(26-40  -0.79 units)

Penguins/Bruins:

There are a lot of similarities between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins. First off, we have two elite contenders, that have not shown any signs that they will fall out of contention this season. Second, these are two teams that rely heavily on their momentum and puck possession, and score goals at will need being.

It seems highly obvious that, with the return of Sidney Crosby, there is a lot of firepower potential in tonight’s game.

However, one thing we must take into consideration is that both teams are in mid season form. So yes, that also means the ability to play defense and limit risks. The most obvious of risk limitation will be for the Bruins to watch Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin very closely. With the absence of Tuukka Rask, the Bruins will have to get into defensive mode around veteran goaltender Jaro Halak. Boston has showed throughout the season that they can control the tempo of the game under Cassidy’s system, and they will need to do so here to limit Pittsburgh’s opportunities, especially wary of their 7 goal outing against the Minnesota Wild last game.

Likewise, Pittsburgh will be very fond of the league’s leading goal scorer David Pastrnak, and the goal will be to limit his scoring lanes. Despite the high puck possession numbers, I expect the Penguins to be the more opportunistic of the two tonight, as they operate mainly on rhythm and having one step on their opponent. Since this will be difficult to do against a top team like Boston, I expect Pittsburgh to have less of a finesse route against a top defense.

Look for this one to be a game of keepaway from the stars, and for there to be a lot of puck control by both teams, leading to time being taken off the clock.

UNDER 6 -116  2*