NHL Finals – Game 3 Preview
The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the home ice tonight and they really need to win tonight, as they are down 2-0 against the defending champion Detroit Red Wings. In the last 32 NHL finals the team that has won the first 2 games at home has won 31 times.
One of the leading sportsbooks has the Penguins favorites in this game with a moneyline of -150 and the Red Wings posted at +130 as the underdog with a total of 5.5. Since the Red Wings have won the first 2 games of the series they are now huge favorites to win the series posted at -500 and the Penguins posted at +350.
The Red Wings may have the best offense in the NHL, but the reason they are up 2-0 in this series is because of their defense. The Red Wings have only allowed 2 goals in the series so far and goalie Chris Osgood is playing solid between the pipes. In game 2 he stopped 31 of 32 shots.
The tandem of Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin came into the finals tied with the most points in the playoffs (28), but while Malkin has scored a goal and assisted on the other in the finals Crosby has been blanked. It is not because Crosby is playing poorly, but Henrik Zetterberg has blanketed him and not allowed him any room to score. Since Crosby has been taken out of the equation the other forwards of the Penguins have to step up tonight and give Malkin some help.
Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury has to play solid tonight for the Penguins to win this game. In game 2 he stopped 23 of 26 shots with a save percentage of 88.5%.
Even though the Red Wings won game 2 the Penguins had their chances, as Detroit had 21 giveaways and Pittsburgh only had 12. The Penguins have to take advantage of those opportunities when they get them. They also have to stay out of the penalty box, as in game 2 the Penguins were in the box for 21 minutes and the Red Wings only logged 7 minutes in the box.
The series is not over and the Penguins know how to come back from down 2-0, as they did it against the Washington Capitals in the 2nd round of this season’s playoffs. They have a tall task to do that again facing a Red Wings team that is on fire.
This is not a must win game, but going down 3-0 to Detroit will pretty much squash the title hopes of Pittsburgh.
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