Apr 154 min read

Nashville Predators vs Pittsburgh Penguins Plugs Prediction NHL Picks 4/15/24

- Pittsburgh Penguins (37-31-12) vs Nashville Predators (47-29-5)

Tonight we Have the Pens facingoff against the Preds in a NHL Showdown at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania! Two teams that been unpredictable most of the year and who have two different end of season hopes! Let's look at both these teams and find a winning prediction for this game!

The Pittsburgh Penguins rank 31st in the league in power play percentage this season (14.45%).
The Pittsburgh Penguins rank T31st in the league in short handed goals allowed this season (12).
The Nashville Predators are one of only two teams to win 10+ games when tied or trailing after Period 2 this season.
The Nashville Predators rank T4th in the league in shor-handed goals allowed this season (5).

( Pic - NHL.com )

We have seen this Pittsburgh team under perform all season and its a little to late for them to start taking things seriously. The Penguins are now sitting at 37-31-12 this year after they lost to The Bruins by a score of 6-4 in their last game. They allowed two goals late after a small come back in that loss. We did see Pittsburgh beat the Redwings by a score of 6-5 in the game prior to Boston, but lost to Toronto before that. The Penguins are scoring 3 goals per game and they are allowing 3 goals against per game, while going 14.5% on the power play and 81.2% on the penalty kill. Sidney Crosby has led Pittsburgh with 41 goals, 49 assists, and 268 shots on goal. The projected starting goalie for Pittsburgh is Alex Nedeljkovic, who is 17-6-7 this year with a 2.93 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. Can they bounce back at home against a Predators team that has their eyes set on post-season dreams!?

Drew O'Connor has scored a goal in each of the Penguins' last five night games at PPG Paints Arena.
Sidney Crosby has recorded at least one point in each of the Penguins' last eight home games.
Rickard Rakell has recorded at least one assist in each of his last six home appearances against the Predators.

( Pic - NHL.com )

The Preds have had a very on off-season but have really kicked up when it came to crunch time! The Nashville Predators are 47-29-5 this season after they defeated Columbus by a score of 6-4 in their last game. Nashville led 6-2 after the second period, but did allow two third period goals to make the game closer. The Predators recorded 37 shots on goal and went 2-3 on the power play in the game. Nashville defeated Chicago by a score of 5-1 in the game prior to Columbus, but lost to Winnipeg before that. The Predators are scoring 3.26 goals per game and they are allowing 3.01 goals against per game, while going 21.6% on the power play and 77% on the penalty kill. Filip Forsberg has led Nashville with 47 goals, 46 assists, and 344 shots on goal. The projected starting goalie for Nashville is Juuse Saros, who is 35-23-5 this year with a 2.84 goals against average and a .906 save percentage. Can they head into the postseason flying high or will they not risk to much and accept a loss to these Pens tonight!

Ryan O'Reilly has recorded at least one point in each of the Predators' last four games.
Gustav Nyquist has recorded an assist in four of the Predators' last five games as underdogs.

( Pic - NHL.com )

💎 PITT PENGUINS ML -112 ( 1u )

I know this pick might not be sexy or pretty because Pittsburgh is coming off of a very disappointing loss to Boston in their last game and they no longer control their ending in the Wild Card race. But The Penguins do really need to win their last two games and get help from Washington and Detroit to make the postseason at this point. Pittsburgh has played some good hockey over the last few weeks and they are now 22-14-4 at home this year. Nashville is pretty much locked into the first wild card spot in the West, so they don’t have anything to play for. The Predators have won three of their last four games and they are 24-13-3 on the road but they will take very few risk here because they have hopes at a playoff run! These two teams have very similar stats on the season, but I think Pittsburgh has the edge at home. We will roll the dice and Take the Penguins here.