What bettors need to know: Hockey Night In Canada
By DUSTIN NIELSON
Pittsburgh Penguins at Carolina Hurricanes (-125, 5.5)
Stars will be stars
One of the most overlooked Art Ross winners ever stepped his game up yet again Thursday night.
Evgeni Malkin potted his first-career playoff hat trick and his partner in crime was up to his old tricks as well. Sidney Crosby tied an NHL record by scoring the game’s first goal for the sixth time in the playoffs.
Through the first two games of this series the battle of the stars isn’t even close.
Evgeni Malkin – 4 goals, 2 assists, plus 3
Sidney Crosby – 1 goal, 2 assists, plus 3
Eric Staal – 0 goals, 1 assists, minus 3
Ray Whitney – 0 goals, 2 assists, minus 2
The Hurricanes are perfect when Eric Staal scores in the postseason. When he is held off the score sheet they haven’t won a single game.
Very un-Ward like
For the first time all year Cam Ward was beaten six times in Game 2 and then for good measure the Penguins added an empty netter. Ward has never lost three straight NHL playoff games, so bettors can expect a big effort from him as things return to Carolina for Game 3.
In the 2006 the Hurricanes overcame a 2-0 series deficit to the Canadiens to win the series in six games. Ward was stellar in the four wins allowing just five goals.
Pens fly over
Bettors have been waiting for the line on Penguins’ games to get bumped up to at least six, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to be happening anytime soon. The over is 7-3 in the Penguins last 10 games.
The Pens haven’t been afraid to play run-and-gun hockey on the road, going over 5.5 goals in five of their seven games away from the Igloo. Pittsburgh may simply be too much to handle, regardless of competition, as they have outshot the opposition in 11 straight games.
The Injury update
Eric Cole played in Game 2 but was once again relatively ineffective, finishing minus 1 in just over 14 minutes of action. The return of Tuomo Ruutu would certainly help the Hurricanes in the crash-and-bang department, but the team is keeping quiet on the status of his lower body injury.
Sergei Gonchar is beginning to get back in a groove after slowly recovering from the knee-on-knee hit from Alex Ovechkin. Gonchar says the two-days rest between Games 1 and 2 really helped and he’s hoping to see a more ice time in Game 3.
Inside the numbers
- Under is 8-3-1 in their last 12 meetings
- The home team is 11-2 in their last 13 meetings
- The last time the Canes game up 40 shots in a game they allowed just 19 in the next game
- Carolina is 16-4 in their last 20 homes games dating back to the regular season
- The over is 2-1-3 in Carolina home games in the playoffs
- Cam Ward has never lost three straight NHL playoff games
Hockey Today
SCOREBOARD
Saturday, May 23
Pittsburgh at Carolina (7:30 p.m. EDT). The Penguins beat Carolina 7-4 on Thursday night in Pittsburgh to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
STAR
Friday
— Patrick Sharp(notes), Blackhawks, scored at 1:52 of overtime to give Chicago a 4-3 victory over Detroit. Sharp also had a power-play goal in the first period to help the Blackhawks cut Detroit’s lead to 2-1 in the Western Conference finals.
SACKED
Mike Keenan was fired as coach of the Calgary Flames on Friday, almost a month after his team lost in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year. Keenan spent just two seasons with Calgary. He’s fourth on the career list with 672 victories, also coaching Philadelphia, Chicago, the New York Rangers, St. Louis, Vancouver, Boston and Florida. He led the Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup title.
SIGNED
The Minnesota Wild hired Chuck Fletcher on Friday as the second general manager in franchise history. The former Pittsburgh assistant general manager replaced Doug Risebrough, fired in April after building the expansion team from the ground up. The 41-year-old Fletcher is the son of Hall of Fame GM Cliff Fletcher.
STATUS
Detroit star Pavel Datsyuk(notes) missed the Red Wings’ 4-3 overtime loss to Chicago in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals Friday night because of a sore foot. The center and MVP finalist was hit with a puck Tuesday night in Game 2.
