The St. Louis Blues (3-2-0) and Nashville Predators (2-4-1) meet Thursday in a Central Division tussle. Puck drop at Bridgestone Arena is slated for 8 p.m. ET (ESPN+/Hulu).
St. Louis hits the road after a 3-1 home loss to the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday. The total was 6.5 for that contest, and the Under has now easily cleared in 3 straight Blues games. St. Louis has scored just 12 goals through 5 games to start the year.
The Predators take to the ice after 4 days off. Nashville is 0-4-1 since starting the season with 2 wins. Over the 0-4-1 stretch, the Preds have gone 2-for-22 (9.1%) on the powerplay and yielded 4 goals per game.
Blues at Predators odds
- Moneyline: Blues +133 (bet $100 to win $133) | Predators -165 (bet $165 to win $100)
- Puck line (PL)/Against the spread (ATS): Blues +1.5 (-175) | Predators -1.5 (+140)
- Over/Under (O/U): 6.5 (O: -101 | U: -120)
Blues at Predators projected goalies
Thomas Greiss (0-1-0, 3.02 GAA, .929 SV%) vs Juuse Saros (1-3-1, 3.04 GAA, .894 SV%)
Greiss backs up G Jordan Binnington, who started Wednesday’s contest. The 36-year-old journeyman is a veteran of 348 NHL games. He’s been a fast starter over his career, but he has scuffled in 15 career games against the Predators (.882 SV%). The German netminder allowed 3 goals on 42 shots Monday at the Winnipeg Jets in his only start this season.
Saros earned Vezina Trophy votes each of the last 2 seasons, but the 27-year-old veteran is off to a slow start this fall. Without facing a ton of shots, Saros has allowed 3 goals or more in 4 straight games; he owns an .873 SV% over that stretch. He allowed 14 goals — with an .829 SV% — across 146 minutes against St. Louis last season.
Blues at Predators picks and predictions
Prediction
Predators 3, Blues 2
Moneyline
St. Louis has shot just 5.8% in 5-on-5 play (30th NHL). They hold the short end of the puck-possession stick in this match-up, but not to the degree implied by the Nashville price.
However, the Blues are coming off a challenging game against fast-skating Edmonton, and we would want a better price on their side.
So, we PASS.
Puck line/Against the spread
Same calculus as above but with even more juice drowning out points of leverage PASS.
Over/Under
The Under for these 2 clubs has thus far gone 7-4-1, and it went 4-0 in 4 head-to-head meetings last season. Look for Thursday’s game to be tightened up, and it is worth shading the low side of this figure.
Both teams have been good at killing off penalties so far. St. Louis is 11-of-11 in that category, and the Blues also do well to avoid a lot of high-danger scoring chances. St. Louis (17.9 blocked shots per game) and Nashville (15.1) also rank in the circuit’s first division in blocking shots.
Peg both goaltenders to be slightly underrated and for this contest to land in the 3-1 or 3-2 range.
TAKE THE UNDER 6.5 (-120).