New Jersey vs Pittsburgh: The Penguins will win a comfortable road trip

Pittsburgh has beaten New Jersey in the last four head-to-head encounters at the Prudential Center. Will Lindy Ruff's team be able to break such a bad streak? Our prediction: the Penguins will be closer again!

New Jersey is having another weak regular season. For a long time now the Devils have no realistic chance of making the playoffs, although they do occasionally produce some very decent games. For example, in the last two games, Lindy Ruff's team took turns beating Montreal and St. Louis, 7-1 and 7-4, respectively. That would have been fine, but before that, the Red and Blacks had a losing streak of seven straight games, all during regular time. Unfortunately, New Jersey's lack of stability has kept them from winning big games and they currently sit in 12th place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Pittsburgh is another team that has had an uneven regular season, but for good reason. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin missed the season opener at the same time, and the Penguins had a very difficult stretch without them. Fortunately, the leaders gradually got back on track, which led to a dramatic improvement in results. In 2021-2022, the Yellow and Blacks even managed to pull off a tremendous stretch, winning 19 of 21 games. Yes, they proceded to lose four games in a row, but three times they clung to points, losing only in overtime, and in the last two games they beat Boston and Ottawa 4-2 and 2-0 respectively, climbing to fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

The teams have held 251 face-offs during NHL regular seasons. The Devils have 121 wins, while the Penguins have been stronger in 113 games, 17 games ending in a draw. In this case, the difference of scored pucks on the side of the Pennsylvanians (812-802). The rivals have met twice this season: first victory was celebrated by the players of New Jersey (4-2), and then it was Pittsburgh who turned out stronger (3-2).

New Jersey and Pittsburgh are approaching their head-to-head encounter, having won the last two games, except that for the Penguins such successful results are commonplace, and Devils perform poorly in the current regular championship, so two successes in a row can be considered a sensation. Of course, the Pennsylvanians are the clear favorites in the upcoming game, having beaten the Red and Blacks at Prudential Center in the last four consecutive matchups. As a result, a bet on Pittsburgh's victory at odds of about 1.80 is in order.

Due to their bad results, New Jersey has long ago lost a real chance to break into the playoffs, so the players also lost the burden of responsibility for the result, showing a very bright and productive hockey. The Devils have scored 42 goals (8.40 goals per game average) in their last five games, which is very respectable even by NHL standards. Pittsburgh is another team that enjoys playing open hockey, so Total Over (6.5) pucks at odds close to 2.00 would seem to be a good bet.

Jeff Carter continues to churn out productive plays as if he were not 37 years old, but he is. The Pittsburgh veteran has been very productive this season, recording 27 points (13 goals + 14 assists) in 42 games played. That's quite a performance for a player who is constantly being rotated between lines, picking up new partners! The day before the age-old hockey player noted the goal against Ottawa, proving his good form, so it is worth paying more attention to the bet on his Total Over (0.5) with the odds about 3.50.