The St. Louis Blues are slight favorites at home on Wednesday night as they host the Philadelphia Flyers in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Flyers have played better than expected so far this season and they come into this contest with 44 points while the Blues have 41 points. The Flyers haven’t been anything special on the road going 8-8 while the Blues are 13-6 at home. The Blues have won four of the last five at home against the Flyers.
This war on the ice will go down Wednesday, December 28, 2016, at 8 p.m. ET at the Scottrade Center. 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 Wednesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
Both teams are coming off the holiday break so they each come into this game well rested. The Flyers recently went on a long winning streak but it is still very questionable whether or not they are a good team. They have a goals differential this season of just +2.
The Blues are a very similar team to the Flyers as they have a goals differential of -5. The Blues have been much better at home than on the road so that is why they will be listed as a slight favorite in this contest.
The Flyers could be getting center Sean Couturier back from injury for this game. The bad news for Philly is that Michael Raffl is out for the next week or so with a knee injury. Philadelphia was 11-2-1 since Raffl was put on the top line with Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek.
Special Teams
The Flyers are scoring 2.9 goals per game which is 6th best in the NHL. The power play has been very effective for the Flyers as they are hitting at 22% which is 6th in the league. The defense for Philadelphia has not been that good as they are allowing 2.9 goals per game which is 24th in the league but their penalty killing has been decent as they are 13th in the league at 82.1%.
The Blues are scoring 2.8 goals per game which is 12th in the league and the power play has been solid at 7th in the league at 21.3%. The Blues haven’t been that great on defense as they are giving up 2.9 goals per game which is 23rd in the league but it sure isn’t due to their penalty killing which has been excellent as the Blues are 2nd in the league at 87.4%.
Goalie Report
Since both teams are well rested it should be the starting goaltenders for both teams in this matchup on Wednesday. The Flyers starter should be Steve Mason who is 14-14 with a 2.69 goals against average. The Blues should be sending Jake Allen who is 16-11 on the season with a 2.63 goals against average.
Free NHL Picks
The Flyers have been playing great lately and even against good teams they are winning as they are 7-0 in their last 7 vs. a team with a winning record. They are also 21-8 in their last 29 games vs. teams from the Central. St. Louis has been solid at home going 11-4 in their last 15 home games.
Philadelphia has a tendency to go over the total when playing teams from the Central as they have gone over in 9 of their last 16 with four pushes. The Blues have gone over in five of their last eight home games with two pushes and they have gone over in three of their last five against Metropolitan teams with one push.
I think home ice will be the difference in what could be a high scoring game so I will take the Blues and the game over the total.
NHL Odds: Blues 4, Flyers 2
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