NHL Playoff Picks for May 2: Winnipeg Aims for Next Round With Road Victory

St. Louis Riding An Incredible Winning Streak

It’s been 14 games since the St. Louis Blues lost on home ice, a streak nobody saw coming. In fact, this strong home record in recent games is ultimately what got the Blues into the postseason. Now, they have a chance to make the series 3-3 with another win on home ice.

Having lost the opening two games of the series 5-1 and 5-3 on the road, St. Louis then went on to win the next two games on home ice 7-2 and 5-1. Game 5 was played in Winnipeg, where the Jets came away as 5-3 winners.

We fully expected this series to be a somewhat tight affair, and thus far, we are very surprised not to see every game go over the total, but even more so the fact that every game has blown the total out of the water with an average of 7.3 goals per game.

As for the Winnipeg Jets, they are 8-2 in their previous 10 games on home ice against the St. Louis Blues. Both these teams seem to dominate on home ice and struggle on the road.

Winnipeg Must Improve on the Road

Winnipeg likely expected a quick sweep of the Blues in Round 1 with most predicting a 4-1 or 4-0 series scoreline. However, the Blues’ home form has kept Winnipeg honest. Tonight, the Jets need to overcome their rocky road form and win this game in order to advance.

Winnipeg has been incredibly inconsistent on the road in recent games, going 7-8 in their previous 15 games; they also failed to win 3 of those 7 in regulation.

Winnipeg vs. St Louis Trends & Facts

• The total has gone Over in 4 of Winnipeg’s last 5 games.
• The total has gone Over in 6 of Winnipeg’s last 8 games when playing on the road against St. Louis.
• The total has gone Over in 5 of St. Louis’ last 5 games at home.
• St. Louis is 10-4 in its last 14 games against an opponent in the Central Division.
• Winnipeg is 6-2 in its last 8 games against an opponent in the Central Division.
• St. Louis is 14-6 in its last 20 games.

The Pick

This might be the one game we would expect to see the total going Under given the fact it’s a defeat-and-go-home scenario for the St. Louis Blues. Still, with that being said, it wouldn’t fill you with confidence taking the Under here, especially knowing that 9 of the Blues’ 14-game winning streak at home has seen 6 or more goals scored.

Another issue you run into here by betting the Under is the fact that it’s heavily juiced, which completely took us by surprise. Currently, the Under 5.5 line is around -130 NHL betting odds with the top-rated sportsbooks. 

Ultimately, we could be wrong here and the sportsbooks could be right about the Under, but we have to take what we believe to be perceived value in this instance, and we are more than happy to be getting +115 for over 5.5 goals in this Game Six.

NHL Pick: Over 5.5 Goals (+115) at BetOnline

Over 5.5 Goals (+115)

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*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.