Blues vs. Coyotes NHL Preview and Best Bet (Archive)
Four games on Monday’s NHL schedule, and the late one features the St. Louis Blues visiting the Arizona Coyotes. Which way to lean at BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks?
St. Louis Blues vs. Arizona Coyotes
Monday, October 18, 2021 – 10:00 PM EDT at Gila River Arena
It’s the first meeting of the season between the Blues and Coyotes. They didn’t use to be in the same division but were in the rejiggered West Division last year during the COVID pandemic and the Coyotes have joined the Central this season and going forward with expansion Seattle landing in the Pacific, where the Yotes used to be.
Arizona wasn’t very good last year but won five of eight meetings vs. the Blues, going 2-2 at home. Conor Garland (three goals, five assists) and Nick Schmaltz (three goals, five assists) led Arizona with eight points each in the series. Darcy Kuemper was 4-2-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .928 save percentage but is now with Colorado.
Mike Hoffman (four goals, three assists), Ryan O’Reilly (four goals, three assists) and David Perron (one goal, six assists) led the Blues with seven points each in the season series. Jordan Binnington was 2-3-1 with a 2.36 GAA and .914 SV and should start this game.
The underdog is 6-1 on the NHL picks in the past seven meetings. The under is 9-4 in the previous 13.
Blues Win Opener In Style
Some pretty interesting scheduling involving the Blues early on as they didn’t open the season until Saturday in Colorado, winning 5-3 in an upset. Jordan Binnington stopped 29 of 32 shots and is the clear-cut No. 1 netminder on the Blues. David Perron was the No. 1 star with two goals, while Justin Faulk, Braden Schenn and Ryan O’Reilly had the other goals.
Perron was a game-time decision with a minor injury. St. Louis saw a 4-1 lead with about six minutes left get cut to 4-3 at 16:18 of the third, but then O’Reilly clinched it with an empty-netter at 19:40. Winger Jake Neighbors, a first-round pick in 2020, made his NHL debut in the win and had a shot in 9:00.
The Blues are pretty healthy other than center Oskar Lundqvist, who is working his way back from a torn ACL and has opened the year on long-term injured reserve. That means Lundqvist must miss at least the first 10 games. He had four goals and five assists in 28 games last year. Perhaps consider a prop bet tonight on Vladimir Tarasenko, who has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 19 career games against the Coyotes. Binnington has a .925 save percentage in 10 career games against the Coyotes.
St. Louis is 2-5 on the NHL odds in its past seven playing on one day of rest.
Coyotes Play Home Opener
There is one major link between the Blues and Coyotes and that’s Arizona GM Bill Armstrong, who was previously the St. Louis Assistant GM and Director of Amateur Scouting. The Coyotes might be the worst team in the NHL and they don’t even know where they will be playing next season as the city of Glendale will not renew the team’s lease at Gila River Arena, which ends after this season. The Yotes are hoping to get a new arena built in Tempe but that obviously would take a few years, so a temporary home will need to be found.
Armstrong did overhaul the roster in the offseason but the early returns aren’t good with an 8-2 loss at Columbus to open the season on Thursday and then a 2-1 shootout loss in Buffalo on Saturday. Carter Hutton started the loss to the Avalanche and Karel Vejmelka stopped 32 of 33 shots in his NHL debut against the Sabres.
Vejmelka previously played in the Czech Republic’s Extraliga. It’s not clear who starts this one, although Hutton is technically the No. 1 guy. He played for the Blues from 2016-18. Andrew Ladd’s game-opening goal vs. Buffalo was the 250th of his career and his first since March 10, 2020.
One of Arizona’s top six forwards, Alex Galchenyuk, is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. He was signed to a one-year free-agent deal this offseason. Galchenyuk had 13 points in 34 games last year with the Senators and Maple Leafs.
Really not many trends to share that would say to back Arizona, but it has been much better at home over the past few years. The Blues are 4-10 at the top-rated books in their past 14 on the road. We will take the puckline to be safe.
NHL Pick: Coyotes at +1.5 (-170) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.