.jpg "Penguins-at-Bruins-(NBC)")
The Thanksgiving holiday gives us an NHL matinee on Friday, as the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Boston Bruins on NBC. Both teams have been up and down lately, as they are each 4-4-2 in their last 10 games. The Penguins are in a little better position, as they are just a couple of points out of first place in the Metropolitan Division, while the Bruins are well back of Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division. Boston has done well in this series against Pittsburgh, winning six of the last eight meetings, and they have won seven of the last eight in Boston.
Don't miss the ice action from TD Garden at 1:00 p.m. ET on Friday, November 24, 2017. Catch every moment of the game live on NBC.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Friday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Penguins had a rough schedule to start the season, as they had six back-to-backs and 64% of their games were on the road. The schedule has eased up some and the Penguins are starting to play better. They had a break in the schedule this week and actually got to practice. “When you play 16 games in 31 nights, it’s hard to have a hard practice,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
One thing the Penguins worked on was penalty killing. Pittsburgh has really struggled this season in penalty killing, as they are 25th in the NHL. “It’s embarrassing,” Carl Hagelin said. The other problem with penalty killing is that it takes away time from top players like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel. “It takes your team out of the flow,” Sullivan said. “Certain guys are getting overtaxed because they’re killing a lot. Other guys aren’t getting on the ice the amount of time they’d like to because they’re not on the kill.”
The Penguins are just 5-9 on the road this season with eight games going over and six going under. They are scoring just 2.7 goals per game and giving up 3.4 per contest.
The Bruins returned home this week after a west coast road trip that saw them win two of three. Boston did have a short trip to New Jersey for a game on Wednesday before having Thursday off. The Bruins are getting players back from injury, as Brad Marchand, David Backes and Ryan Spooner are all expected to play this week. The Bruins are also hoping to have Torey Krug back this week.
Boston is just 5-5 at home this season with four games going over and six going under. The Bruins are scoring 2.7 goals per game and giving up 2.9 per contest.
Special Teams
As noted earlier, Pittsburgh has struggled on the penalty kill, but they are 4th on the power play at almost 23%. The Bruins are 13th on the power play at 20% and 3rd in penalty killing at almost 86%.
Key Stat
Somewhat surprisingly, the Bruins have done very well in this series of late winning seven of the last ten and the games have been high scoring, with the last five going over the total. This series has seen the home team do very well in recent years. The Bruins have won seven of the last eight at home against the Penguins, with the last two going over the total.
Free NHL Picks
Both teams played on Wednesday and then had Thursday off, so there is no advantage in terms of rest. I lean toward Pittsburgh in this contest simply because they are the better team, but matinees are always tricky, because you never know what you are going to get, and if Matt Murray isn’t in goal I want nothing to do with Pittsburgh. I think both teams could be a little flat, so I think the better option is to take the game under the total.
NHL Odds: Penguins 2, Bruins 1
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