In their final head-to-head meeting of the regular season, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Nashville Predators take the ice at Bridgestone Arena for an East-West showdown. The game gets underway at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 7 and it will air live on Fox Sports Ohio.
Columbus Blue Jackets at Nashville Predators Odds
Nashville (-140) is currently favored over Columbus (+120) and the oddsmakers have set the Over/Under (O/U) at 6 goals (-105 for the over, -115 for the under).
Earning 13.3 units for moneyline bettors, the Predators are 52-29 straight up (SU) overall this year. That winning percentage, ranked second in the NHL in this young season, is an improvement over the 41-41 record from last years regular season campaign. Of the teams 81 games this season, 40 have gone over the total, while an additional 40 have gone under and just one has pushed. The team is 27-13 SU at home this season.
Nashville’s converted on 20.8 percent of its power play opportunities this year, a mark that’s right around league average. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked ninth overall, and it’s successfully killed off 81.9 percent of all penalties.
Nashville, as a collective unit, has been whistled for penalties 4.5 times per game overall this season, and 6.0 per game over its last five games at home. The teams had to stave off opposition power plays for a whopping 14.2 minutes per game over its last five matchups, overall.
Sporting a .927 save percentage and 29.0 saves per game, Pekka Rinne (41-17-4) has been the best option in goal for the Predators this year. If they decide to give him the evening off, however, it may go with Juuse Saros (11-14-14 record, .925 save percentage, 2.44 goals against average).
The Preds will continue relying on offensive production from Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg. Arvidsson (61 points) has tallied 29 goals and 32 assists and has recorded two or more points 18 times this year. Forsberg has 23 goals and 38 assists to his name and has recorded at least one point in 41 games.
On the other side of the ice, Columbus is 45-36 straight up (SU) and has netted 1.1 units for moneyline bettors this season. Through 81 regular season contests, 40 of its games have gone over the total, while another 40 have gone under and just one has pushed. As the road team, Columbus is 19-21 SU.
Columbus has converted on just 17.1 percent of its power play opportunities this year, a mark that’s ranked 24th in the NHL. On the other hand, its penalty kill unit is ranked 26th overall and it’s successfully killed off 76.4 percent of all opponent power plays.
Columbus skaters have been penalized only 3.0 times per game this season, 2.4 per game over their past five games total, and 2.8 per game over their last five games as the visiting team. The team has been forced to kill penalties just 5.8 minutes per game over their last 10 outings.
Sergei Bobrovsky (28.2 saves per game) has been the primary option in the net for Columbus. Bobrovsky owns a 37-28-6 record, while registering a .921 save percentage and 2.42 goals against average this year.
Artemi Panarin (27 goals, 55 assists) has been one of the top facilitators on offense for the visiting Blue Jackets.
Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Nashville Predators Free Picks
Free NHL Tip: SU Winner – Blue Jackets, O/U – Under
Betting Notes
- The total has gone over in three of Nashville’s last five outings.
- Columbus has managed 28.2 shot attempts per game over its last five road games while Nashville is averaging 33.4 shots per game over its last five home outings.
- Power-play chances may prove to be key in the outcome of this game. The Blue Jackets are 20-17 when they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 39-29 in games where they’re in the penalty box for fewer than 10 minutes, total. The Predators are 18-6 when they serve fewer penalty minutes than the opposition and 25-15 when their penalty minutes are in the single digits.
- Two of Nashville’s last ten games have gone to a shootout. The team is 1-1 in those games and 6-7 overall in shootouts this season.
- Nashville is ranked 11th in the league with 7.9 takeaways per game. That figures trended down, however, as the team has averaged 7.2 takeaways over its last 10 games and 6.8 takeaways over its last five.
- Columbus skaters have created 8.8 takeaways per game over its last five road games, an improvement over its season average of 7.5 takeaways per game (ranked 14th in the league).
