In what’s already their final head-to-head meeting of the regular season, the St. Louis Blues and the Columbus Blue Jackets face off at Nationwide Arena. The action will get started at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, November 15, and you can watch this East-West matchup live on Fox Sports Midwest.
St. Louis Blues vs. Columbus Blue Jackets Odds
St. Louis is 12-7 straight up (SU) and has netted moneyline bettors 2.5 units this year. 10 of its contests have gone under the total, while nine have gone over and none have pushed. This 2019-20 Blues team is 7-3 SU on the road.
St. Louis has converted on 27.9 percent of its power play chances this season, a mark that’s good enough for fourth-best in the league. Additionally, its penalty kill is ranked 13th overall, and the team’s successfully killed off 82.5 percent of its penalties.
St. Louis, as a collective unit, has been penalized just 3.4 times per game overall during the 2019-20 season, 3.2 per game over its past five contests total, and 3.2 per game over its last five games as the visiting team. The team’s been forced to stave off opponent power plays just 7.3 minutes per game over their last 10 outings.
Boasting a .921 save percentage and 28.1 saves per game, Jordan Binnington (9-6-4) has been the top option in goal for St. Louis this year. If St. Louis decides to rest him, however, the team might roll with Jake Allen (3-1), who has a .882 save percentage and 3.29 goals against average this year.
Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron will both lead the way for the visiting Blues. O’Reilly has 19 points on five goals and 14 assists, and has recorded multiple points five times. Perron has eight goals and 10 assists to his name (and has notched at least one point in 12 games).
On the other side of the ice, Columbus is 6-12 straight up (SU) and has lost 5.2 units for moneyline bettors this year. 11 of its outings have gone under the total, while six have gone over and just one has pushed. It’s 3-6 SU as the home team so far this year.
Columbus has converted on just 13.6 percent of its power play chances this season, a figure that’s ranked 27th in the NHL. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked 23rd overall, and it’s successfully killed off 77.4 percent of all penalties.
The Blue Jackets have been penalized only 3.3 times per game this season, 3.0 per game over their past five games total, and 3.0 per game over their last five home outings. The team has been forced to kill penalties just 8.1 minutes per game over their last 10 outings.
Joonas Korpisalo (25.6 saves per game) has been the primary netminder in goal for Columbus. Korpisalo has six wins, eight losses, and one OT loss and has recorded a mediocre 3.13 goals against average and a fairly-weak .895 save percentage this year.
The Jackets offense will be led by Pierre-Luc Dubois (six goals, five assists) and Gustav Nyquist (three goals, eight assists).
St. Louis Blues vs. Columbus Blue Jackets Free Picks
Free NHL Pick: SU Winner – Blue Jackets, O/U – Over
Betting Notes
- The under has hit in four of Columbus’ last five outings.
- St. Louis has managed 25.8 shot attempts per game over its last five road games while Columbus is averaging 32.8 shots per game over its last five home outings.
- The Blues are 7-1 in games where they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 9-4 when they serve fewer than 10 penalty minutes, in total.
- Columbus is ranked 21st this season with 6.8 takeaways per game. That figure’s trended down lately, however, as it has managed 5.7 takeaways over its last 10 games and 4.8 takeaways over its last five.
- St. Louis skaters have forced 6.8 takeaways per game over its last five road games, a drop-off from its season average of 7.6 takeaways per game (ranked 15th).
