Bruins vs Blues NHL Line & Handicapping
Chara-less Bruins Head to St. Louis Thursday Night
The Hot Boston Bruins travel to St. Louis Thursday night in a battle of the NHL Heavyweights. While both teams have been fixture in the top 10 in the NHLs overall standings virtually all year, the bigger story may be the fact that Boston will play without Zdeno Chara who has been given two games to get to Sochi early and bask in the glory of being Slovakia`s flag bearer for the Opening Ceremonies.
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Boston (36-16-0-3) at St. Louis (37-12-3-3)
When: 8:00 PM ET, Thursday, February 6, 2014
Where: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Broadcast: NESN, FS-MW
Bruins vs. Blues Betting Lines from betonline.com
Boston Bruins +1½ -245 +124 Ov 5½ +124
St Louis Blues -1½ +205 -136 Un 5½ -136
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Chara will certainly be missed against an uber-physical Blues team that will be out for blood after blowing a two goal lead and losing to the Ottawa Senators Tuesday.
The Boston Bruins are deep and they are talented. If any team can handle life without Chara it is them. The Bruins are still the premier defensive club in the game allowing just 2.13 goals per game. But it hasn`t just been defense and goaltending that has Boston riding a 7-1-1 streak into St. Louis.
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Boston averages 3.12 goals per game and has been buoyed by strong play from a host of their super starts as of late. Jarome Iginla has 11 points and a plus-9 rating in his past six games, Milan Lucic has nine points in his past seven and center David Krejci has points in four of six. Carl Soderberg has five points in his last five games and Dougie Hamilton has two points in his last three games. It seems that everyone is contributing although Brad Marchand is pointless in four games and Reilly Smith hasn`t hit the score sheet in three.
The starting goaltender for Boston hasn`t been named yet but we can assume that Tuukka Rask will be between the pipes. He is 3-1-1 with a 1.95 GAA and .935 save percentage in his last five games played. Rask played very well against Vancouver Tuesday night and looks good heading into his role as Finland`s starting keeper in Sochi.
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The St. Louis Blues are just 5-4-1 in their last 10 games overall but are still within reach of Chicago in the Central – they have a ton to play for the week before the Olympic break. The Blues, like the Bruins have been very well balanced all season long and have benefitted from an overachieving offense.
The Blues head into Thursday night`s clash averaging 3.33 goals per game. Jaden Schwartz had two assists Tuesday and has two goals and five assists in his past nine games, center David Backes has three goals in his past five, Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Pietrangelo have two points in two games, and TJ Oshie has three points in three games.
There are some struggling Blues however – Chris Stewart has just one point in seven games, Alex Steen is pointless in three games and Kevin Shattenkirk hasn`t hit the score sheet in four games.
Jaroslav Halak has been named started for Thursday night despite giving up four goals on 31 shots Tuesday. He is still 3-1-1 with a 1.94 GAA and .935 save percentage in his last five games played.
Dave’s FREE NHL Betting Prediction
A few trends to consider:
• Over is 10-2 in BOS last 12 road games.
• Over is 11-4-6 in BOS last 21 overall.
• BOS are 17-8 in their last 25 Thu. games.
• STL are 22-6 in their last 28 vs. Atlantic.
• Over is 12-4-2 in STL last 18 home games.
• Over is 7-3-5 in STL last 15 vs. Atlantic.
• BOS are 4-14-1 in the last 19 meetings.
The Blues haven`t been great lately but they will certainly be the more motivated team after their loss Tuesday. Add in the fact that the Bruins will be without their ice-time leader, their emotional leader and their best player – Zdeno Chara and the Blues look to be in a good position to get the win here. St. Louis won the first meeting of the season in a shootout – I see more of the same here.
Pick: St. Louis Blues -136
