Penguins And Maple Leafs Finish Back-To-Backs

The Pittsburgh Penguins entered the NHL All-Star break with the league’s longest winning streak of seven straight games, and they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second time in two nights Wednesday night in Toronto.

With Sidney Crosby out, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ offense lives and dies by the stick of Evgeni Malkin. In the six games prior to their seven-game winning streak, Pittsburgh (28-17-4) went 0-6 while averaging just one goal per game, getting just two goals from Malkin over that stretch. Over the last seven games, Pittsburgh is averaging 3.6 goals per game, fueled by Malkin’s nine lamp-lighters.

Toronto (25-19-5) entered the break tied with Florida and New Jersey with 55 points, but on the outside of the current playoff cutoff mark with one more game played. After playing against the Penguins Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, the Maple Leafs host the Pens Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. (ET).

The New York Rangers (31-12-4) entered the break with the top spot in the Eastern Conference, and hope to hold on to that spot down the stretch. After taking on New Jersey on the road Tuesday night, New York heads to Buffalo to take on the struggling Sabres Wednesday night.

Buffalo (20-24-5) entered their game on the road against Montreal Tuesday night just 4-12-2 (4-14 on the moneyline) since December 17, and ranked among the worst in the NHL in goals for (25th with 2.4 per game) and goals against (26th with 3.0 per game). Wednesday night’s matchup starts at 7:30 p.m. (ET) and will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network.

Currently tied in the standings with 55 points through 48 games apiece, the Washington Capitals (26-19-3) head to Florida (22-15-11) to take on the Panthers in a critical game for the top spot in the Southeast Division Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. (ET). This will be the third of six meetings between these division rivals this season and the first of three meetings in the month of February.

The home team won each of the first two games as Washington won 3-0 as a -240 home favorite back in October and Florida won 5-4 at -110 at home in December. Washington has been a bad road team this season at 8-13-2, but Florida hasn’t been very good at home (11-5-7) either. The Capitals play Tuesday night at Tampa Bay while Florida has the night off, so fatigue could be a factor.

Rounding out Wednesday night’s NHL betting card are two games down in Southern California as the Anaheim Ducks (18-23-7) host the Dallas Stars (25-21-2) and the Los Angeles Kings (24-16-10) host the Columbus Blue Jackets (13-30-6), both starting at 10:30 p.m. (ET).

After starting off the season an abysmal 10-22-6, Anaheim entered the Tuesday night’s game at Phoenix on an impressive 8-1-1 run, averaging 3.6 goals per game over the 10-game stretch. The Blue Jackets have been the NHL’s worst team by a wide margin this year, but they did pick up a 1-0 upset win in their last trip to Los Angeles in January as a +180 underdog.