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The Nashville Predators begin a four-game homestand on Tuesday night, as they host the Chicago Blackhawks on NBCSN. The Predators have been excellent at home this season, going 8-1-1 and they will have the advantage in terms of rest, as they last played on Sunday, while the Blackhawks are facing a back-to-back, having played on Monday at home against Anaheim. Chicago has not played well lately in back-to-back situations, having lost their last four games.
This war on the ice will go down Tuesday, November 28, 2017 at 8 p.m. ET at Bridgestone Arena. The game will be televised live on NBCSN.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Tuesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Blackhawks have been playing better lately, as they were 4-1-1 in their previous six games before Monday’s home contest against the Anaheim Ducks. The bad news for Chicago is that they are playing five games in seven days and this game on Monday is the second half of a back-to-back. Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said to the Chicago Sun Times that the team is finally starting to play well. “I think we’re starting to settle in as a team,” Toews said. “We’re starting to see what it takes for us to be a good team, and what it’s going to take to win games the rest of the season [with] how tight our conference and division [are].”
Despite Chicago playing better lately, they still have problems. The defense is spotty and they rely far too much on Corey Crawford in goal. It will be interesting to see who plays in goal on Tuesday, as this is the second half of a back-to-back. Keep in mind that Crawford has a goals against average of 2.16, while backup Anton Forsberg has a GAA of 3.81.
Nashville has the look of a team that could return to the Stanley Cup Finals this season. They have an excellent top line of Ryan Johansen, Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg and you can make a case their second line of Kevin Fiala, Kyle Turris, and Craig Smith is the league’s best second line. Nashville is also loaded on defense with Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, and Mattias Ekholm and they have a top goaltender in Pekka Rinne. The Predators are 8-1-1 at home this season with six of the ten going over the total. Nashville is scoring 3.1 goals per game and giving up 2.8 per contest.
Special Teams
The Blackhawks have struggled on the power play, as they are just 24th in the league at 16.3%, but they have excelled in penalty killing at just over 85%, 3rd in the league. Nashville has excellent special teams, as they are 3rd in the league on the power play at 25%, while they are 6th in penalty killing at just over 84%.
Key Stat
Nashville has won five of the last six in this series against Chicago with three games going under the total, with three pushes. The teams have played twice this season with the teams splitting two games in Chicago by identical 2-1 scores. Nashville has won six of the last nine at home in this series. The games in Nashville have been higher scoring with none of the last ten going under. There have been five overs and five pushes in the last ten meetings in Nashville.
Free NHL Picks
This is not a good spot for Chicago playing with no rest and they haven’t been that great in Nashville in recent years. I will lay the price and take Nashville at home. I also think there could be some value in taking the over, especially if the Blackhawks rest Crawford. The trends are overwhelming in favor of the over when these two teams play in Nashville, so I will also take the game over the total.
NHL Odds: Predators 4, Blackhawks 2
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