St Louis Blues at Vancouver Canucks Betting Preview
Opening Moneyline: Blues +180 / Canucks -210 O/U 5 goals
Time: 10 PM EST Wednesday January 27, 2010
Tonight in a Western Conference match up of 2 teams that are playing well the red-hot Vancouver Canucks host the St. Louis Blues. The Canucks are the 2nd hottest team in the West, as they have won 5 in a row, are 7-2-1 in the Northwest Division and trail the hottest team in the conference in the Colorado Avalanche, who have won 6 straight.
After a horrid start to the season the Blues are starting to win and they are currently only 5 points back of the 8th position in the Western Conference. The Blues are coming off a win and are a legit 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.
This season Vancouver is a NHL best 22-7-1 and St. Louis is a solid 14-7-4 at home.
In their last games Vancouver beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Monday night and St. Louis beat the Calgary Flames 2-0 also on Monday night.
The Blues have to play good defense tonight, as the Canucks have the 3rd highest scoring team in the league averaging 3.23 goals per game.
The Blues' D is even more important tonight, as their offense only ranks 22nd in scoring (2.56 goals per game) and they do not have one player that ranks in the top 30 in the league in either points or goals.
The Blues have a so-so defense averaging 2.73 goals per game. They have to really worry about the Sedin twins, as in the last 16 games, where the Canucks are 12-2-2, Henrik has an NHL-high 76 points, with 32 in the last 16 games and Daniel has 28 in the span.
Henrik Sedin leads the Canucks in goals (24), points assists (52), and points (76).
Tonight Vancouver looks for their first 6-game winning streak since 2007.
The Canucks not only have a great offense, but they are getting great G play from Roberto Luongo (37-15 2.54 GAA save percentage 92.1%). He has been playing great recently, as he has a GAA of 2.00 in the last 16 games. He has been a nightmare for St. Louis in his career going 9-3 with a GAA of 1.41 in 12 home games against the Blues.
Either Chris Mason (37-15 2.54 GAA save percentage 91.1%) or Ty Conklin (16-8 2.58 GAA save percentage 92.2%) will get the start in goal tonight for the Blues. Conklin was between the pipes in Monday's win stopping 34 shots in the 2-0 win, which was his 3rd shutout of the season.
St. Louis is 1-4 in their last 5 road games against teams with a home winning percentage of greater than .600 and the total has gone under in 4 of their last 5 games against teams with a winning record. Vancouver is 10-4 in their last 14 home games against teams with a winning road record and have an Under record if 5-2-2 in their last 9 games against teams with a winning road record.
Future Betting Odds
NHL Handicapping
Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins 5-17
The Boston Bruins need to play much better in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bruins lost the opener 5-2 at home and can ill-afford to fall behind 2-0 to Lightning. Tampa Bay are on quite a roll, winning their last eight in a row in the playoffs. The oddsmaker at Bodog have the Bruins as a -145 favorite to even-up the series.