St. Louis Blues at Colorado Avalanche NHL Picks & Predictions 10/19/2017

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Pepsi Center

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The St. Louis Blues head to Pepsi Center to take on the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, October 19, 2017. The opening line for this contest has the Blues at +128 and the Avalanche at -141.

St. Louis has a record of 4-2-0 this year and away from home they have a record of 3-2-0. They are 2nd in the Central Division. They have tallied 18 goals and surrendered 16 goals for a point differential of +2. For the year they have an ATS mark of 4-2-0 and an over/under record of 3-3-0. Colorado has a record of 4-3-0 including 2-0-0 on home ice this year. They are 3rd in the Central Division. They've scored 20 goals and have given up 17 for a goal differential of +3. Their record against the spread is 4-3-0 while their over/under mark is 2-5-0.

Valuable St. Louis Blues Betting Trends

The St. Louis Blues are 4-2-0 straight up this year

The St. Louis Blues are 3-3-0 against the over/under this season

Important Colorado Avalanche Betting Trends

The Colorado Avalanche are 4-3-0 straight up this year

The Colorado Avalanche are 2-5-0 against the over/under this season

Key St. Louis Blues Injuries

10/17/17 LW Alexander Steen Hand IR (10/01)
10/17/17 LW Jaden Schwartz Illness "?" Wednesday vs. Chicago
10/07/17 LW Zachary Sanford Shoulder IR (10/01)
10/03/17 D Jay Bouwmeester Ankle IR (10/01)
09/27/17 C Robby Fabbri ACL IR (10/01)

Key Colorado Avalanche Injuries

10/17/17 D Patrik Nemeth Upper Body is "?" Thursday vs. St. Louis

Player Spotlight

Brayden Schenn has scored 6 total points this year for the Blues. He has 2 goals this season with 19 shots on net, giving him a shooting percentage of 11%. He has a total of 4 assists on the year and averages 19.8 minutes played per contest. Vladimir Tarasenko averages 19.7 minutes of ice time per game this season. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 27% by tallying 4 goals on 15 attempts. He has 2 assists, giving him a total of 6 points on the year. Jake Allen has 3 wins and 2 losses this season in goal for the Blues. He has 180 shots against him and he's surrendered 15 goals. He's made 165 stops for a save percentage of 92%.

Player Spotlight

Nathan MacKinnon has 5 total points this season for the Avalanche. He has 1 goal this year with 11 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 9%. He has a total of 4 assists on the year and averages 16.4 minutes played per contest. Matt Duchene averages 16 minutes of ice time per contest. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 18% by scoring 3 goals on 17 attempts. He has 3 assists, giving him a total of 6 points on the year. Semyon Varlamov has 3 wins and 2 losses this season in net for the Avalanche. He has 160 shots against him and he's given up 11 goals. He's made 149 saves for a save percentage of 93%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Blues have 8 total points this year, which is 14th in the NHL. They've scored 18 goals while giving up 16 scores, which has them ranked 15th and 22nd respectively. They have had 24 power play chances and scored 5 goals on those opportunities for a percentage of 21%. That is 14th in the league. The Blues have given up 26 power play opportunities and surrendered 5 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 81%, ranking them 14th when short-handed. They average 30 shots per contest and as a team shoot 9.94% for the year. They allow 36 shot attempts to their opposition per game and have a team save percentage of 93%, which is 5th in the league.

Useful Team Statistics

The Avalanche are 10th in the league with a total of 8 points this season. They have 5 power play goals on 35 chances for a percentage of 14%. That is 24th in the NHL. They've given up 31 power play opportunities and surrendered 8 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 74%, ranking 29th overall. As a team, the Avalanche are 9th with a total of 20 goals scored while they've given up 17 goals this season, ranking 16th in goals against. They average 30 shots per game and have a team shooting percentage of 9.52%. As a unit they give up 31 shots per contest and have a save percentage of 92%, putting them 8th overall in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

St. Louis has a Corsi percentage of 43.7% as they've tried 299 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 385 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. That ranks them 31st in Corsi percentage. They are 29th in the NHL in Fenwick percentage with 45.4% as they have 234 shots while they've given up 281 attempts on defense. The Blues start possessions in the offensive zone 44.5% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 55.5% for the year. That puts them 30th and 2nd in the league in zone percentages respectively. They have 171 face-off wins as opposed to 202 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 45.8%. That is 27th overall in the NHL. On defense St. Louis has 154 hits and they've blocked 104 attempts from opposing offenses, which is 4th in the league.

Advanced Statistics

The Avalanche are 27th in the league in starting possessions in the offensive zone, doing so 47.2% of the time. Their defensive zone percentage is at 52.8% for the season, which is 5th in the NHL. They have 187 face-off wins compared to 238 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 44%. That is 30th in the league. On defense Colorado has 110 hits and they have blocked 90 shots from the opposition, which is 10th in the league. Colorado is 20th in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 48.3% as they've attempted 380 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 407 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage of 47.8% ranks 22nd as they have 290 attempts while they have given up 317 shots on the defensive end.

Who will win tonight's Blues/Avalanche NHL game against the spread?

Tony's Pick: Take St. Louis +128

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