St. Louis Blues (24-26-5, 53 points) vs Chicago Blackhawks (16-31-6, 38 points), 6pm Saturday
Odds: Blues -250, Blackhawks +200
Total: 5.5 (over -120, under +100)
The St. Louis Blues host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night in the teams’ final game before a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Blues are having a brutal week, having blown a late lead in a 3-2 overtime loss to Edmonton on Tuesday followed by a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to the Panthers on Thursday when Florida scored with 11.8 seconds left in regulation.
Many times in the baseball season, you have “getaway days” with weekday afternoon games where the teams just seem to be going through the motions. I think that’s the kind of spot we have here for both teams - but in particular for Chicago.
The Blackhawks are having a miserable season with the second-worst record in the NHL and will be coming to St. Louis for the second game of a back-to-back after playing Friday night in Chicago against the Predators. They are losers of 16 of their last 20 games and get to go home and relax for a while once this game is over, so this is the ultimate “getaway day” for the Hawks.
This might be a flat spot for the Blues too, as they may be ready for a break as well after this tough week. But I don’t think Jim Montgomery will let this team lay an egg on Saturday. The Blues have played pretty well this week against two great teams, and a matchup with the Blackhawks will always have the fans engaged, so I would think they’ll be motivated to snap their five-game home losing streak.
While I think the Blues will win, there’s no way I’m going to lay -250. They shouldn’t be laying those odds against any team right now. I don’t think there’s any value on this game, so I would recommend staying far away from it. But if forced to make a pick, let’s go with the Blues to bust out of their slump.
About as unenthusiastic of a lean as you’ll get from me: Blues -1.5 at +105
Eric Sontag hosts Domesticated Gamblers every Friday on the Sports Hub STL YouTube channel. Click here for his daily picks on all of our St. Louis area sports teams.