NHL Odds, Preview, Prediction: Penguins vs Red Wings (Wednesday, October 18)
Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images. Pictured: Penguins center Evgeni Geno Malkin
Penguins vs Red Wings Odds
| Penguins Odds | -125 |
| Red Wings Odds | +104 |
| Over / Under | 6.5 -112 / -109 |
After a disappointing loss to Chicago in its season opener, the Pittsburgh Penguins bounced back by comfortably beating Washington and Calgary.If the Penguins are going to extend their winning streak further, it will have to be at the expense of the Detroit Red Wings, who have looked pretty strong thus far.
While on the road, the Red Wings faced the difficult Devils and held their own in a 4-3 loss. Detroit then bested Tampa Bay and Columbus to match Pittsburgh's 2-1-0 start.
Although Detroit doesn't match the Penguins in star power, the Red Wings are showing that they're an opponent that can't be easily bested.
Here's the breakdown for Penguins vs Red Wings Tuesday night.
Those Penguins stars have been a huge part of Pittsburgh's early success.
Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel have already accumulated six points each while Sidney Crosby has three goals and an assist. Defenseman Kris Letang, meanwhile, has chipped in three helpers.
Crosby, Malkin and Letang might all be at least 36 years old now, but they're still clearly among the best the NHL has to offer.
Major offseason acquisition Erik Karlsson has had a comparatively quiet start with an assist in three contests, but it shouldn't take him too long to get going. Traditionally he's been effective against the Red Wings, providing six goals and 28 points in 28 career games, so perhaps this will be his first big night as a member of the Penguins.
Pittsburgh's main X factor, though, is still starting goaltender Tristan Jarry. After a somewhat mixed 2022-23 in which he posted a 2.90 GAA and a .909 save percentage in 47 contests, the Penguins' path to the playoffs this campaign is likely contingent on him having a good season.
So far in 2023-24, he's had an underwhelming start, allowing three goals on 35 shots against the lowly Blackhawks – and a far more encouraging 19-save shutout over the rival Capitals.
If he gets the start, this will be another early test for Jarry. Encouragingly, he does have a 1.34 GAA and a .953 save percentage in three career outings versus Detroit.
Steve Yzerman will probably go down as one of the most successful players and executives in the history of the NHL.
Even still, perhaps his biggest accomplishment since taking over as Red Wings general manager was acquiring Alex DeBrincat from Ottawa and signing him to a four-year, $31.5-million contract.
So far that move has worked great for Detroit with DeBrincat providing three goals and five points through three contests.
Of course, that's a small sample size, but it would not be surprising to see the 25-year-old, who has reached the 40-goal milestone twice, continue to gel with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond on the Red Wings' top line.
Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has been another strong summer addition, contributing a goal and three points through three games. Gostisbehere is likely to be used conservatively in even-strength situations this season, but he figures to be a mainstay on Detroit's top power-play unit.
Detroit's power play has been on fire thus far, converting on 40% of its chances, so Pittsburgh's success tonight might be dependent on staying out of the box.
While the Red Wings offense should challenge the Penguins, Detroit goaltender Ville Husso might fail to fulfill his end of the bargain. He's 1-1-0 with a 3.57 GAA and an .863 in two starts this year and didn't look good last season either, posting a 3.11 GAA and an .896 save percentage in 56 starts.
Penguins vs. Red Wings
Betting Pick & Prediction
Pittsburgh is being treated as a mild favorite (-125 at BetRivers) as of this writing.
The combination factors of the Penguins' stars being hot and Husso's underwhelming play are likely to lead to a fair number of Pittsburgh goals.
Detroit does have the offensive power to keep up, which is what keeps this contest from being projected as a blowout, but the Penguins still deserve the slight edge that oddsmakers are giving them.
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I gave serious consideration to recommending Pittsburgh on the 60-minute three-way line ("in regulation"), which offers a better possible return with the tradeoff that you lose the bet if the game goes to overtime.
However, while I think that's a fair choice, betting on there being more than 6.5 goals is just too tempting to pass up.
Sure, the return on that bet is a bit lower than what I usually like to recommend, but between these two offenses, I think the odds of this being a high-scoring game are great, especially after these two squads combined for 26 goals over three games in their meetings last year.
Pick: Over 6.5 goals (-112 at BetRivers) | Play to -135
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