SCOUTING
Adam Henrique scored at 4:41 of overtime to give the Windsor Spitfires a 3-2 victory over Drummondville on Friday night in the Memorial Cup semifinal in Rimouski, Quebec. Windsor will face Kelowna on Sunday in the final. The Spitfires have won three straight after dropping their first two games in the four-team tournament.
SPEAKING
“A lot of teams probably would have gone the other way after giving up a three-goal lead, but we stayed with it. After they scored the third one, we played some of our best hockey. When we needed to play our best period of the season we did and carried it into overtime.”—Chicago’s Patrick Sharp after scoring in overtime in the Blackhawks’ 4-3 victory over Detroit on Friday night in the Western Conference finals.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Evgeni Malkin potted a hat trick and the Penguins went up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series with a 7-4 win over the Hurricanes on Thursday, as -180 favorites.
That game's 11 goals sailed OVER the posted over/under (5.5).
Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, while Max Talbot, Chris Kunitz, and Tyler Kennedy (with an empty net marker) also scored in the win.
Chad LaRose, Jussi Jokinen, Dennis Seidenberg, and Patrick Eaves scored for the Hurricanes. Oddsmakers listed the Hurricanes as +160 underdogs in that contest.
Team records:
Pittsburgh: 45-28-9
Carolina: 45-30-7
Pittsburgh most recently:
When playing on Saturday are 4-5-1
Before playing Ottawa are 6-4
After playing Carolina are 6-4
After a win are 6-4
Carolina most recently:
When playing on Saturday are 6-4
Before playing Boston are 6-4
After playing Pittsburgh are 3-7
After a loss are 6-4
A few trends to consider:
Pittsburgh is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Pittsburgh's last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Pittsburgh's last 5 games on the road
Pittsburgh is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing Carolina
Carolina is 16-3 SU in its last 19 games at home
Carolina is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Pittsburgh
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Carolina's last 6 games when playing Pittsburgh
Carolina is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing Pittsburgh
Next up:
Carolina home to Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 26
PITTSBURGH (55-32-0-10, 120 pts.) at CAROLINA (53-37-0-8, 114 pts.)
Top Trends for this game.
CAROLINA is 53-45 ATS (-0.3 Units) in all games this season.
CAROLINA is 35-25 ATS (-0.9 Units) second half of the season this season.
CAROLINA is 48-34 ATS (+89.1 Units) revenging a loss versus opponent over the last 2 seasons.
CAROLINA is 26-23 ATS (-0.4 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
CAROLINA is 19-13 ATS (+34.8 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
PITTSBURGH is 116-83 ATS (+12.9 Units) in all games over the last 2 seasons.
PITTSBURGH is 77-47 ATS (+16.6 Units) second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
PITTSBURGH is 24-17 ATS (+43.7 Units) in road games after allowing 4 goals or more over the last 3 seasons.
PITTSBURGH is 82-69 ATS (+11.1 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 3 seasons.
PITTSBURGH is 25-13 ATS (+9.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
CAROLINA is 27-36 ATS (-31.4 Units) in home games after playing 3 consecutive road games since 1996.
Head-to-Head Series History
CAROLINA is 7-7 (+0.0 Units) against the spread versus PITTSBURGH over the last 3 seasons
CAROLINA is 7-7-0 straight up against PITTSBURGH over the last 3 seasons
9 of 13 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+4.8 Units)
PITTSBURGH vs. CAROLINA
Pittsburgh is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Carolina
Pittsburgh is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing Carolina
Carolina is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games
Carolina is 16-3 SU in its last 19 games at home
Eastern Conference Finals
Pittsburgh at Carolina
Pittsburgh:
57-33 SU off BB wins
12-2 SU off home game where both teams scored 3+ goals
Carolina:
0-6 SU at home off loss by 3+ goals
12-4 Under off BB SU losses
NHL Playoffs
Carolina led Game 2 3-2 after just 12:10 of play, but lost 7-5, in spite of killing off four Pittsburgh power plays (7:49). So far in series, Penguins have outshot Carolina 52-27 in periods 2-3, and they've outscored 'canes 4-3 in first periods. Carolina is 4-2 at home in series; this game is crucial, since comebacks from 3-0 deficits are rare. Five of the last six Pittsburgh games went over the total- they scored 16 goals in last three games.