Pittsburgh Penguins at Columbus Blue Jackets NHL Picks & Predictions 4/5/2018

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Nationwide Arena

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The Pittsburgh Penguins head to Nationwide Arena to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, April 5, 2018. The opening line for this contest has the Penguins at +113 and the Blue Jackets at -125.

Pittsburgh has a record of 45-29-6 this year and away from home they have a record of 16-20-4-2. They are 2nd in the Metropolitan Division. They have tallied 263 goals and surrendered 246 goals for a point differential of +17. For the year they have an ATS mark of 45-35-0 and an over/under record of 46-32-0. Columbus has a record of 45-29-6 including 26-12-2-1 on home ice this year. They are 3rd in the Metropolitan Division. They've scored 236 goals and have given up 221 for a goal differential of +15. Their record against the spread is 45-35-0 while their over/under mark is 39-40-0.

Valuable Pittsburgh Penguins Betting Trends

The Pittsburgh Penguins are 45-35-0 straight up this year

The Pittsburgh Penguins are 46-32-0 against the over/under this season

Important Columbus Blue Jackets Betting Trends

The Columbus Blue Jackets are 45-35-0 straight up this year

The Columbus Blue Jackets are 39-40-0 against the over/under this season

Key Pittsburgh Penguins Injuries

04/04/18 C Derick Brassard Lower Body is "?" Thursday vs Columbus
03/17/18 RW Carter Rowney Upper Body is out indefinitely

Key Columbus Blue Jackets Injuries

04/03/18 D Markus Nutivaara Illness is "?" Thursday vs Pittsburgh
04/03/18 D Dean Kukan Upper Body is "?" Thursday vs Pittsburgh
03/26/18 LW Nick Foligno Lower Body is out indefinitely
03/23/18 LW Lukas Sedlak Head is out indefinitely
02/27/18 RW Josh Anderson Knee is out indefinitely

Player Spotlight

Phil Kessel has scored 87 total points this year for the Penguins. He has 31 goals this season with 255 shots on net, giving him a shooting percentage of 12%. He has a total of 56 assists on the year and averages 18.7 minutes played per contest. Sidney Crosby averages 20.7 minutes of ice time per game this season. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 12% by tallying 28 goals on 243 attempts. He has 58 assists, giving him a total of 86 points on the year. Matt Murray has 26 wins and 16 losses this season in goal for the Penguins. He has 1,393 shots against him and he's surrendered 129 goals. He's made 1,264 stops for a save percentage of 91%.

Player Spotlight

Artemi Panarin has 80 total points this season for the Blue Jackets. He has 27 goals this year with 226 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 12%. He has a total of 53 assists on the year and averages 20.1 minutes played per contest. Seth Jones averages 24.6 minutes of ice time per contest. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 7% by scoring 16 goals on 248 attempts. He has 41 assists, giving him a total of 57 points on the year. Sergei Bobrovsky has 37 wins and 22 losses this season in net for the Blue Jackets. He has 1,950 shots against him and he's given up 153 goals. He's made 1,797 saves for a save percentage of 92%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Penguins have 96 total points this year, which is 12th in the NHL. They've scored 263 goals while giving up 246 scores, which has them ranked 5th and 11th respectively. They have had 251 power play chances and scored 65 goals on those opportunities for a percentage of 26%. That is 1st in the league. The Penguins have given up 258 power play opportunities and surrendered 52 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 80%, ranking them 19th when short-handed. They average 34 shots per contest and as a team shoot 9.54% for the year. They allow 31 shot attempts to their opposition per game and have a team save percentage of 90%, which is 25th in the league.

Useful Team Statistics

The Blue Jackets are 10th in the league with a total of 96 points this season. They have 38 power play goals on 223 chances for a percentage of 17%. That is 26th in the NHL. They've given up 206 power play opportunities and surrendered 47 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 77%, ranking 25th overall. As a team, the Blue Jackets are 16th with a total of 236 goals scored while they've given up 221 goals this season, ranking 21st in goals against. They average 34 shots per game and have a team shooting percentage of 8.74%. As a unit they give up 31 shots per contest and have a save percentage of 91%, putting them 8th overall in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

Pittsburgh has a Corsi percentage of 51.7% as they've tried 4,835 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 4,521 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. That ranks them 5th in Corsi percentage. They are 7th in the NHL in Fenwick percentage with 52.4% as they have 3,706 shots while they've given up 3,367 attempts on defense. The Penguins start possessions in the offensive zone 53.2% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 46.8% for the year. That puts them 7th and 26th in the league in zone percentages respectively. They have 2,508 face-off wins as opposed to 2,478 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 50.3%. That is 18th overall in the NHL. On defense Pittsburgh has 1,911 hits and they've blocked 1,154 attempts from opposing offenses, which is 20th in the league.

Advanced Statistics

The Blue Jackets are 5th in the league in starting possessions in the offensive zone, doing so 53.2% of the time. Their defensive zone percentage is at 46.8% for the season, which is 24th in the NHL. They have 2,343 face-off wins compared to 2,485 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 48.5%. That is 20th in the league. On defense Columbus has 1,696 hits and they have blocked 1,186 shots from the opposition, which is 15th in the league. Columbus is 7th in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 51.4% as they've attempted 4,833 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 4,574 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage of 52.4% ranks 5th as they have 3,728 attempts while they have given up 3,388 shots on the defensive end.

Who will win tonight's Penguins/Blue Jackets NHL game against the spread?

Guy's Pick: Take Pittsburgh +113

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