Blues vs. Golden Knights Free NHL Picks and Odds Breakdown (Archive)
The St. Louis Blues conclude a season-opening three-game road trip Wednesday night with a trip to Sin City to face the Vegas Golden Knights. TNT, one of the NHL’s new partners this year, has the national telecast and it’s one of only two games Wednesday overall so let’s get into the NHL odds for this one!
St. Louis Blues vs. Las Vegas Golden Knights
Wednesday, October 20, 2021 – 10:00 PM EDT at T-Mobile Arena
Wednesday is the Blues’ only scheduled trip to Las Vegas this season; the Knights will head to St. Louis on Nov. 22 and then April 29, the regular-season finale. Certainly not impossible the teams meet in the Western Conference Finals, which is the only round in which they could meet playing in different divisions.
Last season, they were in the same division because of COVID shuffling and Vegas won six of the eight and three of four at home. The favorite is 14-3 on the NHL odds in the past 17 meetings overall. The over is 9-2-1 in the past 12.
Blues Eye Perfect Trip
This opening road trip has gone terrific so far as St. Louis won its opener 5-3 at Stanley Cup-favored Colorado and then prevailed 7-4 against a bad Arizona team on Monday. The Blues trailed 2-1 midway through the second and then scored five goals in 5:07 of game time vs. the Coyotes, the second-fastest five-goal span in franchise history (the record is in 5:04 on Jan. 31, 1995, against Anaheim).
Jordan Kyrou was the No. 1 star of the game with two goals (first two of the season) and two assists. Klim Kostin also had two goals 47 seconds apart (fastest by a Blues player since 2001) and was the No. 2 star. The 22-year-old entered the game with one career goal in six NHL games dating to 2019-20. Kostin was only in the lineup replacing James Neal after being scratched in the season opener. Robert Thomas added two assists.
It’s very early, but St. Louis leads the NHL in scoring at 6.00 goals per game. St. Louis has scored at least 12 goals through its first two games of a season for the fourth time in franchise history. The others were 1989-90 (13), 1994-95 (12) and 1993-94 (12).
Jordan Binnington made 22 saves on 26 shots Monday and has a 3.50 goals-against average and .879 save percentage through two games. Those numbers aren’t actually that good over a full season.
The news wasn’t all good Monday as winger Pavel Buchnevich received a match penalty and game misconduct for headbutting Arizona’s Lawson Crouse. It’s all but a sure thing that Buchnevich will be suspended a few games. He has a bit of a past as with the Rangers last season, Buchnevich was suspended for one game in May after cross-checking Washington’s Anthony Mantha. Buchnevich has a goal and an assist with a plus-3 rating so far.
The Blues are 15-7 on the NHL picks in their past 22 after scoring at least five goals in their previous game.
Knights Gutted by Injuries
Vegas won its home opener last Tuesday over Seattle 4-2 but then lost at Los Angeles last Thursday 6-2 – interesting how the NHL schedule-makers gave the Knights nearly a week off.
To make matters worse from that Kings loss forwards Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone (team captain) both were hurt and are being called week-to-week. Pacioretty, who broke his foot, led Vegas with 24 goals last season and had two goals in the season opener this year. He’s going to miss a lot more than one week. Stone (lower-body injury) had 21 goals and a team-high 61 points last year and his diagnosis isn’t really clear yet.
Center Nicolas Roy missed the first two games with an undisclosed injury. So did winger William Carrier in the concussion protocol, as well as winger Mattias Janmark, who is on the COVID protocol. None of them are expected Wednesday. Another winger, Alex Tuch, is on long-term injured reserve. The 25-year-old scored 33 points last season and underwent shoulder surgery this offseason.
Because the team is so short on forwards, the Golden Knights recalled forwards Peyton Krebs and Jake Leschyshyn from the American Hockey League on Tuesday.
New No. 1 goaltender Robin Lehner is 1-1-0 so far this year with a 4.21 GAA and .887 SV. He has faced the Blues 14 times in his career and is 9-3-2 and with a 2.29 GAA and .927 SV.
The Pick
At full health, I’d take Vegas at home, but the Knights, who are 9-2 in their past 11 after a loss of at least three goals, are far from that.
NHL pick: Blues ML (+110) at 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.