The Nashville Predators are favored at home on Sunday, as they host the St. Louis Blues in a game that can be seen on NBC. The Blues are in a major fight to make the playoffs, as they are battling for third place in the Central Division, while the Predators lead the division. These teams have met three times this season, with Nashville winning all three games. It has been nothing but misery for the Blues in Nashville recently, as they have lost the last seven meetings. Let’s look at Sunday’s game and NHL picks.
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Odds Analysis
The Blues are in a very familiar position, as they are battling for a playoff spot. Last year at this time they were in almost exactly the same spot and then they got hot and finished third in the Central and carried that momentum into the playoffs where they won a series. “I don’t think we can just say we did it last year, let’s go do it again,” head coach Mike Yeo said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Wednesday. “There was a lot that went into that last year. We had great goaltending from Jake (Allen) down the stretch. We’re going to need great goaltending the rest of the way. We had every guy completely engaged and ready to come in and do their job and perform their job very well and when we did that, we started to get on a roll and we’re going to need a similar recipe and similar formula here.”
St. Louis has shown very little resolve this season, as when things go bad they tend to fold. The Blues are 7-17-2 when the opponent scores first and the Blues have come from behind to win just one game since November 18. Conversely, the Blues are 27-6-2 when they score first. St. Louis is 15-14 on the road, with 12 games going over the total and 17 going under. They are scoring 2.8 goals per game and giving up 2.6 per contest.
The Predators have one of the top records in the league and they could add more talent at the trading deadline. Nashville is said to be looking seriously at adding Rick Nash from the Rangers. Nashville will also be getting Eeli Tolvanen, an 18-year-old who had three goals and six points in two games with the Finnish Olympic team.
Nashville was 20-10 in their first 30 home games, with 16 going over and 14 going under the total. They are scoring 3.1 goals per game and giving up 2.5 per contest.
Special Teams
The Blues are poor on the power play at just 27th in the league, but they have been solid in penalty killing at 11th in the NHL. The Predators are 5th on the power play and 13 in penalty killing.
Key Stat
The Predators have won 7 of the last 10 overall in this series, with six of the last seven going under. They have also won the last seven at home in this series, with three of the last four going under.
Free NHL Picks
The Blues are just an average road team, while Nashville is very good at home and the trends in this series are overwhelmingly in favor of the Predators. It also helps that Nashville has had two days off since hosting San Jose on Thursday, while the Blues were home against Winnipeg on Friday. The extra day of rest, the home ice advantage, and the superior series domination all point to a Nashville win on Sunday afternoon.
NHL Odds: Predators 4, Blues 2
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