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The Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins resume this year’s Stanley Cup Finals this Thursday night with a crucial Game 5 matchup at PPG Paints Arena in a best-of-seven series that is suddenly tied at two games apiece. The puck is set to drop at 8 p.m. (ET) and the game will be broadcast nationally on NBC.
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Nashville at Pittsburgh Game Overview<br />
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Despite the fact that Nashville was outscored 9-4 on the road in the first two games of this championship series, it showed no signs of panic given its past success on its own home ice. Starting with a pair of victories at home against Chicago in the opening round of this year’s playoffs, the Predators have now gone 9-1 at home to even this series at 2-2. The problem for Thursday could be an even 5-5 postseason record when they are playing on the road. The total has total has stayed UNDER or ended as a PUSH in seven of those 10 road games.
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A fast start and continued defensive pressure could be the best formula for Nashville’s chances to win a road game in this series. It limited Pittsburgh to just 12 shots on goal in Game 1, but it was still on the wrong end of a 5-3 loss after allowing three quick goals at the end of the first period. The Predators also came unglued in Game 2 of a 1-1 tie heading into the final period by giving up three goals in the first four minutes of the third.
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Pittsburgh still knows it has the edge in this series with two of the final three games on its home ice. With the victories in the first two games of this championship series, it has gone 9-3 at home in the postseason and the total has stayed UNDER or ended as a PUSH in eight of those 12 games. The Penguins have tallied a grand total of 19 goals in the last four games played on their home ice. However, there still has to be some concern with the fact that the most potent scoring team in the NHL this season was only able to light the lamp twice in its last two games.
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It really has been a tale of two different Penguin teams in this series as far as wins and losses, but Pittsburgh knows that it has basically been outplayed by its opponent in all four contests. The Penguins were outshot 26-12 in the series opener and while they managed to increase their shots on goal to 27 in Game 2, they still allowed 38 Nashville shots on their goalie Matt Murray. He went on to allow five goals in Game 3 on 33 shots and in Monday’s 4-1 loss in Game 4 he faced 25 shots on goal.
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Nashville at Pittsburgh Game Betting Trends<br />
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The Predators have won four of their last five games on two day’s rest, but they have lost five of their last seven games played on the road. The total has stayed UNDER or ended as a PUSH in eight of their last nine Thursday games.
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The Penguins are 1-4 in their last five games playing on two day’s rest, but they have won their last four games played on Thursday. The total has stayed UNDER in 10 of their last 13 games in the NHL Finals.
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The home team in this matchup has now won the last seven meetings and the total has gone OVER in five of those seven games.
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