Tip: Another high-scoring contest between Detroit and Pittsburgh?

The Pittsburgh Penguins are visiting Little Caesars Arena and Detroit Red Wings on Saturday at 01:00 PM ET.

Detroit Red Wings-Pittsburgh Penguins

Detroit Red Wings

For the seventh-straight season, the Detroit Red Wings miss the NHL playoffs after their loss on penalties against Buffalo at Thursday night. The Red Wings is, however, taking steps in the right direction as they with four games left to play already has taken more points than last year, and the Michigan-team has young players that are taking steps in the right direction and most likely will be key players for the team in the future. Players I am thinking about is of course Moritz Seider, Simon Edvinsson and Lucas Raymond, and beside the three youngsters, the Red Wings possesses over interesting players such as their captain, Dylan Larkin, David Perron and Dominik Kubalik. The Red Wings has scored an average of three goals per game this season, and their last five games has resulted like this:

• 6-7-loss at penalties against Sabres
• 5-0-win @ Canadiens
• 5-2-win @ Maple Leafs
• 6-2-loss @ Jets
• 3-2-win against Hurricanes

The Red Wings has played some high-scoring games lately, and that’s not astonishing if we look into the Red Wings Roster – as they have a strong offense with the above-mentioned players Dylan Larkin, David Perron, Dominik Kubalik and Lucas Raymond. The Red Wings has meanwhile been forced to deal with concerns on the goalkeeping side – as none of either Ville Husso, Alex Nedeljkovic or Magnus Hellberg been good enough to take the team to the playoffs and all three of them are noted with a save percentage below 0.900.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Like the preamble says, the Penguins are in the hunt for a playoff spot and especially a Wild Card spot, and they are mainly battling with a Florida in good shape, and with the NY Islanders. In the hunt for the Wild Card spot, the Penguins took an important victory on Thursday night as they defeated the Minnesota Wild by 4-1 at home in PPG Paints Arena. Mike Sullivan’s team has, similar to the home team, been a team that has played high-scoring games lately and this is how their five last games has resulted:

• 4-1-win against Wild
• 5-1-loss @ Devils
• 4-2-win against Flyers
• 3-4-loss against Bruins
• 2-0-win against Predators

Pittsburgh has been a strong offensive team this season and has on average scored 3,19 goals per game and are among the teams in the league that is creating the biggest amount of goal scoring chances as they shoot over 34 shots on goal per game. Even if we look at what the team puts on the ice, the offense is the Penguins strongest team part and it is, of course, Sidney Crosby who is the leading locomotive of the team and the team’s offense, and beside “Sid the kid”, Sullivan possesses over players such as Evgeni Malin, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust. When both defensemen Dmitry Kulikov and Marcus Pettersson can be found on the injury list, there is no doubt that the offense is the team’s strongest part. As there is a lot at stake for Pittsburgh, we can assume that the team’s best players are going to get a lot of time on ice.

Conclusion and prediction

Detroit are out of the question to reach the playoffs, and takes on a Pittsburgh that has a lot to play for as they are on the hunt for a Wild Card spot. I think that Detroit, with a weak goalkeeping side, will not put so much emphasize on the defensive structures, and the home team have players, such as Dylan Larkin, David Perron, Dominik Kubalik and Lucas Raymond, that can produce in the offense. At the same time, the visiting Pittsburgh have a strong offense, leaded by Sidney Crosby, that has to deliver to keep the playoffs dream alive. Their defense is far away from keeping the same quality as the offense, and with two of their ordinary defensemen, Dmiry Kulikov and Marcus Pettersson, on the injury list - the difference in quality is even greater.

These teams have played against each other two times this year, and it has been two high-scoring games as the results has been 7-4 and 5-4 (at overtime) for Detroit. That it once again will be a high-scoring contest between this two teams is, in my opinion, likely based on the conditions.

My betting tip for this game is therefore:

Over 6.0 Goals (Regular time) @ -128 at Unibet

Stake refunded if exactly six goals scored during regular game time