{"id":460668,"date":"2025-01-12T10:07:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-12T15:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=460668"},"modified":"2025-01-12T10:07:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T15:07:53","slug":"nhl-predictions-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/12\/nhl-predictions-10\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: Jan. 12 Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> host the Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> coming off a 5-0 thrashing from the Senators<\/a> the night before. Welcome back to NHL Predictions<\/a> here on Last Word on Hockey! Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for all the NHL\u2019s games. In tonight\u2019s contest, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay look to rebound after losses yesterday.<\/p>\n

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

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Head-to-Head:<\/strong>\u00a0Lightning 1-0 Penguins<\/h4>\n

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

TV:<\/strong> Fan Duel Sports Sun; ESPN+, Sportsnet Pittsburgh; SN1<\/p>\n

The Penguins and Lightning meet for the second time this season, with Tampa Bay having taken the first contest, 3-2. Pittsburgh is looking to rebound following an embarrassing loss to the Ottawa Senators.<\/a> Meanwhile, Tampa Bay looks to rectify their own loss in overtime against the New Jersey Devils<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n

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

The Penguins are 18-18-8 coming into this game. Following a 5-0 loss, the offence of the Penguins will be looking to explode against the Lightning. Sidney Crosby<\/a> leads the team with 47 points in 44 games. Behind him, linemates Rickard Rakell<\/a> and Bryan Rust<\/a> have 36 and 32 points respectively. The trio makes up the top line of the Penguins who will be looking to get better chances the ones achieved against Ottawa. With Evgeni Malkin<\/a> out with injury, Michael Bunting<\/a> has stepped up recently. He has 25 points in 43 games this season.<\/p>\n

The Penguin\u2019s defensive efforts remain a concern, as they are last in the league for goals against per game. Erik Karlsson<\/a> has scored 31 points in 44 games, but has made some defensive lapses at inopportune times. Due to the dreadful efforts on defence this season, Blake Lizotte<\/a> is the only Penguins player with a positive plus-minus. In net, Tristan Jarry<\/a> is likely to start following Nedeljkovic\u2019s game against the Senators. Jarry has gone 8-6-4 this season, struggling to help the Penguins close out games. Against a high-octane Lightning offence, Jarry will need to find a way to shut things down with an abysmal defensive effort in front of him.<\/p>\n

The Lightning\u2019s Story<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Lighting fall to 22-15-3 following a loss in overtime against the Devils. However, their record is good for third in the Atlantic Division. With five games in hand on the fourth-place Boston Bruins,<\/a> the Lightning have some breathing room to establish momentum. In the absence of Steven Stamkos<\/a>, Nikita Kucherov<\/a> has continued to find a way to be an other-worldly talent. The forward has 59 points in 38 games. Similarly, Brayden Point<\/a> has stepped up his game with 47 points including 25 goals in 36 games. Free agent acquisition Jake Guentzel<\/a> returns to Pittsburgh with 21 goals and 40 points in 39 games.<\/p>\n

Subtracting Mikhail Sergachev<\/a> from the line-up has been mitigated well by the excellent Lightning blue line. Victor Hedman<\/a> continues to be a two-way superstar, with 31 points in 38 games. Veteran Ryan McDonagh<\/a> has been terrific in his return to the Lightning as well, scoring 13 points in 40 games in a shut-down role. In net, Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/a> has struggled close out games against opposing teams, sporting an 18-12-2 record. However, the star netminder still has a .915 save percentage and has the ability to shut down games at will.<\/p>\n

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

The game against Ottawa exposed the weaknesses of this Penguins roster. Likely missing Evgeni Malkin, the Lightning are in prime position to feast on a team down on its luck.<\/p>\n

Prediction:\u00a0Lightning win 6-3.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

FanDuel\u2019s<\/a> Nikita Kucherov Any Time Goal Scorer (+135)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Nikita Kucherov is an offensive dynamo, he\u2019s a great bet to score against the worst defensive team in the league.<\/p>\n

Main photo by: \u00a0Charles LeClaire-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 Tampa Bay Lightning coming off a 5-0 thrashing from the Senators the night before. Welcome back to NHL Predictions here on Last Word on Hockey! Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for all the NHL\u2019s games. In tonight\u2019s contest, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay look to rebound after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5231,"featured_media":460676,"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":[4547,4548,12,4524,9],"tags":[809,2540,906,583,6123,724,140,6391,477,1124],"class_list":["post-460668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-penguins","category-nhl-predictions","category-lightning","tag-andrei-vasilevskiy","tag-brayden-point","tag-jake-guentzel","tag-nikita-kucherov","tag-pittsburgh-penguins-predictions","tag-rickard-rakell","tag-sidney-crosby","tag-tampa-bay-lightning-predictions","tag-tristan-jarry","tag-victor-hedman"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460668","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=460668"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460678,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460668\/revisions\/460678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}