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NHL Free Pick: Canucks vs. Blues Betting Lines & Preview

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Weekly NHL Betting action sees the Vancouver Canucks taking on the St. Louis Blues March 30 at Scottrade Center. Cappers Picks provides free NHL handicapping tips all season long.

The Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues will continue their battle for positioning in the Western Conference playoff race when the two teams meet in St. Louis Monday night.

Daily NHL Hockey Odds

Vancouver (43-27-3-2) at St. Louis (46-22-3-4)
When: 8:00 PM ET, Monday, March 30, 2015
Where: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Broadcast: SNP, FS-MW
Canucks NHL Betting Odds: +1½ -210 +144
Blues NHL Betting Odds: -1½ +180 -160
NHL Over Under Betting Odds: Under 5 +113
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The Canucks enter on a two game losing streak but they have won five straight against the Blues including both this year. The Blues have also struggled most recently – they are 1-2-2 in its last five and have lost four of six at home.

The Vancouver Canucks currently sit three points up on LA for second in the Pacific Division – their playoff positioning is far from sewed up. They begin a four game road trip on the heels of a 4-3 OT home loss Saturday night. The offense has been OK for Vancouver lately – the defense has struggled a tad.

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The Canucks will be happy to see a team currently in a playoff spot – they seem to raise their level of game against the good teams and play down to the lesser squads. Vancouver’s last three losses have come against Columbus, Colorado and Dallas while they have beaten LA and Winnipeg over that span.

As previously mentioned Vancouver’s offense has been OK – they have scored 16 goals in their last five games – Radim Vrbata has been scorching and has nine points in five games. Daniel Sedin has nine points in seven games and Chris Higgins has three points in three games. The Canucks have also been getting solid contributions in the offensive zone from their defense – Yannick Weber has five points in five games, Alex Edler has six points in seven games and Chris Tanev and Dan Hamhuis each have two points in their last two games.

Scoring shouldn’t be much of a problem considering Vancouver scored 6 in the last meeting between the teams – defense will be the difference between winning or losing in this one. Alex Burrows is pointless in his last five games however and Jannik Hansen hasn’t recorded a point in seven.

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Expect Eddie Lack to be between the pipes for Vancouver – he is 4-0-0 with a 1.92 goals-against average all-time versus St. Louis and despite looking a tad shaky at times in his last two starts has been very good for the team since taking the reins from Ryan Miller. The Vancouver defense overall could afford to tighten up for Monday night’s clash – they have surrendered eight goals in the last two games overall.

The St. Louis Blues have gone just 5-3-2 in their last 10 games overall – they like the Canucks are scuffling a bit as we head down the stretch. The Blues are coming off a 4-2 loss to Columbus Saturday which was significant because of the fact that TJ Oshie didn’t play because of illness and Alex Steen left midway through the first period with a lower-body injury following. Both are questionable for Monday night’s game – each would be a huge omission to the lineup.

St. Louis is still one of the top offensive clubs in the NHL – they average 2.92 goals per game. But they have scored just 10 goals in their last 5 games overall. Nobody is particularly Hot in the offensive zone for St. Louis as of late – their best player as of late Alex Steen may not even suit up.

That leaves the Blues defense to step up. They have been good this season allowing just 2.41 goals per game. That said the Blues have surrendered 14 goals in their last 4 games – not good. Brian Elliot figures to get the start between the pipes Monday – he is 1-2-0 with a 1.58 GAA in his last four appearances against Vancouver.

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Elliot is 0-2-0 with a 5.12 GAA and horrendous .781 save percentage in his last two starts overall.

NHL Gambling Trends

• Over is 7-1-3 in VAN last 11 vs. Central.
• Under is 16-7-4 in VAN last 27 Mon. games.
• STL are 7-1 in their last 8 vs. Pacific.
• Over is 9-3-1 in STL last 13 vs. Pacific.
• Under is 6-2-1 in STL last 9 overall.
• Under is 16-5-5 in the last 26 meetings.

Offense should be on full display on Monday night – the Blues are much better than they have been playing lately and the Canucks have certainly kicked their goal scoring up a notch the last couple of weeks.

NHL Betting 4* Free Play

That combined with some sketchy defensive play by both clubs lately has me taking a serious look at the Over in this one.

The Over – 5 goals

This game has 4-3 written all over it.

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By DaveB

Dave B has been a Fantasy Football writer for us for 10 years. A couch potato wannabe, Dave’s insights have been read by 10’s of people for years. He hope’s for world peace + global relaxation. Enjoy and remember only smoke things that are completely natural.