NHL Betting Picks: Atlanta Thrashers at Pittsburgh Penguins

Added on Dec 02, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NHL

The Pittsburgh Penguins host the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night in what should be a very entertaining NHL Eastern Conference battle. The Pens have overcome a slow start to climb to the top of the Atlantic Division and are currently on a 9-0-1 run in their last 10 games with 7 straight wins. The only team that’s played better hockey than Pittsburgh in the past couple of weeks has been the Atlanta Thrashers who’ve looked incredible during their 6 game winning streak.

Atlanta Thrashers at Pittsburgh Penguins
December 2, 2010 4:00 PM Pacific

Hard to find fault with anything that either team has done in recent games. Pittsburgh has won 7 straight and 9 of 10. During that run they’ve allowed more than 2 goals only twice. They’re not scoring as much as they had been earlier this year, but for a team with the longterm goal of a Stanley Cup they’re winning with defense and hard work and that’s the name of the game. The transformation in the Atlanta Thrashers over the past couple of weeks has been almost bizarre–while there was every expectation that they’d become a better defensive team once Ondrej Pavelec worked himself back into form but no one expected this. Pavelec now has the #3 goals against average in the NHL (1.65) thanks to his 14 goals in 10 games run (1.30 GAA in that stretch). The Thrashers had been scoring goals all year and still rank #6 in scoring offense, but now they’re playing good defense in front of Pavelec who is playing the best hockey of his brief career. Atlanta has only been outshot twice in their last 10 games and that could be as much responsible for their improved form as Pavelec’s strong play.

So why *not* take a Thrashers team playing the best hockey in the NHL as a decent sized underdog? Atlanta has outscored their last 7 opponents 22-5 with only one scoring more than a single goal against them. Even if the team doesn’t maintain their insane level of play, Pavelec is one of the best young goalies in the league and capable of winning games on his own. We’ll take the price with the red hot Thrashers and look for a low scoring game.

Bet Atlanta Thrashers +165 over Pittsburgh Penguins
Bet Atlanta/Pittsburgh Under 5′ +115