Stanley Cup Finals - Game 7

It’s winner-takes-all in Detroit on Friday night, as the Red Wings and Penguins meet in a deciding Game 7 in the Stanley Cup final as the NHL betting season concludes.

The Penguins stayed alive Tuesday night with a 2-1 win as a -125 favorite on the NHL odds in Game 6. Surprisingly the Penguins got the win they needed without production from their big stars, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Tyler Kennedy scored the game-winner for Pittsburgh and also added an assist, while Jordan Staal netted the Pens’ first goal of the game. Crosby and Malkin were both held pointless with three shots between them. Marc-Andre Fleury rebounded from his horrible performance in Game 5 to make 25 saves, but Rob Scuderi should also receive partial credit for the win. The Pittsburgh defenseman picked up an assist in the win, and more importantly bailed out a down-and-out Fleury by making a few key saves while Detroit was looking for the equalizer.

Like Pittsburgh the Red Wings also received no offensive production from their big names in Game 6. Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Marian Hossa were all kept off the scoresheet with seven shots on goal. Kris Draper netted the Red Wings’ only goal in the game, which was his first of the postseason. Chris Osgood did his part in nets with 29 saves, but without any offensive support from the rest of the Wings it wasn’t enough.

For the final game the series heads back to Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. That should bode well for Detroit, as the home team has won every game in the series so far. In their first three games at home in the series Detroit outscored the Penguins 11-2, despite playing without Datsyuk for the first two games. The Wings are riding an eight-game winning streak at Joe Louis Arena and have only lost once on home ice in the postseason. That loss came against Anaheim in triple overtime. With the home-ice advantage looking pretty strong in Detroit’s favor it’s no surprise the Red Wings are a -170 favorite on the NHL odds for Game 7.