St. Louis Blues at Minnesota Wild NHL Picks & Predictions 12/2/2017

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Xcel Energy Center

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The St. Louis Blues head to Xcel Energy Center to take on the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, December 2, 2017. The opening line for this contest has the Blues at -133 and the Wild at +120.

St. Louis has a record of 17-7-1 this year and away from home they have a record of 8-3-1. They are 1st in the Central Division. They have tallied 86 goals and surrendered 66 goals for a point differential of +20. For the year they have an ATS mark of 17-8-0 and an over/under record of 13-12-0. Minnesota has a record of 11-10-3 including 7-3-2 on home ice this year. They are 6th in the Central Division. They've scored 76 goals and have given up 76 for a goal differential of 0. Their record against the spread is 11-13-0 while their over/under mark is 13-9-0.

Valuable St. Louis Blues Betting Trends

The St. Louis Blues are 17-8-0 straight up this year

The St. Louis Blues are 13-12-0 against the over/under this season

Important Minnesota Wild Betting Trends

The Minnesota Wild are 11-13-0 straight up this year

The Minnesota Wild are 13-9-0 against the over/under this season

Key St. Louis Blues Injuries

11/30/17 LW Magnus Paajarvi Foot is "?" Friday vs Los Angeles
10/07/17 LW Zachary Sanford Shoulder IR (10/01)
09/27/17 C Robby Fabbri ACL IR (10/01)

Key Minnesota Wild Injuries

12/01/17 D Jared Spurgeon Groin is "?" Saturday vs St. Louis
10/24/17 LW Zach Parise Back IR (10/01)

Player Spotlight

Brayden Schenn has scored 30 total points this year for the Blues. He has 10 goals this season with 67 shots on net, giving him a shooting percentage of 15%. He has a total of 20 assists on the year and averages 19.6 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 11% by tallying 12 goals on 108 attempts. He has 16 assists, giving him a total of 28 points on the year. Jake Allen has 13 wins and 6 losses this season in goal for the Blues. He has 582 shots against him and he's surrendered 54 goals. He's made 528 stops for a save percentage of 91%.

Player Spotlight

Eric Staal has 21 total points this season for the Wild. He has 8 goals this year with 70 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 11%. He has a total of 13 assists on the year and averages 18.4 minutes played per contest. Jason Zucker averages 17.7 minutes of ice time per contest. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 22% by scoring 13 goals on 58 attempts. He has 7 assists, giving him a total of 20 points on the year. Devan Dubnyk has 9 wins and 7 losses this season in net for the Wild. He has 561 shots against him and he's given up 50 goals. He's made 511 saves for a save percentage of 91%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Blues have 35 total points this year, which is 2nd in the NHL. They've scored 86 goals while giving up 66 scores, which has them ranked 4th and 26th respectively. They have had 87 power play chances and scored 15 goals on those opportunities for a percentage of 17%. That is 24th in the league. The Blues have given up 79 power play opportunities and surrendered 19 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 76%, ranking them 27th when short-handed. They average 34 shots per contest and as a team shoot 10.08% for the year. They allow 30 shot attempts to their opposition per game and have a team save percentage of 91%, which is 10th in the league.

Useful Team Statistics

The Wild are 24th in the league with a total of 25 points this season. They have 18 power play goals on 74 chances for a percentage of 24%. That is 4th in the NHL. They've given up 89 power play opportunities and surrendered 16 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 82%, ranking 11th overall. As a team, the Wild are 17th with a total of 72 goals scored while they've given up 74 goals this season, ranking 16th in goals against. They average 29 shots per game and have a team shooting percentage of 10.24%. As a unit they give up 32 shots per contest and have a save percentage of 91%, putting them 15th overall in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

St. Louis has a Corsi percentage of 52.5% as they've tried 1,520 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 1,373 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. That ranks them 4th in Corsi percentage. They are 7th in the NHL in Fenwick percentage with 53.4% as they have 1,163 shots while they've given up 1,014 attempts on defense. The Blues start possessions in the offensive zone 51% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 49% for the year. That puts them 18th and 18th in the league in zone percentages respectively. They have 743 face-off wins as opposed to 788 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 48.5%. That is 24th overall in the NHL. On defense St. Louis has 585 hits and they've blocked 359 attempts from opposing offenses, which is 13th in the league.

Advanced Statistics

The Wild are 25th in the league in starting possessions in the offensive zone, doing so 48.2% of the time. Their defensive zone percentage is at 51.8% for the season, which is 8th in the NHL. They have 737 face-off wins compared to 733 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 50.1%. That is 18th in the league. On defense Minnesota has 438 hits and they have blocked 368 shots from the opposition, which is 10th in the league. Minnesota is 27th in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 47% as they've attempted 1,250 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 1,410 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage of 47.9% ranks 24th as they have 958 attempts while they have given up 1,042 shots on the defensive end.

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

Guy's Pick: Take St. Louis -133

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