NHL Betting Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins at Dallas Stars

Pittsburgh take to the road and take on the Dallas Stars in the only 2010-11 seasonal meeting.  The Penguins are coming off a confident 3-0 win over Carolina on Saturday behind the red-hot goaltending of backup Brent Johnson.  “My confidence is feeling pretty good,” Johnson stated.  “I’m feeling pretty good.”  He has established a solid 5-0-1 record with a .960 save percentage and stopped 33 shots for his first shutout since April 2006 versus the Hurricanes.  Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury remains the starter, but its not written in stone with a 1-5-0 record and .863 save percentage.  The team is 10-9 when playing with three or more days rest and 2-4 after shutting out their opponent.

The Penguins got some bad news in learning that center Jordan Staal could miss up to six weeks recovering from a fractured hand, but did learn that forward Evgeni Malkin and defensemen Kris Letang both skated on Tuesday and are expected to be in the lineup at Dallas.  Captain Sidney Crosby has been doing his part by adding two assists in his last game to increase his team-leading point total to 15.  Pittsburgh can only hope he can spurn a power play that is 0-for-22 in five games and 8-for-62 on the season.  Tuesday night may be the night in facing a Stars team that is last in the NHL with just a 68.4-percent success rate on the penalty kill.

Dallas ended a three-game skid on Saturday with a 4-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.  The Stars are now 1-3 on their six-game homestand, with the help of goalie Andrew Raycroft stopping 34 shots.  “We had to stop the bleeding at home,” said winger Brenden Morrow.  “It was good to nip this and get rolling in the right direction again.”  Dallas had been 2-for-25 on the power play over the previous six games before James Neal and Morrow connected on two man-advantage goals.  The squad is 5-1 in its last six games versus the Eastern Conference.

The Stars strength lies in the young, talented trio of James Neal, Loui Eriksson and Jamie Benn.  They have combined for 11 goals and 24 points through the first 10 games, following 78 goals and 167 points combined last season, as each surpassed the 40-point plateau.  Dallas will certainly be challenged in this contest due to their opponents’ success against them since 2003-04.  Over that time, the two teams have played five games against one another and the Stars have been outscored by a 22-8 count.

Bettors are likely to back the Penguins blindly due to their 5-0 mark in the last five meetings, while the home team is 6-2 in the last eight contests.?