The Pittsburgh Penguins look to get back to winning as they visit the Anaheim Ducks. Reviewing the latest news, stats, and injury reports, Pittsburgh is favored on the NHL odds and it has been the hottest team since mid-November. But Anaheim has been the best team to bet on since the start of the season. Which of these birds is legit?
Pittsburgh Penguins (20-9-5) vs Anaheim Ducks (19-12-7)
Profitable Pretenders
When it comes to online sports betting, being a pretender is not a bad status to have. The Ducks are 27-11 on the puck line and up 16 units on the money line. It will beat the bad teams like Detroit and Philadelphia but will lose to the real contenders like Vegas and Colorado.
Anaheim is riding some potent special teams play and is the only NHL team ranked in the top four in both power play and penalty kill. However, this team is still below average on 5v5 play and would be worse than minus-4 if John Gibson and Anthony Stolarz hadn’t been so clutch.
What a night for Lukas Dostal!
In his @nhl debut, he stopped 33 shots during regulation and overtime – and both Red Wings in the shootout – to lead the @AnaheimDucks to a 4-3 win 👏 pic.twitter.com/WU49dsYXBY
— San Diego Gulls (@SDGullsAHL) January 10, 2022
Even new goaltender Lukas Dostal has had to play above himself to get Anaheim a narrow win over Detroit. As great as this team’s special teams are, most of the game is played 5v5. The netminding will need to stay elite if Anaheim is to keep this up.
Penguins Looking to Rebound
Pittsburgh appeared to be headed to another dominant victory against Dallas. But Jason Robertson was like “NOPE!” and rallied the Stars to three unanswered goals to sink Pittsburgh. The Pens felt Bryan Rust’s absence. Thanks a lot, COVID.
The 29-year-old was on a scoring tear with 12 points in his last four games. Pittsburgh is 5-0-0 when he scores a goal and 4-0-1 when he has multiple points.
The two goals Pittsburgh scored against Dallas were its fewest since playing Anaheim, a 1-0 shutout win. The Penguins have been rolling along and are ninth overall in goals scored. If Rust plays and isn’t rusty, then chalk up another “dub” for Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Anaheim Ducks Head to Head
| Pittsburgh | Stat | Anaheim |
| 6-4-0 | Record | 4-6-0 |
| 4-4-2 | Over/Under | 4-4-2 |
| 3.10 | Average Score | 2.60 |
| 25% | Power Play % | 18.52% |
| 81.48% | Penalty Kill % | 75% |
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Anaheim Ducks Game Information
- Date: Tuesday
- Time: 10 p.m. ET
- Location: Honda Center
- Pittsburgh Penguins vs Anaheim Ducks Live Stream: NHL Live
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Anaheim Ducks Betting Lines
| Pittsburgh | Anaheim | |
| -175 | Moneyline | +155 |
| -1½
(+150) |
Puck Line | +1½
(-170) |
| 5½
(-120o) |
Total | 5½
(Evu) |
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Anaheim Ducks Prediction
The last game played out almost exactly as the analytics would predict: Pittsburgh stifled the Ducks and shut them out. Anaheim was unable to score on both power plays as Pittsburgh’s league-leading penalty kill stood strong. And it was Casey DeSmith who was in net.
Vezina Trophy contender Tristan Jarry is now expected to start with Pittsburgh. As good as Dostal was in net in his debut, he’ll be facing a much better team in Pittsburgh. The Pens will outplay the Ducks and edge them in a hard-fought game.
Pick: Pittsburgh Penguins -175
No power-play goals will be scored, which will make the scoring quite low. It may not be another 1-0 game, but Pittsburgh is only giving up two goals per game in its last 19 contests. Of course, they’ve been scoring over 3.6, but Anaheim will be decent enough to avoid giving up five goals so bet online on the under.
