Welcome to a Saturday edition of NHL Predictions! It is a busy weekend in the sports world. The Conference Championship games will be played on Sunday to determine who will play in Super Bowl LIX. The NHL will also be busy. The Saturday slate of games features 13 games. Today, we are looking at the Central Division showdown between the St. Louis Blues and the Dallas Stars.
Time: 7:00 P.M. Eastern Time
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Midwest, Victory+
The Stars won the first matchup in early December. Matt Duchene scored the game-winning goal in overtime to give the Stars a 2-1 victory. The two teams will meet Saturday night at Enterprise Center in St. Louis for the second game of the three-game season series. This will be the only game in the series to take place in St. Louis.
The Blues enter action on Saturday following a 4-2 loss at home on Thursday. The loss puts the Blues at 5-5 in January. Furthermore, the last week has been inconsistent for the Blue Note. They have alternated wins and losses. The team wins one game but then loses the next one. However, they seemingly get back on track the next game, only to lose the next.
If there is a bright side to an up-and-down January, it is that the Blues are pretty much in the same spot regarding playoff contention. January has been an important month for the Blues’ playoff chances due to the number of games against teams next to them in the standings. The Blues have not made up much ground in the Western Conference standings, but they have not dropped in the standings.
The Stars visit St. Louis after hosting the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night. With Jake Oettinger making the start against Vegas, Casey DeSmith will likely get the nod against the Blues. In addition, there may be some other lineup changes due to the team playing back-to-back nights.
The Stars head to St. Louis to maintain pace in the Central Division race. The team is within reach of the division title but needs to start making up ground fast. In addition, the Stars are currently third in the division. If the playoffs started today, the Stars would have to go on the road in the first round. For a team looking to advance to their third-straight Western Conference Final, it would be huge for the team to earn the home-ice advantage. Yes, it is only January. However, early April will be here before we know it.
The last six games between these two games have been decided by one goal. Furthermore, four of them have needed overtime or a shootout. Goals have been challenging for these two teams. We expect that to continue on Saturday. In addition, the home team won the last six matchups. We are going to pick that trend to continue.
Blues win, 2-1, in a shootout.
The over/under is set at 5.5 goals. Given recent trends, we feel it is rather safe to say that betters should take the under. We are predicting just three total goals for Saturday. However, there are no safe bets, so always place yours with caution.
For any time-scorers, we are picking Wyatt Johnston for the Stars. For the Blues, we will choose the former Star, Radek Faksa. Faksa has only scored three goals since joining the Blues, so we are going out on a limb with this choice.
Main Photo: Jerome Miron- Imagn Images
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Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey reviews the scheduled games and offers insight and analysis to help predict who will win
Welcome back to NHL Predictions here at Last Word on Hockey! Each day of the NHL season, we preview and analyze games to give our predictions.
