Pens welcome Bolts to Steel City

Hockey Betting Lines

02/12/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins tied a season-high for goals in a game on Saturday and will try to carry some of that offense into tonight's contest when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning at Consol Energy Center.

The Penguins hosted Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon and posted an 8-5 victory over the Jets. It was the second time this year that Pittsburgh had scored eight goals, as it also defeated Buffalo by an 8-3 count back on Dec. 17.

Evgeni Malkin padded his lead atop the NHL scoring race, as he registered a goal and four assists in Saturday's high-scoring affair against the Jets. The Russian superstar has 67 points on the year and leads Philadelphia's Claude Giroux and Tampa's Steven Stamkos by five points for the league lead.

Kris Letang added two goals and an assist and Jordan Staal scored in his first game back from a knee injury for the Penguins, who had gone 1-2-1 over their previous four games. Chris Kunitz added a goal and three assists, while Marc- Andre Fleury made 20 saves in the win.

"We wanted to play a little bit of a better game," said Staal, who played for the first time since Jan. 6. "We obviously did a great job offensively to stay ahead of them but we have to play better defensively if we want to keep winning."

With 67 points, Pittsburgh is currently fifth in the Eastern Conference, where it is two points behind Philadelphia and one ahead of New Jersey.

Tonight's tilt marks the middle portion of a three-game homestand for the Pens, who are 16-7-2 as the host this season. Pittsburgh will complete the residency Wednesday against Anaheim.

Tampa Bay is eight points out of a playoff spot in the East and was able to record two points in Saturday's road victory over Buffalo. Although the Lightning have won just two of three games so far in February, they are 7-1-2 over their last 10 trips to the ice.

Stamkos lit the lamp and added an assist while Mathieu Garon stopped 26 shots for Tampa in its 2-1 regulation win over the Sabres. Steve Downie also scored for Tampa Bay.

Stamkos scored the game-winner with 6:44 left in the third, when he beat Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller after a 2-on-1 pass from Teddy Purcell.

"I just tried to get the shot off as quick as I could," Stamkos said. "Miller gets over there quick, so it was nice to get that two-goal lead obviously. They scored one late but it was nice to hold them off at the end."

Tampa hopes to get a boost from a returning player tonight, as forward Ryan Malone is questionable with an upper-body injury that has caused him to sit out the last seven games. Malone has 10 goals and 17 assists in 41 games this season and is questionable for tonight.

This evening's test marks the end of a three-game road trip for the Lightning, who are just 9-16-4 as the guest this season.

Tampa and the Pens met twice earlier this year in Florida and split those encounters. Pittsburgh has taken three of five overall in the series and the Lightning have dropped two in a row and four of their last five in the Steel City.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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