St. Louis Blues at Arizona Coyotes NHL Picks & Predictions 3/31/2018

Saturday, March 31, 2018

Gila River Arena

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The St. Louis Blues head to Gila River Arena to take on the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday, March 31, 2018. The opening line for this contest has the Blues at -135 and the Coyotes at +122.

St. Louis has a record of 43-28-5 this year and away from home they have a record of 19-13-5-0. They are 4th in the Central Division. They have tallied 212 goals and surrendered 198 goals for a point differential of +14. For the year they have an ATS mark of 43-33-0 and an over/under record of 29-46-0. Arizona has a record of 27-40-11 including 15-20-4-3 on home ice this year. They are 8th in the Pacific Division. They've scored 195 goals and have given up 248 for a goal differential of -53. Their record against the spread is 27-51-0 while their over/under mark is 36-41-0.

Valuable St. Louis Blues Betting Trends

The St. Louis Blues are 43-33-0 straight up this year

The St. Louis Blues are 29-46-0 against the over/under this season

Important Arizona Coyotes Betting Trends

The Arizona Coyotes are 27-51-0 straight up this year

The Arizona Coyotes are 36-41-0 against the over/under this season

Key St. Louis Blues Injuries

09/27/17 C Robby Fabbri ACL IR (10/01)
03/30/18 LW Nikita Soshnikov Upper Body is downgraded to OUT Friday vs Vegas & Saturday vs Arizona
03/30/18 RW Scottie Upshall MCL is upgraded to probable Friday vs Vegas
03/23/18 D Carl Gunnarsson ACL is out for season
03/05/18 D Jay Bouwmeester Hip is out for season

Key Arizona Coyotes Injuries

03/26/18 D Niklas Hjalmarsson Lower Body is out for season
03/20/18 D Jason Demers Upper Body is out for season
03/11/18 C Laurent Dauphin Lower Body is out indefinitely

Player Spotlight

Vladimir Tarasenko has scored 62 total points this year for the Blues. He has 31 goals this season with 286 shots on net, giving him a shooting percentage of 11%. He has a total of 31 assists on the year and averages 19.4 minutes played per contest. Brayden Schenn averages 19.7 minutes of ice time per game this season. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 13% by tallying 25 goals on 194 attempts. He has 39 assists, giving him a total of 64 points on the year. Jake Allen has 27 wins and 21 losses this season in goal for the Blues. He has 1,478 shots against him and he's surrendered 136 goals. He's made 1,342 stops for a save percentage of 91%.

Player Spotlight

Derek Stepan has 53 total points this season for the Coyotes. He has 13 goals this year with 200 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 7%. He has a total of 40 assists on the year and averages 19.3 minutes played per contest. Clayton Keller averages 18 minutes of ice time per contest. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 12% by scoring 23 goals on 195 attempts. He has 39 assists, giving him a total of 62 points on the year. Antti Raanta has 19 wins and 16 losses this season in net for the Coyotes. He has 1,285 shots against him and he's given up 94 goals. He's made 1,191 saves for a save percentage of 93%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Blues have 91 total points this year, which is 15th in the NHL. They've scored 212 goals while giving up 198 scores, which has them ranked 24th and 28th respectively. They have had 234 power play chances and scored 37 goals on those opportunities for a percentage of 16%. That is 29th in the league. The Blues have given up 220 power play opportunities and surrendered 43 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 80%, ranking them 16th when short-handed. They average 33 shots per contest and as a team shoot 8.55% for the year. They allow 30 shot attempts to their opposition per game and have a team save percentage of 91%, which is 13th in the league.

Useful Team Statistics

The Coyotes are 29th in the league with a total of 65 points this season. They have 40 power play goals on 231 chances for a percentage of 17%. That is 23rd in the NHL. They've given up 217 power play opportunities and surrendered 44 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 80%, ranking 20th overall. As a team, the Coyotes are 30th with a total of 195 goals scored while they've given up 248 goals this season, ranking 6th in goals against. They average 30 shots per game and have a team shooting percentage of 8.31%. As a unit they give up 32 shots per contest and have a save percentage of 90%, putting them 23rd overall in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

St. Louis has a Corsi percentage of 51.2% as they've tried 4,468 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 4,252 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. That ranks them 13th in Corsi percentage. They are 4th in the NHL in Fenwick percentage with 52.5% as they have 3,392 shots while they've given up 3,063 attempts on defense. The Blues start possessions in the offensive zone 50.7% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 49.3% for the year. That puts them 16th and 19th in the league in zone percentages respectively. They have 2,277 face-off wins as opposed to 2,247 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 50.3%. That is 19th overall in the NHL. On defense St. Louis has 1,731 hits and they've blocked 1,189 attempts from opposing offenses, which is 8th in the league.

Advanced Statistics

The Coyotes are 21st in the league in starting possessions in the offensive zone, doing so 48.6% of the time. Their defensive zone percentage is at 51.4% for the season, which is 6th in the NHL. They have 2,310 face-off wins compared to 2,516 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 47.9%. That is 26th in the league. On defense Arizona has 1,910 hits and they have blocked 1,119 shots from the opposition, which is 19th in the league. Arizona is 20th in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 48.9% as they've attempted 4,554 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 4,767 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage of 47.7% ranks 22nd as they have 3,329 attempts while they have given up 3,648 shots on the defensive end.

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

Josh's Pick: Take St. Louis -135

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