NHL Odds, Pick & Preview: Blues vs. Predators (April 17)
John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images. Pictured: Tanner Jeannot (No. 84) and Filip Forsberg.
- The Blues are slight favorites on Sunday in Nashville.
- Both teams are in the playoff hunt and capable of putting up impressive goal totals.
- Nicholas Martin breaks down the matchup and makes his betting pick below.
Blues vs. Predators Odds
| Blues Odds | -120 |
| Predators Odds | +100 |
| Over/Under | 6 (+100 / -120) |
| Time | 6 p.m. ET |
| TV | NHL Network |
| Odds via BetMGM. Get up-to-the-minute NHL Odds here. | |
St. Louis found its eighth consecutive win in a massive spot against the Wild Saturday, with Brayden Schenn's overtime winner giving the Blues a big result.
The Blues now have the inside track on home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but they'll likely need a win to maintain that advantage over the Wild.
Nashville, meanwhile, put together a very strong win over the Blackhawks on Saturday. The Preds now enter this one with a four-point lead over Vegas in the wild-card race.
Will the Predators be able to contain St. Louis' scorching-hot offense and find a crucial win Sunday?
St. Louis Attack Giving Opponents the Blues
St. Louis enters this game on a 10-0-1 tear, during which it has been firing on all cylinders offensively by scoring five goals per game. This team is absolutely loaded up front and showed just how much of a handful it can be on Saturday against the Wild.
The Blues' top-three units upfront all looked very threatening yet again Saturday. It's easy to see why this group continues to be so productive this season.
A cold run of play from Jordan Kyrou has him skating on the fourth line. Regardless of whether that's coach Craig Berube sending a message, it's quite a comment about the talent this team holds.
The Blues have continued to play an up-tempo offense all season long with the personnel to execute. The result has been some well-above-average game totals, with their games averaging 7.68 goals over a large sample of 19 games.
Jordan Binnington has been the Blues' lesser goaltending option this season and will likely start the playoffs as the backup. With Ville Husso playing Saturday, though, we should see Binnington get the start Sunday.
Binnington has played to a -5.6 goals saved above expected rating with a .902 save percentage in 33 games this season.
Nashville Attack Capable of Lighting Up Scoreboard
With how St. Louis has scored of late, it's safe to say Nashville will need a strong offensive output to find an important win in this one. The Predators have shown much more offensive prowess than expected all season.
Matt Duchene, Mikael Granlund and Ryan Johansen have all offered surprising bounce-back seasons after each seemed to be well past their best days. Rookie Tanner Jeannot, meanwhile, has been an excellent surprise with 24 goals.
Filip Forsberg has remained dominant and will likely hit 40 goals again. Also, Roman Josi has been utterly ridiculous, driving play from the back end and producing 87 points in 72 games so far.
The Predators have produced the 13th-best goals per game rate at 3.19 and are not simply looking to win one-goal games behind elite performances from Juuse Saros like we saw a year ago.
Saros played Saturday's contest against Chicago, but I think we could see him get this start, as well, given how much the Predators need every win. Saros has played to a +26.0 GSAx rating with a .921 save percentage in 62 games this season.
Blues vs. Predators Pick
St. Louis continues to post utterly dominant play offensively, and it's hard for me to see this roster not scoring at least three goals on Sunday in Nashville. The Blues are spectacular at creating and finishing the kinds of chances goalies hate to face, and they're not a likely candidate to let Saros steal a game with his elite play.
Nashville has produced offense at a very effective rate themselves all season long and will most likely get the Blues softer starter in Binnington here.
This divisional battle and rivalry spot could dictate a somewhat tighter game plan. Even in somewhat of a buttoned-down kind of game, we should see these team's producing goals at a high rate.
At +100 for this game to go over a game total of 6, I feel we have lots of value to lock this in now and would play 6 down to -120. Should Nashville start backup David Rittich, we will really be happy with +100.
Pick: Over 6 +100 (Play to -120)
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