Happy Saturday, hockey fans! Welcome to a weekend edition of NHL Predictions! It is weather. It is getting colder outside. The World Series has come to an end. It is beginning to look a lot like hockey season. Today, our installment takes us to the Gateway City. The St. Louis Blues matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday Night.
NHL Predictions
St. Louis Blues vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
Time: 7:00 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
TV: FanDuel Sports Midwest, Sportsnet
The Blues and Maple Leafs are meeting for the second time this season. The Blues took care of business in their last matchup, winning 5-1. The win spoiled the season debut of Leafs goalie Joseph Wall.
Saturday will be a special night for Wall. The native from Dardenne Praire, Missouri (40 minutes from St. Louis) will play against the team who grew up watching in the arena he watched his team play in. Likewise, Leafs head coach Craig Berube returns to St. Louis for the first time since being fired by the team last December. The Blues have a tribute video planned for a tv timeout during the first period of the game to honour the “Chief.”
“I had a great stop there, got a lot of special memories, a lot of people I became really close with,” Berube said Friday. “We had success. I worked with a lot of great players I’m close to still, in the organization, too.”
New Month, Hopefully New Blues
The opening month of the season was hit-and-miss for the Blue Note. The team is currently 5-6 and currently on a three-game losing the streak. In fact, their win in Toronto was their last win.
The biggest issue facing the Blues right now is the offence. During the three-game losing streak, the Blues have scored more than one goal just once. The power play has struggled as well. While an offensive struggle may have been expected due to the loss of Robert Thomas to injury, the Blues have not seen much production from their other scorers. The forward whose slow start is the most noticeable is forward Pavel Buchnevich. Has the new contract gotten the best of him so far? Has the position change caused this slump? Regardless of the cause. the forward has just three goals in 11 games.
The one bright spot in the Blues lineup has been Dylan Holloway, who is tied for the team lead in goals alongside Jake Neighbours. The Blues need to see other plays light the lamp on Saturday if they want to end the slump. Even without Thomas, there is offensive potential on the roster. It is time for those players to seize the opportunity.
Maple Leafs Enter November on Winning Streak
The Blues have not won since their game in Toronto. Conversely, the Maple Leafs have not lost. The team heads into St. Louis on a three-game winning streak. Furthermore, the Leafs have scored no fewer than four goals in each of the three games. Despite forward Mitch Marner stuck with a single goal to open the season, the offence is clicking. Part of this should be contributed to some line changes the Leafs have made.
This winning streak has come at the right time for the Leafs. The game against the Blues a few weeks ago was considered a big game given their schedule after that. The loss gave bad vibes for the upcoming week. However, the Maple Leafs have corrected the course.
Prediction
The Blues are having trouble scoring. The Maple Leafs cannot stop scoring. New month, but we think it we will see the same Leafs Saturday night.
Maple Leafs win 6-3.
Prop Bets
FanDuel sets the over/under at 6.5 goals. We are taking the over with nine total goals.
Coming off his twelve-career hat trick earlier in the week, we like John Tavares as a +1600 to score two or more goals. For a specific bet, we like Mitch Marner at +1700 to score the second goal of the game. After all, Marner is due for some goals, right?
For the Blues, we like Jake Neighbours as an “anytime scorer” at +280. This feels like a game where Neighbours gets a dirty goal in front of the net.
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Main Photo: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
