I see this as a kill spot for the Penguins. Pittsburgh is going to be well-rested and motivated having last played this past Saturday when it lost 2-1 to the Blackhawks at home. That was just the Penguins' 12th loss in their past 52 home games.

Vancouver is in a flat spot following its 5-2 upset road win against the Flyers Tuesday night.

The Canucks entered that matchup against the struggling Flyers ranked 27th in goals and 24th on the power play.

The Penguins are going to be missing superstar Evgeni Malkin for the first time this season. He suffered an upper-body injury in the loss to the Blackhawks. But the Canucks have been without their best defenseman, Chris Tanev. He's been out since suffering a thumb injury two weeks ago.

Even if Tanev returns to the lineup here, I still like the Penguins enough to lay 1 1/2 goals and in return get a plus price.