NHL Betting Guide

Here we have the second best team in the Eastern Conference, the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

This is a team of unnaturally high expectations simply because of the presence of Sidney Crosby. Crosby has been likened unto Wayne Gretzky from the beginning, and it has got to be tough to draw comparisons to the greatest player of all time. Crosby was known has more of a playmaker the first few years of his career, putting up huge amounts of assists year in and year out. This year however he has had a hunger to punch the puck in himself, leading the league in goals so far on the season.

The team has a record on the season of 41-23-5 and appears to be a lock to make the playoffs this year.  They came into the seasons with expectations to be in the top three teams in the conference, perhaps behind the Capitals and the Boston Bruins, but have far and away surpassed the Bruins and have their eyes set on matching the capitals success.

If this team is going to have success they are going to have to be able to put things together on the power play. Despite having one more power play opportunity than the Washington Capitals they have only been only to put the puck in the net 47 times out of those 272 opportunities a mere 17.3%. This percentage ranks 9th in the Eastern Conference. If they really want to step up into the same league as the Washington Capitals this team needs to come up big when they have the man advantage in those power play opportunities.