Columbus Blue Jackets vs Nashville Predators Prediction, 1/14/2021 NHL Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Columbus Blue Jackets vs Nashville Predators

Date: Thursday, January 14, 2021

Location: Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN

TV: NHL Center Ice

Odds/Point Spread: Blue Jackets (+100) Predators (-120)

Bridgestone Arena is the site where Juuse Saros and the Nashville Predators will take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. The Predators open this contest at -120 while the Blue Jackets are priced at +100. The total opens at 5.5.

The Blue Jackets will look for better times on the ice after their 5 - 4 defeat against the Lightning in their last game of last season. The Blue Jackets had a good offensive output in this loss. For the game, they earned a goal on 4 of the 41 shots they put on goal. Moreover, they had 6 power play chances and were able to net 1 goal out of those attempts. Columbus ended up with 2 penalty mins while out there on the ice. The Corsi for the Blue Jackets sat at 54 and the Corsi against was 48 giving them a Corsi percentage of 52.9%. Their Fenwick was 42 and the Fenwick against sat at 35, which earned them a Fenwick percentage of 54.5%. They took 29 face-off wins and lost 21 of the face-offs. Their starts in the offensive zone were rated at 51.6% and they had a PDO at even strength of 89.7 for this one. Concerning opponent stats, the Tampa Bay Lightning tallied a total of 25 shots. They had a total of 14 penalty minutes and they notched 0 power play chances.

In net for Columbus is Joonas Korpisalo from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is 25 years old and played a total of 2,126 minutes in goal for the season. Korpisalo allowed an average of 2.60 GAA which put him at 10th among East goalies and 17th among goalies in the NHL. For the season, he surrendered 92 goals. He earned a save % of .911 which put him at 15th among East goalies. The Blue Jackets scored a total of 180 goals which ranked them 15th in the conference and 27th in the NHL. Their goal differential was -3, putting them at 21st in the NHL. The Blue Jackets had a total of 81 points, which ranked them 12th in the NHL and 7th in the Eastern Conference. Regarding shots at the opposition, they had a total of 2,272 which ranked them 3rd in the conference and 6th in the NHL. As a unit, Columbus collected a total of 1,372 hits which means they averaged 19.6 per game. They had a total of 950 blocks for the season.

The Predators opposed the Coyotes in an outing where the Predators ended up taking the loss by a final score of 4 - 3 in their final game last year. Nashville earned a 56.5% Corsi rating. They got to that percentage by earning a Corsi of 78 and they conceded a Corsi of 60. They had a Fenwick percentage of 60.4% by earning a Fenwick of 61 and the Coyotes finishing with a 40 Fenwick. These Corsi statistics are telling of the type of game that Nashville played and you could say that they played like a middle of the road team. Their PDO at even strength was 90.9 and they earned an oZS percentage of 36.4%. The Predators notched 3 goals of the 52 shots on goal they tried. They had 4 power play opportunities in this game and scored 1 out of those chances. As for their opponent, the Coyotes had 1 power play attempt but were not able to notch a goal. Nashville conceded 34 shots on goal and the Coyotes had a total of 8 penalty minutes.

In net for Nashville is Juuse Saros who had an average year by allowing 2.70 goals per game and that had him 13th in the West and 27th in the NHL. In the 2,177 mins he was on the ice, he allowed 98 goals. He had a save percentage of .914, which put him at 15th in the West and 27th in the NHL. In the matter of goal differential, they sat 10th in the Western Conference and 20th in the league with -2. They had a total of 212 goals for the year which had them sitting at 8th in the West. Nashville had a team save % of .901 which had them sitting 20th in the league, meaning there should be some chances to score. They had a team shooting percentage of 9.3% ranking them 7th in the conference.

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

Tony's Pick: Take Nashville (-120)

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