It’s a day of reckoning for the NHL, as several teams are on the brink of elimination.
One of the most talked-about series in the bubble so far is the battle between the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 7th, 12:00 P.M. (EST)
Online bookmaker William Hill has the O/U for total match goals at 5.5.
In the regular season, Pittsburgh finished ahead of Montreal by 15 points, so we’re on the verge of seeing a pretty major upset of the Canadiens can knock down Pittsburgh this afternoon.Montreal has the lowest points percentage (.500) of the 24 teams to make the postseason. Pittsburgh has some of the best players in the league and could be exiled from the NHL bubble with a loss.Since this is the Qualifying Round, this round is best-of-five which means the Penguins are one loss away from elimination.The series opened with Pittsburgh losing in Overtime. After storming back in Game 2 to even the series, the Penguins allowed Montreal to have a stranglehold on the series, losing game 3, 4-3.
Could we see a breakout game from Evgeni Malkin? During media availability yesterday, Malkin commented that he needs to step up his play in this series. With his team against the ropes, can Malkin have a series-defining performance?
Tristan Jarry will start for the Penguins as well. This will be his 2020 postseason debut, replacing Matt Murray who started in the previous three games for Pittsburgh.
Mike Sullivan said he didn’t want to discuss the discussion the coaches had about the goalie change. Could this be one final attempt to light a fire under the Penguins to claw back into this series?
