{"id":460979,"date":"2025-01-18T08:24:26","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T13:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=460979"},"modified":"2025-01-18T07:18:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-18T12:18:30","slug":"nhl-predictions-january-18th-st-louis-blues-vs-utah-hockey-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/18\/nhl-predictions-january-18th-st-louis-blues-vs-utah-hockey-club\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: January 18th St. Louis Blues Vs. Utah Hockey Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to NHL Predictions! The weekend is here, and a long weekend at that! This weekend, the NFL Divisional Round occurs as we inch close to Super Bowl LIX. But hockey always finds its way into our weekends, no matter what else is going on. Once again,\u00a0<\/span>Last Word On Hockey\u00a0<\/span><\/em>takes a look around the league, analyzes matchups, and makes our predictions. Today’s prediction is the Central Division showdown between the <\/span>St. Louis Blues<\/span><\/a> and the <\/span>Utah Hockey Club<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/span><\/h2>\n

St. Louis Blues vs. Utah Hockey Club<\/span><\/h3>\n

Time:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>9:00 P.M.<\/span><\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>FanDuel Sports Network Midwest, Utah16<\/span><\/p>\n

Head-to-Head<\/span><\/h4>\n

The Blues and Utah have met once this season. In <\/span>early November<\/span>, Utah won in St. Louis, 4-2. Utah took a late lead on a goal by Dylan Guenther<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Saturday’s game will be the second of four between the two teams this season. Furthermore, it will be the Blues’ first visit to <\/span>Utah,<\/span> as the Hockey Club continues its <\/span>first season in its new home<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blues Continue Crucial January<\/span><\/h4>\n

We have often said it: <\/span>January can be make-or-break<\/span><\/a> for the\u00a0<\/span>Blue Note<\/span><\/em>. The team had a successful week, winning two games against the <\/span>Calgary Flames<\/span> and making up ground in the Western Conference standings. Radek Faksa<\/a> scored the game-winning goal on <\/span>Tuesday<\/span>. Captain Brayden Schenn<\/a> scored two goals on <\/span>Thursday<\/span>. Colton Parayko, however, stole the week with goals in both games as the defenceman continues his strong season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Blues are right in the middle of the playoff race. They currently sit a point out of the last wild card spot in the Western Conference. The Blues can hold a playoff spot by the time this holiday weekend is over. That would certainly be an excellent accomplishment for a franchise that has not made the playoffs in two seasons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Utah Hopes to End Losing Streak<\/span><\/h4>\n

Utah enters play on Saturday looking to end a three-game losing streak. The streak has seen them dip below .500 on the season and lose ground in the playoff race. The upcoming schedule will not provide any relief for Utah. The team’s next four games are against Central Division rivals. The games will not be easy. However, they do provide an opportunity for Utah to make up ground in the standings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Utah is approaching a key part of the season. The team does not have more time to decide if it wants to be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. While no core players will be traded, Utah does have quite a few role players who could help teams looking to contend. Utah is quickly approaching the need to decide whether to hang on to these players or move on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/span><\/h3>\n

Hockey fans in Utah will be seeing the Blues for the first time. Will the fans be going home happy? We do not think so.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Blues win, 4-1.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Prop Bets<\/span><\/h3>\n

The over\/under is set at 5.5 goals. We are taking just under that with five total goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For prop bets, we like Colton Parayko as an anytime scorer for the Blues. The defenceman has ten goals on the season and might have the best season of his career. When Alex Pietrangelo<\/a> <\/span>left the Blues<\/span><\/a>, there was hope that Parayko could take the reigns as the team’s top defenceman. The road has been rocky, but Parayko has finally reached that point. As far as Utah goes, we pick the St. Louis native Clayton Keller<\/a> as an anytime scorer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Please play responsibly and check for local rules and age restrictions; some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call\u00a01-800-GAMBLER<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Jeff Le-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to NHL Predictions! The weekend is here, and a long weekend at that! This weekend, the NFL Divisional Round occurs as we inch close to Super Bowl LIX. But hockey always finds its way into our weekends, no matter what else is going on. Once again,\u00a0Last Word On Hockey\u00a0takes a look around the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":461017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4547,4548,4524,32,21],"tags":[39,8080],"class_list":["post-460979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","category-blues","category-mammoth","tag-st-louis-blues","tag-utah-hockey-club"],"modified_by":"Tommy Bennett","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460979"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":461018,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460979\/revisions\/461018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}