Two teams still trying to find their way early in this 2022/23 campaign meet up Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. The Nashville Predators (2-4-1) are lofty -170 favorites despite losing five in a row and giving up 4+ goals in four of those defeats.
The St. Louis Blues (3-2-0) would seem to have some value here at +140, not necessarily because they are playing great, but because Nashville has been doing so poorly. The reason the Blues are big underdogs is because they are on the back-to-back after falling 3-1 at home to Edmonton on Wednesday.
Blues Play Their First Back-to-Back
St. Louis is playing on consecutive nights for the first time this season, which means Thomas Greiss will likely get his second start of the year in net. Top goaltender Jordan Binnington is 3-1 with just a 1.74 GAA this season, and he stopped 25 of 27 Edmonton shots on Wednesday so not having him available does hurt the Blues here.
Greiss made his season debut on Monday, and he got peppered, facing 42 SOG but letting three of them slip by. That’s still a decent .929 save percentage, and he’s facing a Predators squad averaging just 2.5 goals per game which is 29th in the NHL.
The problem with whoever starts in net for the Blues is that they don’t get much offensive support, either. St. Louis won in Edmonton 2-0, lost 4-0 at Winnipeg, and then had the 3-1 loss on Wednesday, so that’s three goals scored in their last three games.
Nashville Tries to End Their Skid
The Predators made an eighth straight trip to the playoffs last year, and they got their 2022/23 season off to a great start with 4-1 and 3-2 wins over the Sharks. Since then, it’s been a slide as Nashville got swept 4-1 and 5-1 against the Stars, and then lost to the Kings (SO) Columbus, and Philadelphia.
The good news for Nashville is that they’ve been off since Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Flyers, while St. Louis is playing on consecutive nights the first time this season. The Blues did win their last four games on zero days’ rest last year, however.
Juuse Saros has a great chance to pad his goaltending stats against a struggling Blues offense that attempts just 25 shots per game. Saros has allowed at least three goals in his last four starts though, and his .894 save percentage currently ranks 36th in the league.
Blues at Predators Pick and Prediction
It’s tough backing the Blues playing on consecutive nights, but the -170 price tag is way too high for a Predators team that is 0-3-1 their last four games. Saros is a huge question mark in net for Nashville, and St. Louis is using their backup goaltender Greiss which is why this total has climbed to 6.5.
In a very unpredictable, and what looks to be a high-scoring game, the best play is to take the best value, and that’s on St. Louis.
Pick: Blues +140
