Hockey betting favors Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins as they host the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. This is not sure win for Pittsburgh though since Ottawa has a winning record this season and they have won four of the last six in NHL betting against the Penguins.
Hockey betting had Pittsburgh winning 8-2 at home last month against the Senators but that was only the second win for Pittsburgh in the last six meetings against Ottawa. The teams have split the last four meetings in Pittsburgh.
Ottawa has been very good at home but even on the road the Senators are competitive in hockey betting. They are 10-13-1 away from home this season in hockey betting and anytime a team is around the .500 mark on the road it is not bad. Ottawa has been a team that goes under the total at home but over the hockey betting total on the road. 14 of their 24 road games have gone over the NHL betting total this season. Considering the Senators don’t have great stats this season it is somewhat surprising to see them doing so well in hockey betting. The Senators are just 15th on offense and 19th on defense this season. The Senators have been led in scoring this season by Daniel Alfredsson while they have been led in goal by Brian Elliott.
Pittsburgh has been solid at home in hockey betting at 15-9-1. That is not spectacular though, especially when the Penguins are laying money in every home game. The Penguins are 5th in the league in scoring led by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Defense is a concern in NHL betting as they are 20th in the league and goaltending is also a question mark. Marc-Andre Fleury has been hurt and the Penguins do not really have much behind him. Even though the Penguins are a high scoring team, more often than not their games go under the NHL betting total.
With the Olympic break just around the corner the Penguins will want to finish strongly. Pittsburgh has home games against Ottawa and Detroit this week so it will be important for them to not avoid looking ahead. Many Pittsburgh players will be getting ready for Olympic play including superstars Crosby and Malkin. Ottawa doesn’t have as much of a concern since not as many of their players made the rosters for the different Olympic teams.