In today’s SportSense Entertainment Newsletter…

Additional Model Predictions ⬇️

NBA Model Predictions- Click Here

There were plenty of model predictions to go around yesterday across the NBA, with our model focusing in on one of those predictions in our Featured Matchup. That prediction went 0-1 overall, and you can see how the rest of the model performed below.

Money Line Predictions: 6-0

Over/Under Predictions: 4-2

Spread Predictions: 5-1

Featured Matchup: 0-1

Ten NHL games are scheduled to take place today. Our model’s predictions for all ten matchups can be found below.

Pittsburgh Penguins @ Ottawa Senators

Model Predicts- Penguins ML, UNDER 6.5, Senators +1.5

The Pittsburgh Penguins will hit the road for just one game on Tuesday, traveling to Ottawa to take on the Senators.

Pittsburgh enters tonight’s matchup in the midst of a slump, dropping three straight games and losing six of the last seven contests. However, Ottawa has had far worse luck recently, entering tonight on a seven-game losing streak.

Neither one of these teams can find the win column at the moment, but our model expects Pittsburgh to do so tonight in a low-scoring game. Let’s take a look at why that is.

Pittsburgh Penguins

• Enter tonight on three-game losing streak

  • Losses to Capitals, Bruins, and Oilers

  • Outscored 15-1 in that span

• Offensive struggles date back to end of February

  • 1.24 GF/60 in 5-on-5 situations since February 29th- 2nd fewest in NHL

  • Held to one goal or less in five of last seven games

• Expected goalie- Tristan Jarry

  • .918 Save % in 5-on-5 situations. Ranks 22nd in Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx) with +5.8

Ottawa Senators

• Held winless in last seven games

  • -10 goal differential in that time

• Offense has been just as weak as Pittsburgh’s

  • 1.60 GF/60 in 5-on-5 during losing skid

  • Failing to generate pressure on net- rank in bottom half of NHL in high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes in 5-on-5 (10.29)

• Expected goalie- Anton Forsberg

  • .898 Save % in 5-on-5. Ranks 82nd in GSAx (-6.4)

What’s the Play?

Neither one of these teams is anywhere close to playing their best hockey right now, but we agree with our model that this is a good spot to back the Penguins.

Pittsburgh may just have scored one goal in the last three games and owns a 0.42 GF/60 in 5-on-5 in that span, but positive regression is on the horizon. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Penguins own a xGF/60 in 5-on-5 at 2.80 in the last three games, the fifth-highest in the NHL, showing that plenty of more goals are on the horizon. Meanwhile, Ottawa ranks in the bottom-eight of that category in that span.

Even though it isn’t by much, Pittsburgh is the better team and has more metrics on its side. We’ll take the Penguins here.

The Play: Penguins ML (-120)

Money Line Trends 💰

• Carolina Hurricanes- 39-19-6 overall this season, 21-8-4 as the home team

• Dallas Stars- 40-17-9 overall this season, 19-8-4 as the home team

Over/Under Trends ⬆️⬇️

• Pittsburgh Penguins- Under is 34-24-5 this season with average total of 5.78

• Calgary Flames- Over is 37-25-2 this season with average total of 6.34

Puck Line Trends ➕➖

• Columbus Blue Jackets- Puck line is 37-27 this season

😬 Rempe ejected after delivering hit to head. New York Rangers player Matt Rempe was penalized with a five-minute major and a game misconduct for delivering a high hit on New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler on Monday, striking him with an elbow to the head. Kurtis MacDermid of the Devils attempted to retaliate against Rempe, but referees intervened, resulting in MacDermid receiving a 10-minute misconduct. Rempe, who has accumulated 54 penalty minutes in his first 10 NHL games, has already gained a reputation for physical play, having been ejected from a previous game against the Devils for a similar hit on Nathan Bastian.

🤕 Demko sidelined several weeks with knee injury. Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko will be sidelined for two to three weeks due to a knee injury sustained during Saturday's game against the Winnipeg Jets, where he made 12 saves before exiting in the second period. Despite his injury-shortened game, Demko was named the NHL's third star of the week for his strong performance, boasting a career-best .917 save percentage and achieving his 34th win of the season. The Canucks will rely on backup goalie Casey DeSmith in Demko’s absence, who has a .898 save percentage and an 8-4-5 record in 19 games this season, to fill in during Demko's absence.

Today’s trivia requires you to dig into multiple pockets of your brain, testing your knowledge of recent events as well as those that happened decades ago.

See how many of the below questions you can get correct. Answers are provided at the end of the newsletter.

Question #1- Before Victor Wembanyama, who was the last selected No.1 overall pick in the NBA Draft that identifies with a nationality outside of the United States?

Question #2- 2022 NL Cy Young award winner Blake Snell played for what MLB team from 2016-2020 before joining the San Diego Padres in 2021?

Question #3- Who led the NFL in rushing yards in 2011, tallying 1,606 for the entire season?

Anyone know what has happened on March 12th throughout history? We didn’t have a clue either, but it appears that it has been a busy day.

On March 12th…

1985- Larry Bird scores 60 points, setting a new Celtics franchise record. The performance came in a 126-115 win over the Atlanta Hawks, giving Boston its 51st win of the season. Bird played 43 of 48 minutes in the game, shooting 61.1% overall.

2020- The NCAA men’s basketball tournament, March Madness is cancelled, along with the women’s tournament. The tournament’s were cancelled over concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 virus. It was the first time that March Madness was not played since it was created in 1939.

2023- Scottie Scheffler wins the PGA Tour Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Scheffler won the tournament by a significant margin, putting five strokes between him and second place (Tyrell Hatton). Scheffler also became the third golfer ever to hold the Masters and Players titles at the same time, joining Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

1. Deandre Ayton (Bahamas)

2. Tampa Bay Rays

3. Maurice Jones-Drew