Rivalry night on NBCSN on Wednesday has the Chicago Blackhawks visiting the St. Louis Blues. The Blackhawks come into this game at 4-1-1 on the season, while the Blues are 4-2. Both teams will be well rested for this contest, as the Blackhawks last played on Saturday, winning 2-1 in overtime against Nashville, while the Blues are coming off a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Saturday. Chicago has won three of the last four meetings against St. Louis.
Don't miss the ice action from the Scottrade Center at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, October 18, 2017. 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 are coming off a 2-1 win against Nashville on Saturday night. Chicago was playing their sixth game in eight days and still managed to get the win. They are 4-1-1 on the season. Chicago is scoring plenty of goals, as they are 4th in the league in goals per game at 4.2 per contest. They have also been stingy on defense, allowing just 2.2 per game, which is 3rd best in the NHL. Chicago has played just two road games this season, winning 3-1 in Montreal and losing 4-3 in overtime in Toronto. Goaltender Corey Crawford has played five of the six games this season and has a 1.39 goals against average.
The Blues are coming home after a four-game road trip that saw them go 2-2. St. Louis played well at times in the loss to Tampa on Saturday but they simply couldn’t score more than one goal. The Blues won their first four games of the season but have now lost their last two. Head coach Mike Yeo said the team is not where they need to be. “We’re not where we need to be, there’s no question. There’s too many stretches in the game where we get away from the things we need to do. We can’t do that right now. We have to play 60-minute games and we have to have a real purpose and that’s what we’ll focus on coming on home.” The Blues are scoring 2.8 goals per game and giving up 2.7 goals per contest. Goaltender Jake Allen has played five of the six games this season and has a 2.96 goals against average.
Special Teams
The Blackhawks are just 22nd in the league on the power play at 11.1%. They are 10th in penalty killing at 83.3%. The Blues are 15th in the league on the power play at 20.8%, while they are 17th in penalty killing at 80.8%.
Key Stat
The teams have split their last ten meetings with six of the ten going over the total. The teams met five times last season with Chicago winning three of the five, with three of the five going over the total. The teams have also split their last ten games in St. Louis, but Chicago has won four of the last six.
Free NHL Picks
The Blackhawks are the better team and they have done well in this series of late, winning three of the last four. The Blues played really well to start the season but some familiar problems are starting to surface. The Blues are not a great offensive team and unless they get big time production from Vladimir Tarasenko they struggle, and in the last three games he has just one goal. Both Chicago and St. Louis come into this game rested, so neither team has an advantage. This will be the first game back at home for St. Louis after a long road trip and teams oftentimes struggle in the first game back. I will take Chicago to win this contest and also play the game to go under the total.
NHL Odds: Blackhawks 3, Blues 1
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