The Pittsburgh Penguins defense is starting to take on water early in the season, showing signs of the team everyone thought they would be last season. On Saturday night, they’ll face one of the top offensive teams in the league, the Vegas Golden Knights, just 24 hours after Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche scored five goals on his friend Sidney Crosby.
The Penguins allowed five or more goals in four of their seven games this season, including in back-to-back games against the Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks. Vegas’ offense has been red-hot, scoring 11 goals over their last two games, and is third in the league with 3.89 goals per game.
The Golden Knights have long-term concerns with their defense and goaltending, but they’ve been a bit better in that area over the last week. Nevertheless, if the projected starter Adin Hall is actually in the crease tonight, there is no reason to believe that the Penguins can’t contribute a couple of goals to help get this total over the top.
While the Golden Knights are a good bet, the value isn't there to take them on the moneyline puckline.
Penguins vs Golden Knights prediction: Over 6.5 (-115) available at the time of publishing. Playable to this number.
