Ottawa Senators vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: NHL Odds, Prediction
The Ottawa Senators close a disappointing 2017-18 season with back-to-back road games against two of the best teams in the NHL, starting Friday night at Pittsburgh. While it’s the front end of a back-to-back for the Sens, it’s the back end for the Pens.
Senators vs Penguins Betting Analysis
Pittsburgh and Ottawa staged a terrific seven-game Eastern Conference Finals last year. The Senators will finish with their fewest points in an 82-game season since the 1995-96 team finished 18-59 with five ties for 41 points.
Pittsburgh looks for the three-game series sweep. On Nov. 16 in Ottawa, the Penguins won 3-1. Patric Hornqvist and Jake Guentzel each scored to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead in the second and it never looked back. Matt Murray made 21 saves, just 12 combined over the final two periods. Craig Anderson turned aside 26 shots for Ottawa. The Senators were 8-3-5 entering that one, but it started a seven-game losing streak that the team simply never recovered from.
On Feb. 13 in Pittsburgh, the Penguins rolled 6-3. Guentzel and Zach Aston-Reese scored twice for the Pens, the first two NHL goals for Aston-Reese. Mike Condon made five saves on nine shots before he was pulled for Anderson. That night was likely more memorable because Senators defenceman Dian Phaneuf was pulled from the bench during the game as he had been traded to the L.A. Kings.
The Senators have won just eight of their past 28 in Pittsburgh.
Ottawa Senators
In one regard, the Senators (28-41-11), who finish the season Saturday in Boston, lost for winning Wednesday at Buffalo, 4-2. That defeat assured that the Sabres would be the first team in NHL history to finish 31st; of course, this is the first season there are 31 teams with the addition of Vegas. It also means that Buffalo has the highest percentage chance of winning the draft lottery at 18.5 per cent. It would benefit Ottawa to lose its final two games to guarantee the second-highest lottery odds at 13.5 per cent.
Several Senators missed Wednesday’s game, including Erik Karlsson, who stayed in Ottawa to be his wife after the death of their son. Karlsson isn’t expected to play again this season. Winger Bobby Ryan did not return after sustaining a lower-body injury in the first period, and he’s in question. Anderson will be in net Friday. He had 32 saves vs. Buffalo to improve to 23-24-6 with a 3.31 GAA and .899 save percentage this season.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh (46-29-6) got a huge 5-4 overtime win in Columbus on Thursday, with Phil Kessel netting the winner at 1:06 of OT. He was the game’s No. 1 star with two goals and an assist. Why was that so important? Because now the Penguins are in the driver’s seat to have home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs by finishing second behind Washington in the Metropolitan Division.
Pittsburgh would claim that with either a win here or an overtime/shootout loss. The Pens remain without forward Derick Brassard, acquired around the trade deadline from Ottawa (deal also included Vegas), as he missed a fourth straight game Thursday with a lower-body injury.
