{"id":461665,"date":"2025-01-29T09:02:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T14:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=461665"},"modified":"2025-01-29T09:02:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T14:02:25","slug":"nhl-predictions-january-29-pittsburgh-penguins-utah-hockey-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/29\/nhl-predictions-january-29-pittsburgh-penguins-utah-hockey-club\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: January 29 Pittsburgh Penguins vs Utah Hockey Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> continue their road trip as they visit the Utah Hockey Club<\/a> at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Welcome back to NHL Predictions here at Last Word on Hockey<\/em>! Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for all the NHL\u2019s games. In tonight\u2019s matchup, the Penguins aim to rebound from a bad stretch, while Utah looks to push in the Western Conference wildcard race.<\/p>\n

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

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Utah Hockey Club<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Head-to-Head:<\/strong>\u00a0Utah 1-0 Pittsburgh<\/h4>\n

Time:<\/strong>\u00a09:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)<\/p>\n

TV:<\/strong> TNT; MAX; SN360; TVAS; SN-PIT<\/p>\n

This is the second and final meeting between these teams this season. In their previous encounter on November 24, 2024, Utah secured a dominant 6-1 victory over Pittsburgh. In this second matchup, the Penguins visit the Delta Center for the first time in Utah\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

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

The Pittsburgh Penguins are 20-24-8, sitting second-worst in the Eastern Conference. Additionally, they sit seventh-worst in the entire league. Captain Sidney Crosby<\/a> continues to perform like the star he is. He\u2019s scored 53 points in 52 games. Rickard Rakell<\/a> has turned himself into an interesting trade piece with his rebound season. He has 42 points in 51 games with 23 goals. A team needing a top-six winger could value Rakell greatly at the NHL trade deadline.<\/p>\n

The goaltending situation in Pittsburgh has been rocky at best. Tristan Jarry<\/a> is in the AHL, where he\u2019s been relatively struggling for his talent level. In the NHL, Alex Nedeljkovic<\/a> and Joel Blomqvist<\/a> have both struggled behind a defensively lacking Penguins team. Expect Blomqvist to get a start, as he looks to improve his 3-7 record.<\/p>\n

The Utah Hockey Club Story<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In Utah\u2019s inaugural season in their new home, the Hockey Club is 21-21-7. Sitting at exactly .500, they\u2019re six points out of the second wild-card spot. Although their qualifying for the playoffs is unlikely, they possess some elite talent that could help in a winning streak down the stretch. Clayton Keller<\/a> has blossomed into a superstar, scoring 54 points in 48 games. Behind him, Logan Cooley<\/a> has gotten better year after year and has 42 points in 49 games. Even Barrett Hayton<\/a> has had a good run<\/a> as of late.<\/p>\n

In net, Karel Vejmelka<\/a> and Connor Ingram<\/a> have had an interesting dichotomy. Vejmelka holds a losing record of 11-14-3. However, he also has a .912 save percentage, well above the league average. Connor Ingram<\/a> on the other hand, has an 8-6-3 record, sitting above .500 with a less than league average .880 save percentage. Regardless of the starting netminder, Pittsburgh will likely find it difficult to score as there hasn\u2019t been as much depth scoring as the organization had hoped from this roster.<\/p>\n

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

Given the Penguins recent struggles and Utah’s previous success against them, the Utah Hockey Club have the upper hand in this matchup. Especially considering that Utah is playing on home ice.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Utah wins 5-3<\/em><\/p>\n

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

For bets of the night, FanDuels has the total goals over at 7\u00a0 with+200 odds.\u00a0 The Penguins offence led by Crosby and Rakell is likely good for a few goals. On the other hand, Utah has a plethora of young offensive talent hungry to continue proving themselves.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

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

The Pittsburgh Penguins continue their road trip as they visit the Utah Hockey Club at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Welcome back to NHL Predictions here at Last Word on Hockey! Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for all the NHL\u2019s games. In tonight\u2019s matchup, the Penguins aim to rebound […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5231,"featured_media":461675,"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":[4524,4547,4548,12,21],"tags":[1063,6926,724,140],"class_list":["post-461665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl-predictions","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-penguins","category-mammoth","tag-clayton-keller","tag-logan-cooley","tag-rickard-rakell","tag-sidney-crosby"],"modified_by":"Alec Roberson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461665","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=461665"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":461676,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461665\/revisions\/461676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}