburgh to win a title at home since 1960 when the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series. The Penguins own a lead of 3-1 headed into Game 5.

Pittsburgh put San Jose’s back to the wall with a 3-1 win on Monday in Game 4. The Penguins have edged within a win of their first Stanley Cup since 2009. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said the players needed to ignore all the media talk about the team and just play their game.

San Jose is attempting to become only the second NHL team to win the Stanley Cup after being down 3-1 in a series. This seems nearly insurmountable, as the Sharks have not yet led any of the previous four games during regulation. The Sharks are only interested in winning Game 5 and then will worry about Game 6 at home.

San Jose averaged 3.5 goals per game during its first three series of the playoffs to lead all playoff teams. However, the Sharks have scored just 7 goals during the first four games of this series versus the Penguins.

Entering these finals, Joe Pavelski the San Jose captain had 13 goals and a point streak of seven games but has not scored for the Sharks in any game against Pittsburgh.

Logan Couture a forward for San Jose leads with 26 points during the postseason, but he has just two assists through four games of the Finals.

Evgeni Malkin a center for Pittsburgh said he needed to produce more after Game 3 of the Finals. In Game 4, he set up one goal and scored what became the game winner.

Phil Kessel is the leading candidate for the Conn Smythe trophy after two assists to increase his playoff point total to 21 to lead Pittsburgh.

San Jose during this postseason is 3-0 in its Game 5s, including two wins on the road.

Prediction: Lean toward the Penguins lifting the Cup at home tonight.