{"id":476208,"date":"2025-10-18T07:57:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T11:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=476208"},"modified":"2025-10-18T10:04:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T14:04:34","slug":"nhl-predictions-pittsburgh-penguins-san-jose-sharks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/10\/18\/nhl-predictions-pittsburgh-penguins-san-jose-sharks\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: October 18th Pittsburgh Penguins at San Jose Sharks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Penguins<\/a> conclude their California road trip with a game against the Sharks<\/a>. Welcome back to NHL Predictions here on 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 Pittsburgh Penguins look to go 2-1 in their road trip across California in a game in San Jose.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions and <\/strong>San Jose Sharks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Head-to-Head:<\/strong>\u00a0Sharks 0-0 Penguins<\/p>\n

Time:<\/strong> 7:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) – 10:00 p.m. Eastern (EDT)<\/p>\n

How to watch<\/a> TV:<\/strong>\u00a0SportsNet Pittsburgh; Sportsnet+<\/p>\n

Macklin Celebrini<\/a> and the Sharks host Sidney Crosby<\/a> and the Penguins in a clash of the next generation against the old guard.<\/p>\n

The Penguins Story<\/h2>\n

Pittsburgh has had a rocky start to the season. The season started well, with a 3-0 win over the Rangers followed by a 4-3 win against the Islanders. However, a 6-1 loss against the Rangers last Saturday began to derail this momentum. Following a 3-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, the Penguins battled back from down 2-0 to win 4-2 against the Los Angeles Kings. These first dozen or so games are crucial for the Penguins organization to gauge the kind of season they should aim for. It remains to be seen whether general manager Kyle Dubas moves towards a full push for the playoffs or tank strategy.<\/p>\n

Evgeni Malkin<\/a>, Anthony Mantha<\/a>, and Justin Brazeau<\/a> have been the big story to start the season. The \u201cMutant Line<\/em>\u201d as they\u2019ve been dubbed, features a trio of 6\u20194 – 6\u20195 forwards, all of whom with soft hands and the ability to pitch in some offence. Malkin leads the team with seven points in five games. Another storyline to follow is the youth movement in Pittsburgh. Rookies Harrison Brunicke<\/a>, Ben Kindel, and Filip Hallander<\/a> have scored their first career NHL goals in the past few games. Hallander\u2019s being the game-winner against the Kings. Keep an eye on the young guns as the Penguins push for playoff contention.<\/p>\n

The Sharks Story<\/h2>\n

The San Jose Sharks have started the season with an appropriate 0-1-2 record. The rebuilding team has positioned itself to finish somewhere in the bottom ten once again this season. Even with a weak team, the Sharks possess a ton of young talent looking to develop into stars in the league. A game against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins is a fantastic opportunity for the young guns of the Sharks like Celebrini or Will Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even with the losing record, the right players are producing. Celebrini and Smith are tied with Dmitry Orlov<\/a>, all three are tied for the team lead in points with three in three games. Young gun William Eklund<\/a> is in there as well, scoring two points in three games. While the expectation is another playoff miss, it will be the production of these three and the other young players like Shakir Mukhamadullin<\/a> that will be crucial to San Jose\u2019s success this season.<\/p>\n

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

The Penguins and Sharks are both playing the way they\u2019d like to at the moment. Pittsburgh, led by Crosby and Malkin, want to compete and push for the playoffs, and their 3-2 start helps this. The Sharks meanwhile, want their young guns to develop while staying out of the playoff picture for now. Expect this to continue with a Penguins win in San Jose to cap off the road trip.<\/p>\n

NHL Prediction:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguins win 5-3.<\/h4>\n

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

A popular prop bet is the total goals over 7, with odds of +162. Both the Penguins and Sharks are at their cores led by a high-octane offensive nucleus. With stars like Crosby and Celebrini on the ice, expect a high scoring game.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: David Gonzales – 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.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Penguins conclude their California road trip with a game against the Sharks. 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 matchup, the Pittsburgh Penguins look to go 2-1 in their road trip across California in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5231,"featured_media":476241,"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":[12,4547,4548,4524,25],"tags":[544,7710,6123,6060],"class_list":["post-476208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-penguins","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","category-sharks","tag-evgeni-malkin","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-pittsburgh-penguins-predictions","tag-san-jose-sharks-predictions"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476208","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=476208"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":476255,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476208\/revisions\/476255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}