A busy Wednesday in the NHL contains a matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vancouver Canucks. Welcome to NHL predictions here on Last Word on Hockey! Each day, we examine upcoming games, providing predictions and analyzing head-to-head matchups. In today’s prediction article, Sidney Crosby and the Penguins play host to Quinn Hughes and the Canucks. Be sure to check out more NHL predictions for all the this season here on Last Word on Hockey!
NHL Predictions
Vancouver Canucks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Head-to-Head: Canucks 1-0 Penguins
Time: 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
TV: ESPN+, Sportsnet Pittsburgh; SN Pacific
Quickly approaching the American Thanksgiving milestone of the season, the Penguins and Canucks are in very different situations. Pittsburgh is 7-12-4, ranking bottom 10 in the league. Their abysmal defence has only been exacerbated with inadequate goaltending and an anemic offence. Meanwhile, Vancouver is 11-6-3, good for third in the Pacific Division. The Canucks’ offence has been astounding to watch, especially recently with star centre Elias Pettersson starting to find his groove.
The Penguins’ Story
Pittsburgh has had an awful season thus far. Sitting at the bottom of the Metropolitan division, the Penguins are coming to terms with the likelihood that the rebuild has to begin now. Moving towards that goal, general manager Kyle Dubas acquired young forward Philip Tomasino from the Nashville Predators. Dubas has been looking to make the Penguins younger with moves like this one, as the team has shown its inability to compete as is. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin lead the way in points with 21 and 20 in 23 games respectively.
Goaltending has been a major issue for Pittsburgh. Starter Tristan Jarry and back-up Alex Nedeljkovic have combined for a 4-7-4 record and a .873 save percentage. With league average sitting around .904, the Penguins have no chance of competing with goaltending this bad. Defenceman like Ryan Graves and Matt Grzelcyk have struggled as well, adding to the Penguins’ defensive woes. Exposing these issues will be the Canucks key to victory.
The Canucks’ Story
Even with star winger JT Miller absent from the team due to personal reasons, Vancouver has had a promising start to their season. Their record has landed them in a spot tied for third in their division. The club is led scoring-wise by captain Quinn Hughes. His 20 points in 20 games is incredibly impressive for a defenceman. Behind him, forwards such as Conor Garland, the aforementioned Pettersson and Miller, as well as Jake DeBrusk have had good seasons offensively, all .75 points per game or above.
This tremendous scoring depth and defensive bottom six is a good insulator for the Canucks’ shaky goaltending. With Thatcher Demko still injured, Kevin Lankinen has taken the reins with a 10-3-2 record to start the season, with a .909 percentage to boot. His backup, Arturs Silovs, has been disappointing with just a 1-3-1 record and a .857 save percentage. However, with the Penguin’s anemic offence stemming from a lack of energy, either goaltender shouldn’t face much of a challenge in this game.
Prediction
The Penguins are in a downward spiral, while the Canucks are starting to heat up and build momentum. Expect both of these to continue with a Canucks win on Pittsburgh soil.
Prediction: Canucks win 5-2.
Prop Bets of the Night
Given the likelihood of a high-octane Canucks offence brutalizing the Penguins defensive group, FanDuel’s over seven for goals at a +164 seems to be a good bet.
Main photo by: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
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