Blues vs. Devils Odds
| Blues Odds | +150 |
| Devils Odds | -182 |
| Over / Under | 6.5 -110 / -110 |
Here's everything you need to know about the St. Louis Blues vs. New Jersey Devils on Thursday, March 7 – our expert NHL prediction and pick.
The Devils have dropped six of their past eight games, causing their playoff hopes to fade fast. New Jersey needs to rebound soon to avoid completely falling out of the wild-card race.
Meanwhile, St. Louis is fighting to stay relevant in its own battle for a playoff berth. Let's preview the upcoming contest and offer a Blues vs. Devils prediction.
St. Louis Blues
St. Louis has scored just 12 goals over its past six contests. That's not good, but offensive woes are nothing new for the Blues, who rank 26th with just 2.82 goals per game this season. Their xGF/60 of 2.85 is also 26th, so it doesn't appear to be a question of the team having bad puck luck.
This is just who they are, a team with noteworthy forwards — they have four players who have reached the 20-goal mark (the average team has 2.25) — but one that's held back by the lack of a true star.
St. Louis' depth gets less impressive the deeper you dig. The average team has 7.6 players who have reached double digits in goals, while St. Louis is just keeping pace with eight. Meanwhile, the Blues' 11 players with at least five goals fall short of the league average of 13.1. So, in the end, St. Louis isn't impressive in terms of star power or depth, which is what's left the offense in such an unenviable position.
At least the goaltender has been solid. Jordan Binnington has had rough patches, but he's done fine overall with a 22-16-3 record, a 2.83 GAA and a .912 save percentage across 44 games. He also has a Goals Saved Above Expected of 14.8, which is the sixth best in the league. Binnington has been even better lately, saving 143 of 151 shots (.941 save percentage) over his past five appearances, so he'll be facing the Devils while hot.
If St. Louis manages to squeeze into the playoffs, Binnington should be given a significant amount of credit for that accomplishment.
New Jersey Devils
New Jersey would love to have a goaltender like Binnington. To be fair, the Devils' defenders haven't made it easy on their goaltenders by providing an xGA/60 of 3.22 — 24th in the league — but unlike Binnington, who has managed to rise above the poor defense in front of him, New Jersey's goaltenders have made the situation even worse.
Akira Schmid, Nico Daws and Vitek Vanecek are all in the negatives in terms of Goals Saved Above Expected. It's not clear if Daws or Schmid will start Thursday, but it almost doesn't matter. Schmid is 5-9-1 with a 3.15 GAA and an .895 save percentage in 19 contests, while Daws is 8-10-0 with a 3.47 GAA and an .887 save percentage across 18 games. Neither has looked good recently, combining to allow 12 goals over New Jersey's past three games and that doesn't include the two empty-net tallies the Devils surrendered in that span.
Desperate to turn things around, the Devils replaced head coach Lindy Ruff with Travis Green on Monday, but that didn't prevent the Devils from suffering a 5-3 loss to Florida on Tuesday. Unless the goaltending improves in New Jersey, things are unlikely to work out for the Devils.
It's a shame because the Devils do have a strong offense. They're tied for ninth with 3.31 goals per game despite seeing Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier all miss noteworthy chunks of the campaign and not having Dougie Hamilton (pectoral) since Nov. 28. Hamilton might not be able to return before the end of the season, and Ondrej Palat (lower body) is questionable for tonight's action, but the forward corps is healthy and well equipped to challenge Binnington.
Blues vs. Devils
Betting Pick & Prediction
The elephant in the room is that this game will take place on the eve of the trade deadline, so wait as long as possible before locking in bets in case either team is involved in a trade.
If the rosters remain in place, then I like the Blues on the moneyline. St. Louis is being treated by oddsmakers as heavy underdogs, but I see these teams as being evenly matched with the Devils' edge in offense being canceled out by the Blues' superior goaltending. The Devils being the host doesn't move the needle either because New Jersey has a worse record at home (14-16-2) than on the road (16-12-2).
Pick: St. Louis Moneyline +155 | Play to +145
