It is two struggling teams that will do battle tonight as the Pittsburgh Penguins are hosting the St. Louis Blues. The visitors opened a six game road trip with back-to-back wins but have since lost three straight. The Penguins had suffered four consecutive set-backs before prevailing 3-1 at Arizona Saturday. I think the home team will have both momentum and motivation on its side tonight, and I'm backing the Pens to take this one down.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Situational/Motivational - The Blues are despite their recent struggles still top dog of the Central Division, and are all but in the playoffs already. The Penguins on the other hand are fifth in the Eastern Conference, with the Bruins in ninth only six points back. The Penguins need those points way more than the Blues, and I expect it to show at the scoreboard.

2. Goaltending - The Blues star netminder Brian Elliott was lit up by the Wild his last time out and and the Blues will give Jake Allen a second straight start tonight. Allen will face the Pens for the first time i his career but is posting a rather swollen 2.54 GAA over 17 appearances away from home on the season. The Pens are likely to go with Marc-Andre Fleury who's been dominant all season long, and even more so over his last two games where he's stopped 54 of 57 shots.

3. X-Factor - The Penguins top scorer Evgeni Malkin could be back in the line-up for tonight's contest after sitting the last four out due to an upper-body injury.


Selection: This is a play on the Pittsburgh Penguins