NHL Saturday: An East Showdown up North
PENGUINS (+105) at CANADIENS (-125), 7 p.m.
Pick: Penguins To Win (+105)
The Penguins (33-22-9) cross the border and head to Montreal to face the Canadiens (35-23-7) in an important matchup for playoff position. The Habs have 77 points on the year and are clinging on for dear life to a wild-card spot. Pittsburgh (75) is on the outside looking in at the moment and beating those ahead of you is the way to get back in.
After losing to the Devils (which strangely has been a trend for both the Habs and the Penguins), Montreal has won their last two match-ups with ease. They decimated the Red Wings, 8-1, and topped the Rangers, 4-2. They’ve come alive in their past two tilts and will look to keep the momentum going Saturday.
Pittsburgh is tricky. They’ve been extremely inconsistent and it shows by their placement in the standings. Goaltending is often not up to snuff like it used to be with Marc-Andre Fleury in net like back in the day. Matt Murray is serviceable, don’t get us wrong, but he isn’t having the season the Pens have wanted. We think the Pens will come in and take care of business like they are capable of doing though. F Sydney Crosby needs these points and if you think he is missing out on the playoffs this year you are sorely mistaken. This is an important game and Pittsburgh’s big guns will take care of business.
DEVILS (+280) at BRUINS (-340), 7 p.m.
Pick: Bruins -1.5 Goals (-125)
It is getting increasingly difficult to side with my Devils (25-32-8) this season. They’ve adopted the idea now that it's time to “let the kids play”, which is the right course of action and makes it easier for us to figure out who is likely to take this match-up.
The Bruins (38-17-9) are simply the better team on paper, there’s no question. The Devils shipped off one of their most talented forwards (for good reason) to Boston on the trade deadline in F Marcus Johansson to help their rebuild. New Jersey often struggles against the likes of F Brad Marchand and F Patrice Bergeron as well. Boston is still without F David Pastrnak, but that shouldn’t matter much as the Devils are without 80% of their NHL roster anyway. This ones easy: Take the Bruins.