Pens Host the Maple Leafs in NHL Action

Crosby Faces Maple Leafs Young NHL Star Tonight

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Pittsburgh Penguins meet in Saturday NHL action.  The battle will commence at PPG Paints Arena at 7 pm EST. NHL Network will have all the coverage.

Oddsmakers opened the Penguins as -121-moneyline favorites versus the Maple Leafs, while the game's total opened at 6.

Sidney Crosby has been the face of the NHL for this generation. The 30-year old Penguins star will again get to see one of the NHL's brightest young players tonight. The Maple Leaf's Auston Mathews is only 20 years old and in his 2nd NHL season.  Mathews leads Toronto with 26 points. That includes 13 goals.

The Pens have held Mathews pointless in their first two matchups in his rookie season, but had a goal and an assist to clinch the Maple Leafs playoff berth. It was the teams first sine the 2012-13 season.

In their last action, Pittsburgh was a 4-3 winner at home against the New York Islanders. Bettors on Pittsburgh at -155 on the moneyline collected their winnings from that game, while the total score (7) sent OVER bettors home happy as well.

The Pens are winners of five of its past six

In their last action, Toronto was a 2-1 winner at home against the Calgary Flames. Bettors on Toronto at -153 on the moneyline collected their winnings from that game, while the total score (3) sent UNDER bettors home happy as well.

The Maple Leafs won two of three against the Penguins last season. Going into their first meeting of this season, Toronto has a two-point edge in the Eastern Conference over Pittsburgh.  The Maple Leaf's are 4-2-0 in its past six games.

The Maple Leafs rely heavily on speed. That is something that could be a form of emulation of the Penguins. The Pens have used speed for much of their success.

Recent Form

Team	Record	Money	Offense	Defense	Fave	Dog	O/U
Toronto	18-10-1	$409.00	3.54	3.00	13-8	5-3	14-12-3
Pittsburgh	16-11-3	-$247.00	2.85	3.46	13-9	3-5	17-12-1

Team Records

Toronto Maple Leafs

Name	Record	Home	Away	Fave	Dog	O/U
Overall	18-10-1	9-5-0	9-5-1	12-7-1	6-3-0	14-12-3
Last 10	6-3-1	2-2-0	4-1-1	5-3-1	2-0-0	3-6-1
vs Div	5-1-1	2-0-0	3-1-1	3-1-1	3-0-0	3-3-1
vs EAST	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0
vs WEST	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0

Pittsburgh Penguins

Name	Record	Home	Away	Fave	Dog	O/U
Overall	16-11-3	10-3-1	6-8-2	13-8-1	3-3-2	17-12-1
Last 10	6-4-0	4-3-0	2-1-0	5-4-0	1-0-0	6-3-1
vs Div	4-2-0	2-1-0	2-1-0	3-2-0	1-0-0	4-2
vs EAST	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0
vs WEST	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0

NHL Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	3.48	3	3.27	24
Away Team Away Scoring vs Home Team Home Defense	3.67	1	2.57	10
Away Team Road Powerplay vs Home Team Home Penalty Kill	22.86	10	80.00	16
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	3.00	15	2.93	12
Home Team Home Scoring vs Away Team Road Defense	3.50	11	2.67	4
Home Team Home Power Play vs Away Team Road Penalty Kill	23.33	7	89.36	2

Head To Head Summary

Team	record	O/U	AVG	shots	power play goals	power play percentage	penalty kill percentage	power play chances
Toronto	3-6-1	3-6-1	1.90	30.80	4	10.53	73.53	38
Pittsburgh	7-1-2	3-6-1	3.00	34.50	9	26.47	89.47	34

Head To Head Detail

Date	Away	away score	Home	home score	line	Total	O/U	away shots	home shots	Away Power Play Goals	Home Power Play Goals	Away Power Plays	Home Power Plays	Away PP%	Home PP%	Away PK%	Home PK%
Apr 8, 2017	PIT	3	TOR	5	-187	5.5	O	18	30	1	1	2	3	50	33.3	66.7	50
Dec 17, 2016	PIT	1	TOR	2	-102	5.5	U	34	49	1	0	4	4	25	0	100	75
Nov 12, 2016	TOR	1	PIT	4	-226	5.5	U	36	49	0	1	2	3	0	33.3	66.7	100
Dec 30, 2015	TOR	3	PIT	2	-178	5	P	36	41	0	1	2	5	0	20	80	100
Oct 31, 2015	PIT	4	TOR	0	134	5	U	32	21	1	0	3	4	33.3	0	100	66.7
Oct 17, 2015	TOR	1	PIT	2	-251	5.5	U	27	33	0	0	4	5	0	0	100	100
Nov 26, 2014	TOR	3	PIT	4	-199	5.5	O	27	26	0	1	3	3	0	33.3	66.7	100
Nov 14, 2014	PIT	2	TOR	1	128	5.5	U	40	31	0	0	3	6	0	0	100	100
Oct 11, 2014	PIT	5	TOR	2	115	5.5	O	41	25	3	2	5	5	60	40	60	40
Dec 16, 2013	TOR	1	PIT	3	-150	5.5	U	26	31	1	0	5	1	20	0	100	80

NHL Betting Trends

Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto is 10-4 SU in its last 14 games
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Toronto's last 12 games
Toronto is 14-5 ATS in its last 19 games on the road
Toronto is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games on the road
Toronto is 3-8 SU in its last 11 games when playing Pittsburgh
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Toronto's last 6 games when playing Pittsburgh
Toronto is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Toronto's last 18 games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh is 8-17 ATS in its last 25 games
Pittsburgh is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Pittsburgh's last 8 games
Pittsburgh is 2-6 ATS in its last 8 games at home
Pittsburgh is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Pittsburgh's last 6 games at home
Pittsburgh is 8-3 SU in its last 11 games when playing Toronto
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Pittsburgh's last 6 games when playing Toronto
Pittsburgh is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Toronto
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Pittsburgh's last 18 games when playing at home against Toronto

Team Last 5 Games

Toronto Maple Leafs

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	shots	shots against	power play	penalty kill	opposing goalie	Location
Dec 6, 2017	CAL	2-1	W	-153	29	48	0/4	1/2	Mike Smith	H
Dec 2, 2017	VAN	1-2	L	-147	36	26	0/2	1/1	Jacob Markstrom	A
Nov 30, 2017	EDM	6-4	W	-114	36	45	2/2	2/2	Laurent Brossoit	A
Nov 28, 2017	CAL	4-1	W	106	30	20	0/2	3/3	Mike Smith	A
Nov 25, 2017	WAS	2-4	L	-126	29	21	0/1	2/3	Braden Holtby	H

Pittsburgh Penguins

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	shots	shots against	power play	penalty kill	opposing goalie	Location
Dec 7, 2017	NYI	4-3	W	-155	32	26	2/2	4/4	Jaroslav Halak	H
Dec 5, 2017	NYR	3-4	L	-171	44	29	1/3	2/2	Ondrej Pavelec	H
Dec 2, 2017	BUF	5-1	W	-222	29	33	1/6	4/4	Chad Johnson	H
Dec 1, 2017	BUF	4-0	W	-150	25	34	0/1	4/4	Robin Lehner	A
Nov 27, 2017	PHI	5-4	W	-140	52	32	1/5	3/4	Brian Elliott	H

 

Next up:
Toronto home to Edmonton Sunday, December 10
Pittsburgh home to Colorado Monday, December 11

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