Blues vs. Red Wings NHL Spread/Handicapping
Headline: Stumbling Blues in Detroit to take on Hot Wings
Central Division rivals headline a rather quiet night in the NHL Wednesday when the St. Louis Blues, losers of five straight games head to Detroit to take on the Wings who have won three straight games.
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St. Louis Blues (6-5-0-1) at Detroit Red Wings (7-4-1-0)
When: 7:30 PM ET, Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Where: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Broadcast: NBCSN, TSN2
Blues vs. Wings Betting Lines from betonline.com
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The roles have reversed since the beginning of the season – the Blues came out of the gate playing well while the Wings took a while to adjust to life without Nik Lidstrom and Thomas Holmstrom. Now it is the Wings that are being chased by the bumbling Blues. Wednesday marks the fourth meeting already between the two sides – St. Louis won the first but Detroit has taken the last two.
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The St. Louis Blues were supposed to have one of the best defenses in the NHL anchored by a stellar goaltending duo hat has failed to get it done so far this young season. Jaroslav Halak is injured and Brian Elliot has looked miserable between the pipes. St. Louis owns the 24th ranked defense in the league giving up an average of 3.25 goals per game – yuk!
The Blues will likely be forced to go with Brian Elliot between the pipes Wednesday – he has looked shaky at best as of late. He is 3-5-1 on the season with a lofty 3.57 goals against average and unflattering .849 save percentage.
It’s a good thing for St. Louis’s 4th ranked offense – one that is averaging 3.17 goals per game. The offense has been spread around this year – eight Blues have at least eight points thus far with defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk being the hottest. He has four assists in the last three games and 12 for the season, tied for fourth in the NHL and first among blueliners. Rookie Vladimir Terasenko leads the team in goals with 5 – he is one of the nice surprises in the NHL so far this season.
The Detroit Red Wings have been coming around and are resembling the organization that everyone in hockey knows they are. So far they are middle of the road in both goals for and against but they are improving each and every night. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
You can thank the usual suspects for Detroit’s re-ascent to the top tier of NHL teams. Henrik Zetterberg has six assists in the last four games and 13 for the season, tied for the League lead. Pavel Datsyuk has goals in consecutive games. Jimmy Howard has upped his game as of late too and a big reason why the Wings defeated the defending champion LA Kings Sunday when he made a startling 45 saves.
Detroit, despite losing some key players to retirement and others to injury just keeps finding ways to get it done – the sign of a truly outstanding franchise. They have lost twice in seven home games this season and are in the midst of a two game win streak against St. Louis and a three game win streak overall. It’s pretty tough to bet against them at the moment.
Betting Prediction
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A few trends to consider:
• Over is 6-0-2 in STL last 8 overall.
• Over is 6-0-2 in STL last 8 vs. Western Conference.
• Over is 9-2-2 in DET last 13 Wed. games.
• Under is 9-2-2 in DET last 13 home games.
• DET are 38-14 in their last 52 home games.
• Home team is 7-2 in the last 9 meetings.
• STL are 12-32-1 in the last 45 meetings in Detroit.
The St. Louis Blues are really struggling to keep the puck out of the net right now – it seems filling the net in the offensive zone is about the only chance they have night in and night out. But against a hot Jimmy Howard, goals will be hard to come by. It all adds up to an easy Detroit win here – the cream of the Central Division is really rising to the top!
Pick: Detroit Red Wings
