Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Detroit Red Wings Pick Center

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TOTAL

Pittsburgh Penguins

+120

+1.5
(-240)

O 5
(-120)

Detroit Red Wings

-140

-1.5
(+200)

U 5
(+100)

NHL

FINAL (12/31/2015)

Time: 06:00 P.M. EST Venue: Joe Louis Arena Sidney Crosby acknowledged that the Pittsburgh Penguins' unsteady performances of late will likely make it stressful on the team in the closing months of the season. The Detroit Red Wings are also searching for consistency as they close out the 2015 portion of their schedule Thursday night. A 3-7-2 mark in its last 12 games has pushed Pittsburgh out of playoff position, and the Penguins (17-15-4) fell to 2-5-1 under new coach Mike Sullivan with a 3-2 shootout defeat to Toronto on Wednesday." We know down the stretch it's going to be tight," Crosby said. "I don't know how it's going to work out in the end, but every point is important. Our desperation level has to be there every night now." The Penguins are also 3-6-1 in their last 10 road games heading into the first of three matchups this season with Detroit. The Red Wings (18-12-7) are 2-4-2 in their last eight and 1-2-1 at home since winning a season-high four in a row there. They scored one goal in each of their back-to-back losses to close out a three-game road trip and only avoided a shutout against Winnipeg on Tuesday when Pavel Datsyuk tallied a power-play goal in the third period. Detroit had six opportunities with a man advantage and outshot the Jets 34-25." We had a lot of good chances," captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "You've just got to keep believing in yourself. Once you get that chance, you have got to really bear down and take advantage of it." Jimmy Howard struggled again in net in that 4-1 defeat, allowing four goals on 14 shots before he was pulled in the second period. He's 0-1-3 with a 3.77 goals-against average in his last five games. That likely means that Petr Mrazek, 3-3-0 with a 1.79 GAA in his past seven appearances, will start Thursday. Mrazek has split his two starts against the Penguins and made 42 saves in a 5-1 victory March 15. Pittsburgh has played without starting netminder Marc-Andre Fleury since Dec. 14 and Fleury returned to practice Tuesday for the first time since suffering his concussion. Matt Murray made his fourth career start Wednesday and Jeff Zatkoff could be in net for the finale to this back-to-back set. Zatkoff is 0-4-1 with a 2.97 GAA in his last five starts but is coming off a strong 27-save performance Sunday in Winnipeg. He matched a career high by giving up six goals in a loss to Boston in his prior start Dec. 18. Zatkoff won his only start against Detroit on Dec. 14, 2013. The Red Wings have alternated wins and losses in their last eight games against Pittsburgh and won two of three last season. They have needed overtime to claim each of the past two matchups at Joe Louis Arena. Zetterberg has nine goals and nine assists in 14 career regular-season games against Pittsburgh with at least one point in each of the past 10. Niklas Kronwall has three goals and seven assists in an eight-game point streak against the Penguins. Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin has eight goals and 14 assists in his past 18 matchups with Detroit including the postseason.