Carolina Hurricanes vs Pittsburgh Penguins 1/14/23 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes meet in NHL action from the PNC Arena on Saturday.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will try to rebound from a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets in their last game. Sidney Crosby has a team-high 48 points with 21 goals and 27 assists while Evgeni Malkin has 39 points split between 14 goals and 25 assists. Jake Guentzel has also chipped in 37 points with 17 goals and 20 assists this season. Tristan Jarry has gone 15-5-4 with a 2.78 GAA and a .917 save percentage while Casey DeSmith is 5-8-2 with a 3.00 GAA and a .909 save percentage in goal for Pittsburgh this season.

The Carolina Hurricanes will look to build on a 6-2 win over Columbus in their last game. Martin Necas has a team-high 39 points with 17 goals and a team-high 22 assists while Sebastian Aho also has 22 assists along with 13 goals as part of his 35 points. Andrei Svechnikov also has 34 points with a team-high 19 goals this season. Pyotr Kochetkov is 10-4-4 with a 2.30 GAA and a .914 save percentage while Antti Raanta is 10-2-3 with a 2.63 GAA and a .894 save percentage in goal for Carolina so far this season.

Pittsburgh is 0-6 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record and 0-5 in their last 5 games against the Eastern Conference while the under is 6-1-2 in their last 9 division games. Carolina is 16-5 in their last 21 games overall and 8-1 in their last 9 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 6-0 in their last 6 games overall.

I get the case to be made for either side in this game, but I like Carolina here. The Hurricanes have hit the skids in some of their recent games, but they’re in the better position to get back on track here. The Hurricanes have a tendency to play their best at home and I think they get the job done here as well. Give me Carolina in this one.