Saturday Night Hockey: Blackhawks @ Blues

The Chicago Blackhawks will visit the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on Saturday night, where they will take on the St. Louis Blues.  Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm central. The Blackhawks have had a fast start to the season beginning the first five games on a point steak, and now sitting at 6-2-2.  This gives then 14 points, good enough for 4th place in the Central Division behind two teams who have played one more game than them and the Nashville Predators, who have been on fire this year (they are 8-2-0).  They are above the line in the Western Conference, however.

St. Louis is in a completely different situation.  They, a team who has contended in the Central Division for a decade, are sitting at 2-4-3, giving them 7 points.  They are seen by fans as lacking any direction, and their own coach Mike Yeo said: “Heck, my job should be in question right now.”

These two teams have met twice this season, with Chicago winning both by one goal.  However, the Blues are favored in this matchup at -135.

Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane lead Chicago in scoring with 14 points each.  Kane leads in goals, having scored 9 so far. Chicago features an opportunistic offense, thriving on getting the puck to the net and picking up rebounds.  Jonathan Toews has been turning back the clock, skating much faster than he has the past couple seasons.  He has 11 goals on the year. Rookie Henri Jokiharju has looked good on the blue line, providing 6 assists, tied for first on the team.

Off-season acquisitions Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron are leading the St. Louis team in scoring.  O’Reilly has 11 points, and Perron has 9. The Blues offense has looked flat coming out of the gate, relying very heavily on the players they just signed to provide scoring.

Between the pipes, Chicago’s Corey Crawford has looked like his old self.  He has an impressive 1.52 goals against average and a .946 save percentage.  He has also held three of their last four opponents to one goal. He not only looks like a good goalie, he looks like a Stanley Cup playoff goalie.

For the Blues, Jake Allen has given up nearly 4 goals each game and has an .876 save percentage, stats looking more like a backup rather than a starting goaltender.

Why the Blues are favored in this game is beyond me.  They have looked flat, disjointed, and just plain bad while the Blackhawks look like they have woken up from a four-year nap, ready to contend again.  Chicago should take this one, and Crawford has a good chance of picking up his first shutout if the year, 3-0. Bet on the Chicago Blackhawks at +110.