After being in chase mode for pretty much the entire season, the Pittsburgh Penguins can finally leapfrog the Washington Capitals with a home victory Tuesday night over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Penguins trail the idle Capitals by a single point atop the Metropolitan Division but are riding a two-game winning streak and are 21-5-4 at home this season.
- Date/Time: February 18, 7 p.m. ET
- Arena: PPG Paints Arena
- TV Coverage: SNET, NBCSN, ATTSN-PT
- Sportsbook Odds: Penguins -131 | O/U 6.5
- Maple Leafs vs Penguins Matchup Report
Sportsbook Odds Analysis
The Penguins come in as strong home favorites, which is no surprise given their dominance at PPG Paints Arena. The total is set at 6.5, with the OVER at -115 and the UNDER at +104.
Toronto News & Notes
Momentum has been an elusive creature for the Maple Leafs, who enter the new week having alternated wins and losses over their previous seven games to fall even further behind Boston and Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division race. Third is quite likely the best-case scenario for Toronto – and that’s by no means a sure thing, with Florida lurking just four points off the pace.
And things don’t get any easier for Auston Matthews and company, with the Leafs staring at one of the most challenging schedules in the NHL over the next two and a half weeks. They’ll play six of their next nine games away from Scotiabank Arena, beginning with a home-and-home vs Pittsburgh and winding up with a three-game West Coast trek that will see them visit all three California teams.
Pittsburgh News & Notes
It’s hard to believe the Penguins went past the quarter pole of their regular-season schedule barely above the .500 mark. They’ve been one of the hottest teams in the league since, having gone an incredible 22-6-2 in their past 30 games. They haven’t dropped back-to-back games since November 29-30, and they’ve lost just one regulation game on home ice since then.
Even more worrisome for their foes: the Penguins appear to have reversed their fortunes with the man advantage. Pittsburgh owns the league’s No. 7 power play since the all-star break, operating at a 26.1 percent success rate; that brings their season mark to 20.5 percent (15th overall). They’ve also been strong on the penalty kill at 85 percent since the break.
Betting Pick: Pittsburgh -1.5
Home ice has been a significant advantage for the Penguins, particularly over the past two and a half months – and with Toronto looking uneven over the past several weeks, it’s hard not to see Pittsburgh rolling here.
- Toronto is 4-10 SU in its past 14 visits to Pittsburgh.
- Pittsburgh is 11-4 SU in its last 15 games.
- The UNDER is 4-1 in Toronto’s last 5 games.
