Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Edmonton Oilers: NHL Odds, Prediction

Sports Interaction Staff
Last Updated: November 6, 2017

The Pittsburgh Penguins have kicked off a five-game Western Conference jaunt in the worst possible way – and turning things around won’t be easy as they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night. Pittsburgh kicked off the trek with losses in Minnesota and Winnipeg, and was outscored 9-2 in the process. Edmonton has shown flashes of turning things around following a rough start, but is coming off a disappointing 5-2 loss to Washington.

Penguins vs. Oilers

Moneyline: Penguins -115

Date: Wednesday, November 1, 8:30 p.m. ET

Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alta.

NHL Odds and Betting Analysis

The Oilers are a slight favourite by virtue of having home-ice advantage, and hope to use it the way the Penguins did in a 2-1 overtime win the first time these teams met Oct. 24. Edmonton has points in three of its last five games, but a pair of trends are worth monitoring. The Oilers have dropped five straight games against Eastern Conference opponents, and have just three wins in their last 16 games against Metropolitan Division foes.

Sports Interaction bettors are heavily in favour of the Penguins in this one, leaning toward the visitors at a 70-percent clip. The majority is even stronger with regard to the game total of six, with 86 percent of bettors taking the over. Despite going under in their first meeting, both teams trend to the over in this matchup, with the Penguins exceeding the total in five of their last six road games and Edmonton going over in five straight home contests.

Pittsburgh Penguins

No one has been immune from the Penguins’ recent offensive woes; superstar Sidney Crosby is the most notable slumping forward, with just one assist and a minus-3 rating over his previous five games. And the offensive opportunities have waned, with Crosby registering just four shots on goal in the losses to the Wild and Jets. But the Penguins have won 38 of their last 56 games following a loss of three or more goals, and have a 2-0 mark in such games this season.

Edmonton Oilers

Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli is looking for help from outside to fix his struggling team, which came into the season as Stanley Cup co-favourites with Pittsburgh but enters Wednesday at +1,700 on Sports Interaction to win it all – behind 10 other teams in the pecking order. Starting the turnaround against Pittsburgh will require reversing a trend that has seen the Penguins prevail in six of the last seven meetings.