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Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Boston Bruins Picks & NHL Preview

Penguins vs Bruins NHL Line & Handicapping

Eastern Powers Clash – Bruins Host Penguins Monday Night

The marquee matchup on the NHL Monday night schedule takes place in Boston where the Pittsburgh Penguins return to Boston where they saw their playoff dreams end last year.

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Pittsburgh (15-9-0-0) at Boston (15-6-0-2)
When: 7:00 PM ET, Monday, November 25, 2013
Where: TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Broadcast: RDS, ROOT, NESN
Penguins vs. Bruins Betting Lines from betonline.com
Pittsburgh Penguins +1½ -275 +117 Ov 5 -108
Boston Bruins -1½ +230 -129 Un 5 -102
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Matchup | Preview

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It’s true the Pens were dominated in the playoffs last year but they are 9-1 in its past 10 regular-season games against Boston and they have won seven straight in the series. Boston enters hot – 7-1-1 in their last nine overall and the Bruins are 6-0-2 in their past eight games on home ice.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are looking very much like a Cup contender (duh!!) and despite some inconsistency they have been rounding into form. The best players are definitely playing up to their billing.

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Sidney Crosby had a three-game goal streak snapped Saturday but leads the league with 30 points. He has five goals and seven assists in his last nine regular-season matchups with Boston.

Evgeni Malkin has a goal and 15 assists in his past 11 games overall and has a goal and seven assists during a four game points streak, Paul Martin (1-3-4) and Neal (3-3-6) each have points in their past three and Chris Kunitz has recorded three goals and four assists during a seven-game regular-season point streak against the Bruins.

Numbers like that and it wouldn’t seem that offense will be a problem but the Bruins have been the Bruins kryptonite in the last four meetings (the sweep in last year’s playoffs).

The Bruins have been playing their bruising brand of hockey that they have built their reputation around – to perfection. They are 7-1-1 in their last eight games, they are allowing just 1.78 goals per game and are scoring 2.74 goals per game.
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Tuukka Rask, who sat out the game Saturday, is 12-5-2 with a 1.62 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage – playing incredible hockey at this point of the season.

Boston’s depth has really been an asset – the top guys have been fairly invisible during the Bruins recent run. Jarome Iginla – four points in 12 games and Loui Eriksson – no points in three games for example.

Guys like Carl Soderber and Reilly Smith are the hottest players on the roster – they each have four points in four games.

Betting Prediction

A few trends to consider:

• Under is 5-1-2 in PIT last 8 overall.
• Under is 8-2 in PIT last 10 Mon. games.
• PIT are 46-20 in their last 66 overall.
• BOS are 7-2 in their last 9 overall.
• Under is 20-8-12 in BOS last 40 home games.
• Under is 38-18-16 in BOS last 72 overall.
• Under is 9-1-1 in the last 11 meetings in Boston.
• Under is 7-1 in the last 8 meetings.

The Penguins have owned the regular season matchup between these teams and are a rare underdog Monday night. As good as Tuukka Rask has been lately Marc Andre Fleury has been just as good recently – 2-1-0 in his last three starts with a 1.34 GAA.

I think Pittsburgh comes out looking to avenge their early departure from the playoffs last year and gets it done. The Pens as an underdog- I’ll take them every time.

Pick: Pittsburgh Penguins +117

By DaveB

Dave B has been a Fantasy Football writer for us for 10 years. A couch potato wannabe, Dave’s insights have been read by 10’s of people for years. He hope’s for world peace + global relaxation. Enjoy and remember only smoke things that are completely natural.