Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Pittsburgh Penguins March 7 Betting Preview

On Tuesday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets will visit the Pittsburgh Penguins in a matchup between Eastern Conference opponents. This is a huge game for Pittsburgh, who is fighting for its life in the Wild Card race in the East. While this contest is far less significant for the Blue Jackets, they do have the opportunity to continue to improve, while playing spoiler against the Pens in the process.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets have lost two games in a row coming into Tuesday night’s matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have really struggled defending over those two games, allowing nine goals across two contests against the Seattle Kraken and Ottawa Senators. Here, they will look to get back on track defensively, which will be a tough ask against a dangerous Penguins team.

Road games have been especially troublesome for the Jackets so far this season, as they are just 7-18-4 away from home on the year. Against Sidney Crosby and company, that record could get even worse, as the Penguins are around -320 favorites to win this contest. If Columbus cannot find a way to keep the puck off of Crosby’s stick in dangerous areas, this could be a long night for the Blue Jackets.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins come into Tuesday night off of a 4-1 loss against the Florida Panthers on Saturday. However, they come into this game with a huge rest advantage against the lowly Blue Jackets. Pittsburgh will aim to take advantage of that rest edge here, in a game that could be incredibly significant to the playoff race in the Eastern Conference as a whole.

Going into Tuesday’s NHL action, the Penguins are holding onto the last spot in the Eastern Conference Wild Card standings. They are sitting on 71 points, just three points ahead of a group of four teams that are on 68 points. That makes a game like this all the more important, as the Penguins could leave themselves vulnerable to being overtaken if they do not secure the points in a game against the league’s worst team.

Keys To The Game

The key to this game for the Blue Jackets is going to be maintaining possession of the puck for periods of time. It simply is not sustainable to ask their defensemen to do the heavy lifting for long portions of this game against a team with the attackers that the Penguins possess. Columbus’ offense will need to at least put up a fight to relieve some of the pressure and keep them in contention.

On the Pittsburgh side, the top key to this game is going to be to simply play within themselves. Trying to hard to make things happen can result in mental lapses, which can result in a back-breaking loss to a team that has proven that it is not very good. 

As long as the mentality of the Penguins remains consistent, they should be able to come out on top here on their home ice.