Philadelphia Flyers at Columbus Blue Jackets NHL Picks & Predictions 12/23/2017

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Nationwide Arena

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The Philadelphia Flyers head to Nationwide Arena to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, December 23, 2017.

Philadelphia has a record of 15-12-7 this year and away from home they have a record of 7-5-3-1. They are 7th in the Metropolitan Division. They have tallied 96 goals and surrendered 97 goals for a point differential of -1. For the year they have an ATS mark of 15-19-0 and an over/under record of 17-15-0. Columbus has a record of 21-13-2 including 13-6-0-0 on home ice this year. They are 3rd in the Metropolitan Division. They've scored 103 goals and have given up 98 for a goal differential of +5. Their record against the spread is 21-14-0 while their over/under mark is 17-17-0.

Valuable Philadelphia Flyers Betting Trends

The Philadelphia Flyers are 15-19-0 straight up this year

The Philadelphia Flyers are 17-15-0 against the over/under this season

Important Columbus Blue Jackets Betting Trends

The Columbus Blue Jackets are 21-14-0 straight up this year

The Columbus Blue Jackets are 17-17-0 against the over/under this season

Key Philadelphia Flyers Injuries

12/21/17 LW Taylor Leier Upper Body is "?" Friday vs Buffalo
12/06/17 D Brandon Manning Upper Body IR (12/05)
12/06/17 GO Michal Neuvirth Lower Body IR (12/05)
11/06/17 RW Colin McDonald Lower Body IR (10/03)
10/15/17 GO Anthony Stolarz Knee IR (10/03)

Key Columbus Blue Jackets Injuries

12/22/17 D Zach Werenski Undisclosed is "?" Saturday vs Philadelphia
12/13/17 C Brandon Dubinsky Facial IR (12/12)
12/01/17 D Ryan Murray Upper Body IR (11/27)

Player Spotlight

Claude Giroux has scored 39 total points this year for the Flyers. He has 13 goals this season with 64 shots on net, giving him a shooting percentage of 20%. He has a total of 26 assists on the year and averages 20.2 minutes played per contest. Jakub Voracek averages 19.6 minutes of ice time per game this season. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 7% by tallying 8 goals on 120 attempts. He has 34 assists, giving him a total of 42 points on the year. Brian Elliott has 13 wins and 7 losses this season in goal for the Flyers. He has 806 shots against him and he's surrendered 71 goals. He's made 735 stops for a save percentage of 91%.

Player Spotlight

Artemi Panarin has 28 total points this season for the Blue Jackets. He has 7 goals this year with 95 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 7%. He has a total of 21 assists on the year and averages 20 minutes played per contest. Josh Anderson averages 17.7 minutes of ice time per contest. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 12% by scoring 13 goals on 106 attempts. He has 8 assists, giving him a total of 21 points on the year. Sergei Bobrovsky has 17 wins and 10 losses this season in net for the Blue Jackets. He has 839 shots against him and he's given up 68 goals. He's made 771 saves for a save percentage of 92%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Flyers have 37 total points this year, which is 19th in the NHL. They've scored 96 goals while giving up 97 scores, which has them ranked 22nd and 23rd respectively. They have had 115 power play chances and scored 23 goals on those opportunities for a percentage of 20%. That is 16th in the league. The Flyers have given up 109 power play opportunities and surrendered 26 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 76%, ranking them 28th when short-handed. They average 32 shots per contest and as a team shoot 8.84% for the year. They allow 31 shot attempts to their opposition per game and have a team save percentage of 91%, which is 16th in the league.

Useful Team Statistics

The Blue Jackets are 8th in the league with a total of 43 points this season. They have 11 power play goals on 100 chances for a percentage of 11%. That is 31st in the NHL. They've given up 92 power play opportunities and surrendered 16 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 83%, ranking 10th overall. As a team, the Blue Jackets are 15th with a total of 101 goals scored while they've given up 95 goals this season, ranking 24th in goals against. They average 34 shots per game and have a team shooting percentage of 8.42%. As a unit they give up 31 shots per contest and have a save percentage of 91%, putting them 10th overall in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

Philadelphia has a Corsi percentage of 50.2% as they've tried 1,969 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 1,955 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. That ranks them 15th in Corsi percentage. They are 16th in the NHL in Fenwick percentage with 50.3% as they have 1,467 shots while they've given up 1,447 attempts on defense. The Flyers start possessions in the offensive zone 50.6% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 49.4% for the year. That puts them 16th and 18th in the league in zone percentages respectively. They have 1,089 face-off wins as opposed to 970 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 52.9%. That is 2nd overall in the NHL. On defense Philadelphia has 709 hits and they've blocked 508 attempts from opposing offenses, which is 17th in the league.

Advanced Statistics

The Blue Jackets are 13th in the league in starting possessions in the offensive zone, doing so 50.5% of the time. Their defensive zone percentage is at 49.5% for the season, which is 13th in the NHL. They have 1,036 face-off wins compared to 1,129 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 47.9%. That is 27th in the league. On defense Columbus has 797 hits and they have blocked 525 shots from the opposition, which is 9th in the league. Columbus is 11th in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 51.3% as they've attempted 2,143 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 2,036 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage of 52.3% ranks 8th as they have 1,659 attempts while they have given up 1,511 shots on the defensive end.

Who will win tonight's Flyers/Blue Jackets NHL game against the spread?

Tony's Pick: Take Philadelphia

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