The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Columbus Blue Jackets take to the ice tonight in NHL Playoff action. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network. Currently the NHL Playoff Odds for the game have Pittsburgh favored here.
The Columbus Blue Jackets probably aren't in a very good mood right now. They led the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 in Game 3 but ended up losing at home, 4-3. Now the Penguins hold a 2-1 advantage in the series and are looking for a big knockdown blow to the Blue Jackets in this game tonight. Columbus blew a two-goal advantage in the opening game of this series as well, with the Penguins getting the series-opening win. Pittsburgh then, stumbled their way to a two-goal disaster in the second game, allowing Columbus to win the team's first playoff game.
The fans at Nationwide Arena tonight will continue to be rowdy and Columbus is going to have to try and find a way to win. They've dodged some bullets so far this series as Pittsburgh's big guns Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have yet to score. Chris Kunitz, James Neal and Kris Letang also have not lit the lamp for the Penguins yet this series, which certainly has Pittsburgh feeling OK at this point. They're up 2-1 in the series and haven't really gotten big contributions from their best players. Crosby hasn't scored a goal in his last seven playoff games, Malkin in his last six playoff games. Crosby led the league with 104 points during the regular season.
Neal has 16 shots on goal in this series. He's going to continue pounding the puck as well. He's going to score at some point this series if he continues to shoot as much as he is. Paul Martin has logged six assists for the Pens so far and Matt Niskanen has scored twice.
Marc-Andre Fleury has been a bit inconsistent to this point in the series, but he's gotten the job done. Sergei Bobrovsky hasn't been given a lot of chances to succeed so far as Columbus has been in their defensive zone often in this series. If the Jackets can play better in their own zone and keep shots off of Bobrovsky, he can put them in a position to get a win here tonight.
Jack Johnson has logged three goals for the Jackets. Brandon Dubinsky, much like Pittsburgh's Neal, is continuing to shoot the puck in this series and has four assists so far.
Columbus has to stay out of the box. They've given up three power play tallies, but have killed off 82.4 percent of their penalties. Two of their goals have come on the shorthand so far this series as well, but in order to get a victory here tonight they'll have to play well on their special teams.
The Blue Jackets need a victory here tonight or they're pretty much going to see their season come to a close. We like Bobrovsky to come up huge tonight for the Jackets, who will do just enough to get a win on their home ice.
Free Pick: Columbus 3, Pittsburgh 2
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