Liontips
New Jersey vs. Pittsburgh: NHL Match Prediction
On December 22, New Jersey will play a home match against Pittsburgh. The Devils have just come off a long winning streak, while the Pens have shown fairly stable results in recent matches. However, the last meeting between the clubs ended in favor of the guests. Bookmakers still highlight the home team as the favorite. What bet should you make on the upcoming confrontation? You will find out from the forecast
Command Analysis
New Jersey Devils
USACurrent form
New Jersey is among the leaders of the Eastern Conference and continues to please fans with good results quite often. The team has once again climbed to the first line of the tournament table and is literally one point ahead of Washington. It should be noted that the Devils were able to produce a series of three victories. On their home ice, they dealt with Los Angeles (3:1), Chicago (4:1), and already on the road they beat St. Louis with a score of 4:1. However, in the last confrontation with Columbus, Sheldon Keefe team unexpectedly lost with a score of 2:4, although they were considered the clear favorite of that match.
It is noteworthy that in the last game with the "uniforms" the club only got involved in the third period, in which it scored two goals, and before that the 40 minutes were unsuccessful for it. Incidentally, the team outshot its opponent more than twice, but its realization of the moments that day left much to be desired. And in defense, the "devils" usually play much more reliably than it was in the last match.
New Jersey is playing best in the second twenty minutes, in which it currently has a 44:28 ratio of goals scored and goals conceded. However, at home, oddly enough, the team is not performing as well as on the road, and only celebrated success in half of the matches.
Disqualifications and injuries
Curtis Lazar will not take part in the upcoming fight due to injury.
Interesting trends for betting
- On average, New Jersey takes at least 30 shots per game.
The Devils have significantly improved their shooting activity recently.
- New Jersey is getting 8.89 penalty minutes per game.
The Devils average at least four to five penalties per game.
Pittsburgh Penguins
USACurrent form
Pittsburgh had a disastrous start to the season and have been showing weak results for a long period of time. The team is in ninth place in the East with 33 points. The Petes have seriously improved at the end of last month and have won seven games in ten matches, losing only once in overtime. In the last away series, the club literally crushed Montreal (9:2), but lost to Ottawa in a tough fight (2:3 OT). After returning to their home court, the Penguins barely won against Los Angeles (3:2 OT) and on the road, not without problems, but still beat Nashville with a score of 3:2 in overtime. It is noteworthy that all recent matches involving the Penguins ended outside of regular time.
Pittsburgh has no serious problems converting chances, but its defense suffers. The Penguins are the most goals-per-game team in the East and have already allowed 123 goals. After a long break, Alex Nedeljkovic, who had a terrible start to the season, appeared in goal. The goalie still has less than 90% of shots saved and can’t find his form.
But Sidney Crosby continues to lead the list of the club best scorers. The Canadian scorer has already surpassed the 30-point mark in the goal+pass system and continues to delight fans with an excellent performance.
Disqualifications and injuries
Marcus Pettersson will not play in the upcoming match due to injury.
Interesting trends for betting
- Pittsburgh averages 6.91 penalty minutes
The Penguins show good discipline and don't get sent off too often out of the blue.
- Pittsburgh has a 26-36 first-half goal-scoring record
The "Pits" have a weak start and often give up the advantage.
Trends
Bet 1st period: total over 1.5 goals
In four out of five matches between the clubs, the first period was productive
1.72Bet 2nd period: both teams to score
In four out of five games involving visitors, both teams scored goals in the second period
2.10Tip and bets
In our opinion, Pittsburgh can cause a lot of difficulties for New Jersey in this match. The Pens have shown their best side in recent matches and have often achieved success. In the four previous matches, the visitors did not remain without points and gave a worthy rebuff to many teams. The Devils literally lost to Columbus the day before, so we would not consider them a clear favorite of this confrontation. Especially since the previous meeting between the clubs ended in favor of the visitors.
Prediction - Pittsburgh win with Asian handicap (+1.5) on goals for 1.70
Bet on individual total
Pittsburgh has shown decent scoring in most of the previous matches. Plus, the team has improved in 5x3 and 5x4 formats and has become much better at using the numerical advantage than before. New Jersey even missed four times in the last confrontation with the Jackets. We think that Crosby and company will find the keys to their opponent defense and will score at least three goals.
We bet on Pittsburgh individual total over 2.5 goals for 1.90
Total Bet
Matches between the teams are often spectacular and have at least six goals scored. Pittsburgh plays on opposite courses and pays little attention to its game in defense, but scores a lot in response. In addition, the last face-to-face meeting ended with nine goals scored. It is quite possible that this time the teams will please the stands with bright hockey.
We take the total over 5.5 pucks for 1.65
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