Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Ottawa Senators Game 3 Preview
Where: Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa
When: Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 8:00 PM ET
Line: Pittsburgh Penguins (-130) vs. Ottawa Senators (+110); total: 5.0 – view all NHL lines
TV Broadcast: NBCSN
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Betting on the Pittsburgh Penguins (-1.5)
Matt Murray will have to wait to get his starting gig back. Not with Marc-Andre Fleury playing so good right now. Murray once again was superb in Game 2, putting up a shutout performance in a 1-0 win over Ottawa at home Monday.
Fleury turned away all of the Sens’ 23 shots, bringing his playoffs saves percentage up to 9.31 and goals against average to 2.32, while sporting a 9-5-0 record that comes with two shutouts.
Mike Sullivan is going to stick with the 12-year veteran in front of the net, but hoping for Fleury to sustain this kind of form is risky for the Penguins, who will have to find ways to get more goals. The Penguins are second in the postseason with 3.07 goals per game but has mustered just one goal so far in the conference finals.
Getting more aggressive will be key for the Pens’ offense. After being outshot in all of their previous 10 games, the Pens were finally able to win the possession battle in Game 2, flinging 29 shots against Ottawa’s 23.
Pittsburgh is 3-1 in its last four road games.
Betting on the Ottawa Senators (+1.5)
The Senators are coming home happy they were able to steal a win in Pittsburgh. And hopefully for the team, goalie Craig Anderson will continue to be just as fantastic in front of the net.
Anderson is having quite a duel with Pittsburgh’s Fleury through two games of the series in which the 35-year-old netminder has allowed just two goals on 57 shots faced. This postseason, Anderson is 9-5-0 with a 2.28 GAA and .920 SV%.
The bigger concern for the Senators is solving Fleury’s defense on the other end of the ice. Ottawa’s attackers were silenced in Game 2 with top postseason scorers Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Bobby Ryan unable to neither find the back of the net. In any case, the two will have to ramp up their aggressiveness moving forward. Pageau had two shots on goal in Game 2, while Ryan had none.
Pageau paces the Sens these playoffs with eight goals. Ryan, on the other hand, is second with five to go with 11 assists.
Ottawa has beaten the Penguins in the last two meetings at Canadian Tire Centre and is 3-1 in the last four overall.
Writer’s Prediction
Ottawa (+110) wins, 3-2.
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