As the dust from the trade deadline begins to settle, new players are beginning to get acclimated to their new teams. With two of these four teams in the thick of a playoff race, the need for them to get wins is heightened compared to the other two teams who have no playoff aspirations.
Moneyline: St. Louis Blues (-275) vs Philadelphia Flyers (+225)
The Flyers shipped out multiple players near the deadline, including Derick Brassard, Justin Braun, and long-tenured captain Claude Giroux. The moves leave the Flyers pretty depleted upfront, specifically down the middle of the ice considering the injuries to their other key centermen. Philadelphia owns an abysmal away record on the season at 7-17-5 and is currently riding a 13-game road losing streak.
Regardless, the Blues’ depth at center with Ryan O’Reilly, Brayden Schenn, and Ivan Barbeshev is much deeper than that of the Flyers. Schenn has been one of the hottest of all Blues players with 11 points over his last eight games and has multi-point games in his previous two outings.
The Blues are returning home coming off of a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals and are sitting in second place in the Central Division. The Blues head into the game pretty banged up with Vladimir Tarasenko, Robert Thomas, Tyler Bozak, and Torey Krug nursing injuries and illnesses. All injuries and streaks aside, the Blues are the better team with more on the line plain and simple and should be the easy choice to get the win.
Moneyline: Los Angeles Kings (-190) vs Chicago Blackhawks (+155)
The Los Angeles Kings are trying to stay ahead of the surging Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division standings and playing good hockey considering their long list of injured players. They are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games but have been inconsistent during that stretch, without being able to get into a rhythm of wins. They are coming off a convincing 6-1 win against a tough Nashville Predators team on the backs of Adrian Kempe and Quinton Byfield’s two-goal games.
Prior to Kempe’s two-goal game, he only had one point in his previous 12 games so getting him back to his goal-scoring ways will certainly help the team. Chicago is coming off a 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, and with Lankinen getting the start in that game, expect Collin Delia to be between the pipes for this one.
He has only started one game for the Blackhawks this season and it was a forgettable one allowing three goals on seven shots before being pulled in a losing effort. He owns an 11-9-2 record with a 3.05 goals-against average and .905 save percentage for the Rockford Icehogs in the American Hockey League this season.
Odds via BetMGM and Yahoo
