Ottawa vs Pittsburgh | Betting Preview, Odds, Pick

NHL Playoff Pick: Can Ottawa Streak Past Pittsburgh?

The Ottawa Senators enter the NHL playoffs as one of the hotter teams in the league and face a seasoned, well rounded Pittsburgh team that is out to prove their doubters wrong. This should be a competitive series and both teams will be looking for a quick start in Game 1.

Ottawa Senators (44-32-6) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (47-28-7)
7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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• The Pittsburgh Penguins ranked 5th on offense, and averaged 3.0 goals per game. The Penguins are 17.2% on the power play and have 56 power play goals.
• The Ottawa Senators ranked 15th on offense, and averaged 2.7 goals per game. The Senators are 17.0% on the power play and have 49 power play goals.
• The Penguins averaged 3.4 goals per game at home, and gave up 2.8 goals against on defense.
• The Senators averaged 2.5 goals per game on the road, and gave up 3.2 goals against on defense.

Ottawa Senators: +170

The Ottawa Senators will try to knock off the defending Stanley Cup champions in their first round series that begins on Wednesday night. The Senators have been the streakiest team in the NHL this season and are hoping for a good streak to kick in immediately. Ottawa was 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and entered the post season on quite a high.

The Senators have to get good efforts from their beat players and by the play of Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza lately, that need should be realized. Spezza had 14 points in his last eight games, Alfredsson had 15 points in his last 11 games and rookie defenseman Erik Karlsson tallied nine points in his last seven.

The question marks surrounding the Senators are their 18-21-2 road record during the season and the play of goaltender Brian Elliot toward the end of the season. A big part of the Sens’ success, Elliot suffered through a 2-1-1 stretch in which his goals against average was a poor 3.32 and his save percentage was a brutal .877. He will obviously have to be better.

Pittsburgh Penguins: -210

The Pittsburgh Penguins and their fifth ranked offense will be hoping that they have worked out the kinks and that they are ready for what they hope is a long playoff run. Although the Pens didn’t light the league on fire this season, they enter the playoffs as the fourth seed in the East, just like they did last year. Pittsburgh went an uninspiring 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.

The Penguins appear to be going in the right direction. Captain Sid has been outstanding as of late, gaining the NHL’s First Star Honour in the last week of the season. He scored twelve points in his last four games, fifteen in five and twenty points in his last eight games which included five games with at least three points! Evgeni Malkin has shown some signs of life with four points in his last two games and Pascal Dupuis has recorded four points in his last four. With Marc-Andre Fleury in goal and the talented set of forwards that the Pens have, they are going to be a huge challenge for the Ottawa Senators.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are 48-21 in their last 69 home games but the road team is 7-3 in the last 10 meetings. Ottawa is going to get some wins in this series, but those wins will not likely come on the road.

Pick: Pittsburgh Penguins -210

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Ottawa Senators Betting Trends:

• Ottawa is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games
• The total has gone OVER in 5 of Ottawa’s last 6 games
• The total has gone OVER in 4 of Ottawa’s last 5 games on the road
• Ottawa is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games on the road

Pittsburgh Penguins Betting Trends:

• The total has gone OVER in 4 of Pittsburgh’s last 5 games
• The total has gone OVER in 4 of Pittsburgh’s last 5 games at home
• Pittsburgh is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games at home
• Pittsburgh is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games when playing Ottawa