St. Louis Blues vs. Colorado Avalanche - 1/2/20 NHL Picks, Odds, and Prediction

Game: St. Louis Blues vs Colorado Avalanche

Date: Thursday, January 2, 2020

Location: Pepsi Center in Denver, CO

TV: NBCS

Odds/Point Spread: Blues (+127) Avalanche (-140)

Total/Over-Under: 6

Jordan Binnington and the St. Louis Blues (26-9-6, 1st in the Central Division) are headed to Pepsi Center on Thursday where they'll take on the Colorado Avalanche (23-13-4, 2nd in the Central Division). The Blues open this matchup at +127 while the Avalanche are coming in at -140. The O/U has been set at 6. The Blues cover 63.4% of the time, having gone 26-15 SU. Colorado covers 57.5% of the time, going 23-17 straight up.

The St. Louis Blues head into this game holding a record of 26 wins and 9 losses, putting them at 1st in the Central Division. Thus far in the season, they have converted a total of 128 goals which has them ranked at 5th in the West and 14th in the league. Their goal differential is +24, putting them at 4th in the league. The Blues have compiled a total of 58 points, which has them ranked at 3rd in the league and 1st in the conference. With regard to shots at the opposition, they have compiled a total of 1,246 which has them ranked at 10th in the conference and 21st in the league. As a group, St. Louis currently has a total of 762 hits which has them averaging 18.6 per game. They have compiled a total of 392 blocks for the year. The man in net for St. Louis is Jordan Binnington from Richmond Hill, Ontario. He is 26 years old and has played a total of 1,709 minutes defending the net for the campaign. Binnington is giving up an average of 2.39 goals per contest which puts him at 5th among Western Conference goaltenders and 10th in the NHL among goaltenders. For the year, he has given up 68 goals. His save percentage is .921 which puts him at 8th among Western Conference goaltenders.

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The St. Louis Blues will look to clean up some issues after taking a 3 - 1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes the last time they stepped on the ice. The Blues had an offensive game that was below their expectations in the defeat. While out there on the ice, they converted 1 out of the 39 shots they tried. Furthermore, they had 4 power play attempts but weren't able to score. St. Louis had a total of 8 penalty minutes in this game. The Corsi for the Blues sat at 49 and the Corsi against was 37 which means they earned a Corsi percentage of 57.0%. Their Fenwick was 39 while the Fenwick against was 30, which means they had a Fenwick percentage of 56.5%. They earned 19 face-off wins and lost 15 tries to control the puck. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 55.0% and they had a PDO of 98.2 in this game. Concerning opponent stats, the Arizona Coyotes tallied 26 shots. Their total at the end of the game was 8 minutes in the box and they had 4 power play chances.

The Avalanche are the team on the other side of the ice and for the year they sit with 23 wins and 13 defeats. With reference to goal differential, they are currently sitting 1st in the Western Conference and 3rd in the NHL with +26. They have earned a total of 144 goals for the season which ranks them 1st in the Western Conference. Colorado has a save % as a team of .910 which has them 8th in the NHL, which tells us scoring chances could be there if they are opportunistic. They are shooting 11.0% putting them at 1st in the Western Conference. In net for Colorado is Philipp Grubauer who is having a tough year by giving up 2.91 goals against average and that has him ranked 18th among Western Conference goaltenders and 33rd among goalies in the NHL. In the 1,299 mins he's played this season, he has surrendered 63 goals. He's earned a save percentage of .911, which has him ranked 17th among Western Conference goaltenders and 29th among goalies in the NHL.

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The Colorado Avalanche played the Winnipeg Jets in a matchup where the Avalanche went home in defeat by a final score of 7 - 4. For this outing, Colorado had a 62.6% Corsi rating. They got there by having a Corsi of 67 while their opponent had a Corsi of 40. Their Fenwick percentage came in at 62.2% by way of having a Fenwick of 51 and the Jets finishing with a 31 Fenwick. This Corsi rating tells us the kind of game Colorado had and we'd say they played well overall. Their PDO was 81.4 and they'll go home having earned an oZS percentage of 68.8%. The Avalanche converted 4 goals out of the 43 shots on goal they pursued. They had 4 power play attempts in this game and were able to convert 2 out of those attempts. In discussing the opposition, the Jets had 1 power play opportunity and ended up scoring 1 goal. Colorado allowed 26 shots on goal and the Jets racked up a total of 10 minutes in the box.

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

Guy's Pick: Take St. Louis (+127)

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