Central Division rivals will meet on Wednesday, November 9 as the Chicago Blackhawks visit the St. Louis Blues in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Blackhawks have been playing extremely well of late as they have surged into the top spot in the division while the Blues have been up and down. These teams met last month in Chicago and it was the Blues coming away with a 5-2 win as they scored three goals in the third period to break a 2-2 tie.
Don't miss the ice action from the Scottrade Center at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, November 9, 2016. Catch every moment of the game live on NBCSN.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Wednesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Blackhawks will have had two days off to get ready for this game as Chicago is coming off a home-and-home with Dallas. This is one of those quick one game road trips as the Blackhawks will return home to play Washington on Friday. Chicago is 2-2 on the road this season with two games going under with two pushes.
The Blues will be concluding a three-game homestand. It is not a great spot for St. Louis as they have a game in Nashville on Thursday night. St. Louis won four of their first six home games with all of the games low scoring with four going under with two pushes.
Special Teams
The Blackhawks have been solid on the power play this season as they are 9th in the NHL at 22%. The Blackhawks are last in the league in penalty killing but that number is deceptive as Chicago has totally turned the corner of late after starting the season very poorly on the penalty kill. Chicago allowed 15 power play goals in their first seven games but they have been much better lately. The Blackhawks are scoring 3.5 goals overall and allowing just 2.4 per contest.
Chicago had killed 12 straight penalties before the back end of the home-and-home with Dallas. “I think we’ve done a better job of clearing pucks, first and foremost. We’re working harder and smarter,” Duncan Keith said. “It’s probably a combination for a few different things. The biggest thing is Corey [Crawford’s] made a lot of big saves when we’ve needed him.” Crawford had stopped 103 of the last 104 shots he had seen before the 2nd game against Dallas.
The Blues have not been that good on the power play as they are scoring just 15.9% of the time which is 19th in the league but St. Louis has been good on the penalty kill as they are 5th in the league at over 89%. It makes sense that St. Louis is a low scoring team as they are scoring just 2.2 goals per game while giving up 2.7 goals per contest.
Key Stat
The Blues have done pretty well of late against Chicago taking 7 of the last 10 meetings. St. Louis beat the Blackhawks in last year’s playoffs winning in seven games and the Blues have started this season well against Chicago winning 5-2 at the United Center last month.
This has been a bit of a road team series of late as Chicago has split the last ten games in St. Louis.
The Blackhawks and Blues have been going over the total of late with four of the last seven going over with three pushes.
Free NHL Picks
Chicago seems to have turned the corner after a slow start to the season while the Blues have been very inconsistent. The Blackhawks have been playing well of late and this series has been a good one for the road team. I will take Chicago to get the road win in this contest.
NHL Odds: Blackhawks 3, Blues 2
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