Carolina vs. Pittsburgh. NHL match prediction and bets

Current form

Carolina dropped to fifth place in the conference standings after a lackluster performance in the second half of December. Rod Brin'D'Amour team had lost four of their previous six games and were often terrible on their half of the ice. In the road series, the Canes lost to Washington (1:3), won against the Rangers (3:1), and then suffered crushing defeats against Nashville (2:5) and New Jersey (2:4). In the return game against the Devils, the Hurricanes managed to win (5:2), and then played on the road against Columbus (3:4, B) and Florida (3:1). After returning home, the Hurricanes played very poorly against Minnesota (0:4). The hosts conceded in each period and were unable to beat Filip Gustavsson, making only 21 shots on his territory.

The home team has been less than confident in defense for a long time. Carolina has conceded at least three times per game in five games out of eight, while in the previous five games the projectile has found its way into the Canes' net 15 times. Petr Kochetkov has given up again after a good stretch. The Russian currently has only a 90.13% save percentage.

Martin Necas remains one of the NHL leading scorers. The Czech forward has 46 points (15+31) and is ahead of Sebastian Aho (12+28), who hasn't scored much yet. The rest of the Hurricanes' players aren't looking as good and can't compete with the club leaders yet.

Disqualifications and injuries

Shane Gostibehere, Tyson Jost, Frederik Andersen and Jesper Fast will not take part in the upcoming fight due to injuries.

Interesting trends for betting

• Carolina averages 32 shots on goal

The Hurricanes play a powerful attack and spend a lot of time in the offensive zone, taking a lot of shots on the opponent goal.

• According to statistics, the "hurricanes" carry out 19 power moves

Carolina doesn't play hard, so you rarely see a lot of physical attacks from them.

Current form

Pittsburgh is in ninth place in the conference and has not been able to rise higher yet. The Penguins have earned 40 points in 40 games and are tied with Ottawa in terms of points, but the Canadians have played two games less. The club from Pennsylvania can put the beginning of winter as an asset, because the visitors were able to get out of the basement of the Eastern Conference and are fighting for a place in the top eight. At the end of last year, Mike Sullivan men exchanged home victories with the Islanders (3:6 and 3:2), and in January they went on a new away tour. The Pens were unable to score points in Michigan and lost to Detroit (2:4), and before the meeting in Raleigh they lost to Florida (2:3, B). Sidney Crosby team came back twice during the meeting, but were still worse in the shootout.

The Petes have lost some of their scoring ability and have started losing points right away. They have scored only ten times in their last four starts, which has often been insufficient to win. The visiting captain Sidney Crosby is still very good and continues to help his teammates excel. This regular season, the legend and best player of the 21st century in the league has scored 42 (11+31) points.

The Penguins remain the team that concedes the most goals in the East with a rate of 3.70 goals per game. At the same time, Pittsburgh does not get penalties that often, but regularly fails in defense. In addition, the goalies of the visitors look very bad so far. Tristan Jarry still retains the status of the first goalie of the visitors, but he has stopped a modest 88.89% of shots.

Disqualifications and injuries

Jack St. Ivany will not be in Raleigh. Phillip Tomasino is questionable.

Interesting trends for betting

• Pittsburgh won only 51.8% of its faceoffs.

The Penguins are doing well at the point and are winning the puck from their opponents more often.

• The Petes are averaging 28 shots on target per game.

The visitors don't shoot too much and spend more time in the defensive zone.