{"id":460608,"date":"2025-01-11T08:15:38","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T13:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=460608"},"modified":"2025-01-11T07:52:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T12:52:57","slug":"nhl-predictions-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/11\/nhl-predictions-9\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: Jan. 11 Pittsburgh Penguins vs Ottawa Senators"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> host the Ottawa Senators<\/a> in a crucial Eastern Conference matchup at PPG Paints Arena. Welcome back to NHL Predictions<\/a> here on Last Word on Hockey! Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for NHL games. In tonight\u2019s game, the Penguins look to keep their momentum alive coming off a win against the Edmonton Oilers. Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators are looking to establish themselves in the wildcard race after falling a few spots.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Ottawa Senators<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Head-to-Head:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguins 0-1 Senators<\/h4>\n

Time:<\/strong> 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)<\/p>\n

TV:<\/strong>\u00a0Sportsnet Pittsburgh; TSN5; ESPN+<\/p>\n

The Penguins and Senators find themselves in similar positions as they fight to gain ground in the wildcard race. Ottawa has won the live five contests against Pittsburgh, including a win in overtime on December 14th<\/sup> of this season. Ottawa\u2019s dominance against the Penguins will be a big factor in this crucial matchup.<\/p>\n

The Penguins\u2019 Story<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Pittsburgh Penguins (18-17-8) are coming off a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Sidney Crosby<\/a> continues to lead the team with 47 points in 43 games following a three-point game against the Oilers. Rickard Rakell<\/a> and Michael Bunting have also continued to stay hot. Rakell is up to 21 goals and 36 points in 43 games. Micheal Bunting has six points in his last six games, with 25 points in 42 games on the season.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s goaltending has been a hot topic this season. Following a three-game skid, Tristan Jarry<\/a> was benched in favour of Alex Nedeljkovic<\/a> to play against Edmonton. The Penguins would go up 5-1 before allowing two before the end of the second period. In the third, Nedeljkovic shut the door on the best offensive stars in the game. He made 43 saves on 46 shots, getting Pittsburgh the win with his .930 save percentage.<\/p>\n

The Senators\u2019 Story<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Ottawa Senators had pulled themselves into a wildcard spot just a few weeks ago. However, the team has limped to a 4-5-1 record in their last 10. The team\u2019s 19-18-3 record puts them a few spots below the top teams in the wildcard race. Tim Stutzle leads the teams offence, with 41 points in 40 games. Captain Brady Tkachuk<\/a> has been integral to the teams offence, with 38 points in 40 games while playing in the tougher areas. Something that has been missing from the Senators game is the offence from the blueline. Premier defenceman Jake Sanderson<\/a> and Thomas Chabot<\/a> have only scored 22 and 18 points in 40 games, respectively. Activating the defence may be key to breaking this slump Ottawa finds itself in.<\/p>\n

In net, the Ottawa Senators certainly miss Linus Ullmark<\/a>. The goaltender was 12-7-2 prior to injury with a sterling .915 save percentage. In his absence, Anton Forsberg<\/a> has struggled to hold the fort. He has lost five straight, with a record of 4-8-1 this season. Forsberg\u2019s abysmal .883 save percentage bodes well for the Penguin\u2019s surging offence in this matchup.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The game against Edmonton felt like a statement game for Pittsburgh. With a back-to-back looming, expect Nedeljkovic to start and help back-stop the Penguins to a win.<\/p>\n

Prediction:\u00a0Penguins win 5-2.<\/em><\/p>\n

Prop Bet for the Night<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We close out this edition of NHL predictions with our preferred prop bet of the evening.\u00a0FanDuel\u2019s<\/a> Total Goals Over 7 (+182)<\/strong>\u00a0is a solid bet, with the Penguins offence scoring at will, and regularly struggling to hold leads as well.<\/p>\n

Main photo by: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions, some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Penguins host the Ottawa Senators in a crucial Eastern Conference matchup at PPG Paints Arena. Welcome back to NHL Predictions here on Last Word on Hockey! Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for NHL games. In tonight\u2019s game, the Penguins look to keep their momentum alive coming off a win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5231,"featured_media":458543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4547,4548,8,12,4524],"tags":[4365,1752,2133,4555,3476,6109,6123,140,804,477],"class_list":["post-460608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-senators","category-penguins","category-nhl-predictions","tag-alex-nedeljkovic","tag-anton-forsberg","tag-brady-tkachuk","tag-jake-sanderson","tag-linus-ullmark","tag-ottawa-senators-predictions","tag-pittsburgh-penguins-predictions","tag-sidney-crosby","tag-thomas-chabot","tag-tristan-jarry"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5231"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460608"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460625,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460608\/revisions\/460625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}