Penguins Host Devils in Metropolitan Division Showdown
The NHL continues its approach to the annual All-Star Game with a regular season showdown when the Pittsburgh Penguins host the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
The current line has Pittsburgh favored at -165, with New Jersey at +149 and the over/under goal total on 5.
New Jersey on the season is 25-19-6 overall and 14-9 on the road, while Pittsburgh is 23-17-4 overall and 13-7-1 at home.
Over their past 10 games played, the Devils are 5-5-0 and the Penguins 5-2-3.
New Jersey has won four straight heading into this Eastern Conference and Metropolitan Division showdown. Lee Stempniak a former Penguin is providing much needed consistency on offense for the Devils of late, scoring four goals while assisting on another in the past three games.
On Saturday, Stempniak scored twice to help his team beat Winnipeg 3-1. The veteran has 14 goals on the season, one shy of a career best set last season.
Pittsburgh is beginning to string together wins as well with three in its past four games. The Pens are 5-0-2 over their past 7 games at home.
Evgeni Malkin has scored 17 points over his past 12 games, including the tenth hat trick of his career when the Penguins rallied to beat Vancouver 5-4 on Saturday.
Cory Schenider saved 22 shots against Winnipeg and stopped 21 in the Devils 4-0 win over Pittsburgh on November 14. Schneider is 13-6-2 with a goals against average of 1.84 on the road.
Sidney Crosby the Penguins captain sealed the Pens win over the Canucks via an empty net goal to extend his point streak to 6 games with four goals and five assists during the span.
Crosby said the Pens want to finish strong before the All-Star Game break and need to play well to do so as the Devils shut them out last time they played head to head.
New Jersey general manager Ray Shero and Tom Fitzgerald the assistant GM played big roles on the 2009 Pittsburgh team that won the Stanley Cup. Shero was the GM with the Penguins and Fitzgerald was an assistant coach.
Devils right wing Bobby Farnham returns to Pittsburgh for only the first time since he was claimed on waivers October 26.
The host team has covered the spread in 24 of the past 29 games the two teams have played head to head.
The Penguins have covered the spread in each of the past 4 games between the two played in Pittsburgh.
Prediction: Both teams are playing well coming into the game, but Pittsburgh has the home ice advantage, take the Pens.
