The New Jersey Devils and the Pittsburgh Penguins meet in NHL action from the PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night.
The New Jersey Devils will be out to rebound from a 5-3 loss at the hands of the Calgary Flames in their last game. Pavel Zacha leads the Devils with 5 points including a team-high 4 goals while Dawson Mercer and Dougie Hamilton each have 4 points with Hamilton logging a team-high 3 assists and a pair of power play points while Mercer has a pair of goals on the year. Ryan Graves also has a team-high +3 plus/minus rating this season. Jonathan Bernier has seen the most success in goal for New Jersey, going 2-0 with a 2.48 GAA and a .911 save percentage while Scott Wedgewood is 0-2 with a 3.45 GAA and an .878 save percentage this season.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will try to shake off a 4-0 loss at the hands of the same Calgary Flames in their last matchup. Danton Heinen, Evan Rodrigues and Drew O’Connor all have the same 5 points with a team-high 3 goals and 2 assists this season while Kasperi Kapanen and Kris Letang each have a team-high 4 assists. Marcus Pettersson also has a team-best +7 plus/minus rating this season. Tristan Jarry has posted a 3-1-1 record with a 1.78 GAA and a .933 save percentage in 5 starts in goal for the Penguins this season.
New Jersey is 2-8 in their last 10 road games and 16-34 in their last 50 games overall while the over is 6-2-1 in their last 9 games against a team with a losing record. Pittsburgh is 31-12 in their last 43 games as a favorite and 42-19 in their last 61 home games while the over is 6-0 in their last 6 division games.
You could attempt to make a case for the Devils and the plus money, but even down two stars the Penguins are the deeper and the better team, especially in the crease. I was high on the Devils in certain spots, but this isn’t one of them as I just think the Pens find a way to get the job done here.