Game of the Night - Sid's Penguins vs. Brodeur's Devils

In the NHL game of the night, the Pittsburgh Penguins travel to New Jersey to face Martin Brodeur and the Devils in a battle of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division. This is one of those four-point swing games as the Penguins can either extend their lead to six points or the Devils can close the gap to just two.

The Penguins managed a point last night after losing in overtime to the red-hot Carolina Hurricanes. It was Pittsburgh’s first defeat since the Olympic break but they’ve managed points in all five games with a record of 4-0-1. The Devils got back in the win column after a rough Albert road trip that was culminated with an ugly 2-0 loss to Edmonton with a 6-3 win over the Rangers on Wednesday.

The Penguins are going to need to change up their game plan for New Jersey, because what they’ve been doing so far this season hasn’t been working. The Devils have absolutely owned Pittsburgh this year, posting a 4-0 record in the season series and have outscored the Penguins by a 14-2 margin.

Brodeur has been lights out against Sid and the Penguins, posting shutouts in the last two meetings, including the one that will forever be remember as the game that gave him the NHL's all-time record for career shutouts.

This is the fifth of six meetings on the year, with the final two games being held in New Jersey. After tonight, they will complete the regular-season series next Wednesday from the Prudential Center and you know the Devils would like nothing more than to sweep a six game series over the defending Stanley Cup champions, especially seeing they will likely have to duke it out in the playoffs for the right to represent the East this year.

Overall the Devils have six wins in the last eight meetings with Pittsburgh and have taken three of the last four games in Newark.

The Penguins are hoping that New Jersey is still feeling the effects of a slump that saw them go 4-7-1 over their last 12 outings. The Devils are hoping that the home win over the New York Rangers is the momentum boost they need to grab another two points from the Penguins and move closer to re-capturing the Atlantic Division title which they won last year.

Here are some trends for this NHL betting matchup:

• Under is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.
• Under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in New Jersey.
• Penguins are 17-36 in the last 53 meetings.
• Underdog is 15-7 in the last 22 meetings.
• Road team is 15-7 in the last 22 meetings.

The Devils have been very solid at home this year, posting a 21-9-1 record at the Rock. This is the second stop for the on a five-game road trip; Pittsburgh is 19-12-2 as the guest this year, which matches them with the Washington Capitals for the Eastern Conference lead for road wins this season.

Something has to give, and my money is on the Penguins being able to squeak one out as the road dog at +105.

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