Pittsburgh Penguins - Vancouver Canucks predictions and free betting tips [12/01/2024]

The Pittsburgh Penguins will host the Vancouver Canucks in an NHL regular season match on Friday morning.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Despite a rocky start and minimal chances of securing top positions, the Pittsburgh Penguins are incrementally upping their game, with hopes of securing a playoff position. Since early December, the team has demonstrated an improvement by winning 7 out of 10 games, including a recent 4:1 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers. This winning streak, featuring victories against Boston, Minnesota, New York Islanders, and St. Louis, has counterbalanced the 1:3 loss to Buffalo.

Standouts in these games include Sidney Crosby, who scored a goal and assisted another against Boston, advancing him to the 12th top scorer in NHL history with 1540 points; and Evgeni Malkin, who has scored 4 goals and acquired 8 points in the recent 7 games. Malkin has thoroughly been contributing defensively after a slow start to the season. The Penguins average 3 goals per game, whilst conceding an average of 2.71 goals. Team captain, Sidney Crosby, has garnered 41 points, including 22 goals, whereas Jake Guentzel leads the team with 44 points. Evgeni Malkin also made a significant contribution with 15 goals and 20 assists. Rickard Rakell, who scored 4 goals in the last 8 games, broke his non-scoring streak. Despite some losses, the Penguins are still in close proximity of the conference leaders and show good results, helped partially by Bryan Rust returning from injury.

Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks have shown impressive results in the current NHL season, winning 11 out of the last 15 games, including a victory over the New York Islander with a score of 6:3. They hold key positions in the league with 57 points and show one of the best attacks in the league, scoring an average of 3.94 goals per game. Brock Boeser with 25 goals and Quinn Hughes with 36 assists stand out in the attack, as well as Andrei Kuzmenko and Ilya Mikheyev, who have significantly contributed with 18 goals and 22 assists respectively.

In the midst of their longest road trip this season, the Canucks show resilience with three victories in the last four road games, including consecutive victories over the Rangers and Islanders. Coach Rick Tocchet noted the team's readiness and aspiration to lead the NHL. The Canucks are achieving a 4-1 result in January and a 12-3-2 result since the start of December. The trio of Pettersson, Miller, and Boeser show excellent cooperation, providing the team with 6 goals and 5 assists in the recent matches.

Cage protection has been at a high, thanks to Thatcher Demko with 20 victories in 28 matches. The Canucks lead the Pacific Division and top the NHL in goals scored, despite being ranked 26th for shots on goal. The team, which has reached the playoffs twice in the past 10 seasons, is proving their strength in the current season.

Head-to-head 

The Penguins have won 3 out of the last 4 matches but haven't faced each other yet this season. In the game played on 11th January 2023, Pittsburgh bested Vancouver with a score of 5:4. Earlier, on 29th October 2022, Vancouver demonstrated a strong performance winning against Pittsburgh with a score of 5:1. There were interesting matches in previous seasons too; on 5th December 2021, Pittsburgh lost to Vancouver with a massive score of 1:4, yet on 25th November 2021, Pittsburgh again showed superiority by beating Vancouver with a score of 4:1.

Match prediction: Pittsburgh Penguins - Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver is showing an overperformance this season, leading in goals scored despite being 25th in shots on goal. Pittsburgh, with some help from Malkin, is getting back in the fight aiming at least for the playoffs. Vancouver, playing away from home for a week and a half, seem to have accrued fatigue. Betting is favouring the hosts for the victory.