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The Pittsburgh Penguins host the Seattle Kraken in a Monday night match-up at PPG Paints Arena. Welcome back to NHL Predictions here on Last Word on Hockey! Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for all the NHL’s games. In tonight’s game, the Penguins aim to gain some much-needed ground in the wildcard race. Meanwhile, the Kraken seek to shake off a bad stretch recently and gain some momentum.
Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh; Root Sports Northwest; ESPN+
Pittsburgh enters this game reeling from embarrassing losses back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday. After a strong showing against the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh struggled defensively in a crucial pair of games. The Seattle Kraken find themselves near the bottom of the conference, fourth last in the standings. For a team with playoff aspirations, the 10-point gap between Seattle and Calgary in the second wildcard spot is a steep hill to climb. They’ll hope to start tonight.
Following back-to-back regulation losses over the weekend, the Penguins fell to 18-19-8 on the season. Where a week ago the team was tied for a wildcard spot, they now find themselves four teams behind Columbus for the coveted spot. Sidney Crosby leads the team with 48 points in 45 games. He’s looking for a 20th straight point per game season, and playing a team struggling like Seattle may be exactly what Crosby needs. Rickard Rakell has continued to stay hot, and is up to 22 goals and 38 points in 45 games. Bryan Rust is behind him with 16 goals and 33 points in 38 games. The trio will need to generate the bulk of the Penguins offence with Evgeni Malkin and Michael Bunting questionable for the game.
The Penguin’s goaltending situation has taken a disappointing turn. Tristan Jarry has lost four straight, including losses due to blown leads against teams like the Panthers and Blue Jackets. Alex Nedeljkovic was chased from his net over the weekend against the Ottawa Senators. With both goaltenders coming into this game cold, the team will need to do their best to insulate their netminder.
The Kraken in the midst of a rough stretch, losing seven out of their last 10 games. The Kraken are a young team with expectations of making the playoffs. However, key regressions and disappointing performances have changed these plans. Free agent signing Chandler Stephenson has only scored five goals and 29 points in 43 games. He was expected to be a premium play driver such as in Vegas, and hasn’t been able to replicate it just yet.
Franchise cornerstone Matty Beniers has struggled offensively as well. He has just 23 points in 44 games. A bright point of the offence has been recent acquisition Kaapo Kakko. The former second-overall pick has scored eight points in 11 games with the Kraken. The Kraken will need players like Beniers to step up to defeat this Penguins team.
In net, Joey Daccord has been a fascinating story. Even with a losing team record, Daccord is 13-9-2 with a .912 save percentage. He has been fantastic in spite of the team’s struggles. Philipp Grubauer meanwhile, has numbers far more in line with the teams record. He is 5-14-1 with an .870 save percentage. Grubauer’s struggles have been a significant problem with these playoff hopeful Kraken.
Something has to give in Pittsburgh. The team tends to do the best when chasing for a playoff spot from behind. Expect them to play better on home ice than they did this weekend and defeat the Kraken.
Prediction: Penguins win 6-2.
FanDuel’s Total Goals Over 8 (+330) – The Penguins feel due to for a scoring outburst, especially if Grubauer gets the start, making this a good prop bet to place.
Main photo by: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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Rohit is a Business Communications graduate from Brock University. He’s been watching and following the NHL since 2012. Although he is from Toronto, his favourite team has always been the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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