Carolina Hurricanes vs Columbus Blue Jackets NHL Picks & Predictions 10/24/2019

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Nationwide Arena

Petr Mrazek and the Carolina Hurricanes (6-3-0, 2nd in the Metropolitan Division) head to Nationwide Arena on Thursday where they'll take on the Columbus Blue Jackets (4-3-2, 5th in the Metropolitan Division). The odds on this contest have the Hurricanes priced at -125 and the Blue Jackets are at +113. The O/U is set at 6. The Hurricanes cover 62.5% of the time, having gone 5-3 SU. The Blue Jackets cover 44.4% of the time, going 4-5 straight up.

The Carolina Hurricanes come into this matchup holding a record of 6 victories and 3 defeats, which is good for 2nd in the Metropolitan Division. Thus far in the season, they have racked up a total of 29 goals which is 7th in the conference and 11th in the NHL. Their goal differential is +4, which is good for 12th in the NHL. The Hurricanes have a total of 12 pts, which is 9th in the NHL and 6th in the conference. Regarding shots on goal, they have a total of 307 which is 7th in the conference and 11th in the NHL. As a unit, Carolina has earned a total of 124 hits which has them averaging 13.8 per contest. They have a total of 88 blocks for the year. The man looking after the goal for Carolina is Petr Mrazek from Lugnvik, Sweden. He is 27 years old and has played 273 minutes defending the goal for the season. Mrazek is giving up 2.64 GAA which places him at 8th among Eastern Conference goaltenders and 18th in the NHL. For the year, he has surrendered 12 goals. His save percentage is .893 which places him at 20th among Eastern Conference goaltenders.

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The Carolina Hurricanes were on the wrong end of the scoreboard with a 4 - 2 defeat to the Anaheim Ducks in their previous game. The Hurricanes didn't have their best offensive outing in the loss. In this matchup, they finished 2 out of the 24 shots they attempted. Moreover, they had 3 power play opportunities and were able to notch 1 goal out of those tries. Carolina racked up 7 penalty minutes in this matchup. The Corsi for the Hurricanes sat at 36 and the Corsi against was 28 which means they had a Corsi percentage of 56.3%. Their Fenwick was 30 and the Fenwick against sat at 18, which means they earned a Fenwick percentage of 62.5%. They earned 21 face-off wins and were beaten on 24 of all total face-offs. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 44.4% and they had a PDO at even strength of 85.0 for this matchup. In discussing stats from the opponent, the Anaheim Ducks earned a total of 20 shots. Their total at the end of the game was 11 penalty mins and they earned 1 power play attempt.

The Blue Jackets will be the team across the ice and for the campaign they have 4 victories and 3 losses. When discussing goal differential, they sit 13th in the East and 23rd in the NHL with -7. They have compiled a total of 22 goals for the season which is good for 10th in the conference. Columbus has a team save % of .893 which currently has them ranked 24th in the NHL, meaning there could be plenty of chances to score if they are aggressive. They have a shooting percentage of 7.0% ranking them 16th in the Eastern Conference. In goal for Columbus is Joonas Korpisalo who is having an average campaign by surrendering 2.70 goals against average and that ranks him 12th among East goalies and 23rd in the NHL among goaltenders. In the 422 minutes he's played this year, he has given up 19 goals. He's earned a save % of .905, which has him ranking 15th among East goalies and 28th in the NHL among goaltenders.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets squared up with the Toronto Maple Leafs in a matchup where the Blue Jackets notched a win by a tally of 4 - 3. In this outing, Columbus earned a 47.6% Corsi rating. That percentage was had by having a Corsi of 30 while their opponent had a Corsi of 33. Their Fenwick rate was 48.9% by earning a Fenwick of 22 and the Maple Leafs ending the game with a 23 Fenwick at even strength. These Corsi stats tell us the story of the kind of game Columbus had and they put on a good performance in this one. Their PDO was 92.2 and they earned an oZS percentage of 54.8%. The Blue Jackets netted 4 goals of the 38 shots on goal they attempted. They had 5 power play chances in this outing and scored 1 out of those chances. Concerning their opponent, the Maple Leafs had 2 power play opportunities but were not able to use the chance to their advantage. Columbus gave up 31 shots on goal and the Maple Leafs earned 10 penalty minutes.

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

Tony's Pick: Take Carolina (-125)

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