Vancouver Canucks vs. St. Louis Blues: NHL Odds, Prediction
About the last thing the struggling Vancouver Canucks need right now is to play two road games in the span of 24 hours, but that will be the case Friday night in St. Louis as it’s the second of a back-to-back.
Canucks vs Blues Betting Analysis
This will be the third and last meeting between these teams, and it’s the last back-to-back situation of the season for the Canucks.
On Nov. 18 at Rogers Place, St. Louis won 4-3 in overtime with Brayden Schenn scoring the winner at 2:41 of OT. He was the Blues’ big offseason trade acquisition from Philadelphia. Paul Stastny had three assists, but the Canucks don’t need to worry about him in this one as Stastny was dealt at last month’s trade deadline to the Winnipeg Jets. Sven Baertschi (now out for season) had a goal and an assist, and Anders Nilsson 27 save for Vancouver, which led 3-1 midway through the second.
On Dec. 23 also in Vancouver, the Blues were 3-1 winners. Brock Boeser (now out for season) had the lone Canucks goal past Jake Allen, while Jacob Markstrom stopped 31 shots.
Last year, the Canucks lost both games in St. Louis, 4-3 and 4-1. This decade, Vancouver is 6-7-0 at the Blues with the last victory in 2015 when the Canucks swept there. St. Louis is averaging 2.8 goals per game in those 13 and Vancouver 2.4.
The Canucks are 0-4 in the past four meetings overall. The total has gone over just once in the past 11 meetings in St. Louis.
Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver (26-39-9) snapped a seven-game losing streak Thursday with a 5-2 win in Chicago – it was the Canucks’ most goals scored since Feb. 28. They hadn’t topped three during the skid. Alex Edler was the No. 1 star with two goals, and Daniel Sedin the No. 2 with a goal and assist. It was the 31-year-old Edler’s fourth career multi-goal game but first since 2011 for the Swedish blueliner. Markstrom stopped 38 of 40 shots, the second-most saves in one of his victories this year. With Markstrom having made four straight starts and with this the second game in 24 hours, it likely will be Nilsson in net.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues (40-28-5) supposedly waived the white flag on the season by sending one of their top forwards in Stastny to Winnipeg. The team was in a major funk then, which gave the front office justification, but has now won three straight (all in overtime) and five of six and is right in the wild-card hunt. St. Louis edged the visiting Bruins 2-1 in OT on Wednesday as the red-hot Allen stopped 21 shots. This month, Allen has allowed 16 goals on 191 shots (.916 save percentage). Jaden Schwartz had both goals vs. the Bruins, tying it at 9:36 of the third and winning it just 30 seconds into OT. All three wins in this current streak came with St. Louis trailing entering the third period. Before that, the Blues were 2-23-1 this season when trailing after the second. Second-leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko (27G, 31 A) missed his second straight game Wednesday with an upper-body injury and is questionable for Friday.
