Face-off: 1900 ET, 10/02/2022
Venue: Canadian Tire Centre
Pittsburgh’s big guns eventually got going at Boston on Tuesday and may again prove too powerful for Ottawa at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Senators are showing great spirit and will be seeking a hat-trick of home wins, but three quick matches will test the depth of their squad.
Two previous games between these sides this term have produced 19 goals, so 2.3 for an away victory and over 5.5 to be scored here appeals from the NHL odds.
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Ottawa Senators Odds
Ottawa obviously warrant respect after already beating New Jersey and Carolina this week to put them at 5-2-2 through the last nine games.
Against the Hurricanes, Brady Tkachuk’s brace helped the Senators race into a 4-0 lead and they held on despite conceding a trio of goals in the third period.
“I thought our group did a good job in the first two periods and in the third period they came back with a huge push there,” Tkachuk said.
“A couple of mistakes that we made that we’ll clean up, but we’re still happy with the outcome and those are two huge points against a Stanley Cup contender.”
However, Tkachuk did admit that Ottawa have had to rely on some stellar displays from their goaltenders during the current good run.
Hurricanes boss Rod Brind’Amour also felt his side missed five or six “tap-ins”, so there are some chinks in the defensive armour.
We like 2.95 for the Penguins to prevail and both teams to score at least twice in our NHL predictions.
Pittsburgh Penguins Odds
Pittsburgh showed signs of rust early on when returning from the All-Star break at Boston but came from behind to post a 4-2 success.
Danton Heinen hit a double, Sidney Crosby netted to be just one short of 500 career goals and Bryan Rust was also on target.
Having trailed 2-0 at the end of the opening period, Rust commented: “We just knew we weren’t good enough.
“We weren’t playing hard enough. I think we just needed to get our legs moving and kind of work as a unit.”
With All-Star goalie Tristan Jarry making 43 saves, head coach Mike Sullivan added: “I think we’re just a scrappy group.”
A week off allowed the Penguins to regroup after a sticky little spell and they can hopefully now rediscover the sparkle which previously brought 17 wins from 19 outings.
Let’s add 6.5 for an away win by exactly two goals to our Ottawa Senators vs Pittsburgh Penguins predictions.
Additional stats
Last result:
OTTAWA 4-3 Carolina
Boston 2-4 PITTSBURGH
Head-to-head: Pittsburgh 6-4 Ottawa, Ottawa 6-3 Pittsburgh
