Back the Blue Jackets as road underdogs against Penguins during Tuesday night’s matchup

After getting off to a 3-6-0 start, the Pittsburgh Penguins went out West and turned their season around quickly. Four wins on the spin — three of which came on a three-game California sweep — have Pittsburgh in decent shape amid the early chaos in the Eastern Conference.

The Pens will look to continue their surge as a -185 road favorite against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.

While the Pens are headed up the ladder, the Blue Jackets are in a bit of a freefall at the moment. Columbus has one win in its last 10 games and is at risk of falling out of the playoff picture before Thanksgiving once again.

There’s a lot that is going wrong for the Blue Jackets in the big picture. They’re giving up too many scoring chances, the goaltending has been pedestrian and their best playmaker, Johnny Gaudreau, is off to an abysmal start.

That said, the Jackets have played better of late and are a bit unlucky to be in this deep of a slide right now. It’s hard to make up too many excuses for a team riding a five-game losing streak and a 1-5-4 stretch, but four of their last five losses have been by one goal. Columbus is 1-6 overall in one-goal contests this season. The Jackets are bad, but they’re also in desperate need of a bounce or two to go their way.

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This is a tough bet to make, but there’s no question that Pittsburgh’s hot streak and Columbus’ cold streak has turned this Metropolitan Division showdown into a classic buy-low, sell-high scenario. The Pens are playing well and producing solid 5-on-5 numbers, but they’re not without their faults and have had plenty of moments where they’ve struggled against lesser opposition over the past 13 months.

The Penguins have unsurprisingly taken money and their odds have shortened considerably on Tuesday morning and that line movement has put some value on the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. It’s not a fun bet to make, but it’s the type of play you need to get comfortable making if you’re looking for long-term success betting on the NHL.

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