On Monday, the St. Louis Blues will host the Arizona Coyotes in a clash between Central Division squads.
The Blues enter Monday’s contest with a 39-25-4 record, sitting in third place in the Central. They currently occupy one of the top three divisional playoff spots. However, the Nashville Predators (39-25-4, 82 points) and Dallas Stars (39-25-3, 81 points) are right on their heels.
Meanwhile, the Coyotes are in last place in the Central with a 22-42-5 mark. Arizona’s 49 points are tied for the lowest in the NHL with the Montreal Canadians (19-39-11).
St. Louis is listed at -145 over Arizona.
Blues Look to Continue Recent Hot Streak Monday against Arizona
The Blues have been playing good hockey lately, earning points in each of their last four games (3-0-1). In their most recent outing, the Blues knocked off Pacific Division leader, the Calgary Flames, in a high-scoring affair, 6-4.
With the playoff hunt heating up, St. Louis’ recent play has come at a good time. The Blues had lost five of six games before winning three of their last four games.
The Blues boast an electric offense that averages 3.57 GF/G this season. St. Louis has six players with 20 or more goals this season. Vladimir Tarasenko, Pavel Buchnevich, and David Perron are tied for the team lead with 23 goals apiece. Jordan Kyrou has 21 goals, Ivan Barbashev has 21, and Brandon Saad has 20 to round out the Blues’ top scorers.
Over their four-game points streak, the Blues are averaging nearly five goals per game.
Defensively, the Blues are averaging 2.91 GA/G, sixth-best in the Western Conference.
This season, Ville Husso and Jordan Binnington have split the goaltending duties for St. Louis, with the former playing better.
In 31 starts, Binnington is 13-13-4 with a .899 SV% and 3.25 GAA.
Meanwhile, 26-year-old Husso is 19-6-5 with a .922 SV% and a 2.45 GAA.
Coyotes Look to Turnaround Late-Season Struggles
Firmly out of the playoff picture, the Coyotes are playing for pride and spots on the team next season.
Nevertheless, the Coyotes enter Monday’s contest coming off a rare victory, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 in overtime, on Sunday night.
The win was just the second for Arizona over their last nine games.
Offensively, the Coyotes have struggled to score all season long. Arizona has averaged just 2.53 GF/G, scoring a lead-low 172 goals on the year.
23-year-old Clayton Keller leads the team in goals with 28, followed by fellow youngsters Nick Schmaltz (20) and Lawson Crouse (20).
Defensively, the Coyotes are allowing 3.57 GA/G, having given up 243 goals against the worst in the Western Conference.
Shayne Gostisbehere has been a loan bright-spot on defense for the Coyotes. Gostisbehere scored the game-winner in overtime against Chicago, his 10th goal of the season. On the year, he has 41 points, fourth on the team.
Betting Prediction
Half of the Blues remaining 14 games will come against teams with losing records. Two of those games are against the Coyotes, the first of which comes on Monday.
A playoff spot will be on the line over the last month of the regular season for the Blues. With that in mind, look for the Blues to take advantage of opportunities against teams like the Coyotes.
While the Blues have struggled at home lately, winning just one of their last five home games, they’ve performed well on home ice for most of the season. The Blues hold a 21-9-4 mark at the Enterprise Center; only five teams have more wins at home this season than the Blues.
Meanwhile, the Coyotes are just 12-19-4 on the road this season, only the expansion Seattle Kraken (10-21-3) has a worse road record in the Western Conference. The Coyotes have won just once over their last five road games.
The Blues at -145 are the pick to play for this one.
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