NHL's Hottest Teams - Pittsburgh at Carolina

The Carolina Hurricanes are for real. They legitimized this little run they’ve been on by taking the league leading Washington Capitals to overtime last night, losing 4-3 in the extra frame, but just the fact they were able to hang with the Caps with a backup goalie in net speaks volumes as to how good they are playing as a team.

They’ll really get a chance to grab some headlines with a win tonight as they face another one of the league’s elite when they welcome Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins to town. This will be a matchup of two of the NHL's hottest teams as the Pens have gone a perfect 4-0 since the Olympic break, while Carolina has points in nine of their last ten games.

This will be the third meeting of the year, with both teams coming away with 3-2 road victories. The last time they faced each other, the Hurricanes walked into Mellon Arena on December 7 th and left with a 3-2 win. In their first encounter, Pittsburgh rallied from a 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 shootout win at the RBC Center in October 14 th, giving Carolina that all important point.

With their streak, the Penguins have taken over top spot in the Atlantic Division. The 'Canes still have an outside shot at the playoffs but their atrocious start really put them in a hole. Still, if they keep putting up points and the Bruins and Rangers, who are 8 th and 9 th respectively, keep laying eggs, Carolina Hurricanes could just surge their way right into the postseason.

There have been a few stories coming out of Pittsburgh other than their winning streak, some good and some not so good. In case you missed it, Matt Cooke put a very questionable hit on Boston’s star forward Marc Savard, a blind-side shoulder to the head moments after he released the puck from the high slot.

The news came down that he would not be suspended by the league sighting other similar infractions that had gone un-disciplined this year; the one that comes to most people’s mind is the Brad Richards hit on David Booth. The league has also come out and stated that this type of “east-west” hit will be met with a suspension next year, but that’s next year.

The other big story was that of Sidney Crosby's missing Olympic equipment. Well, it’s been found. Apparently one of the gloves was placed in Patrice Bergeron’s bag by mistake, while the other glove and his gold medal winning stick were found in Toronto. They caught it just before it was due to be shipped out to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in Russia, and it’s a good thing they did as getting that back from Russia would have no doubt been a headache.

Here are some NHL betting trends for tonight’s matchup:

• Penguins are 5-1 in the last 6 meetings.
• Penguins are 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Carolina.
• Under is 6-2 in the last 8 meetings.
• Under is 5-2-1 in the last 8 meetings in Carolina.
• Road team is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.

All the distractions aside, Pittsburgh is playing great team hockey and have the much better goaltender going into this one. Carolina is playing great as well, but considering they have a backup as their starter, I just can’t put my hard earned dollars on them. Getting the Penguins at -140 is too good to pass up, and that’s my play tonight.

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